Harrison's Reports (1933)

IN TWO SECTIONS— SECTION ONE Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post oflBce at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison’S Yearly Subscription Rates; United States ?15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Great Britain 16.00 Australia, New Zealand, India 17.50 35c a Copy 1440 BROADWAY New York, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Published Weekly by P. S. HARRISON Editor and Publisher Established July 1, 1919 PEnnsylvanla 6-6379 Cable Address : Harreports (Bentley Code) A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XV SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1933 No. 13 An Open Letter to U. S. Senator Pat Harrison Honorable Pat Harrison (Thairman Senate Finance Committee United States Senate Washington, D. C. My dear Senator Harrison : On January 7, 1922, you, prompted by the newspaper accounts that Will H. Hays, Postmaster General of President Harding’s Cabinet, had been engaged by the motion picture producers at a high salary to head their trade organization, made a speech in the Senate in which you said the following : “Mr. President, ... If the United States Steel Corporation or the American Woolen Company should come to Washington and make an offer of one hundred or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year to one of the Cabinet members to direct its policies, and he should accept it, not only would the person accepting it be condemned, but the administration to which he belonged would be reprimanded. . . . Now, why is Mr. Hays selected by the motion-picture industry to be its policy director and to receive therefor such a fabulous sum ? Wliat is the purpose of the motion-picture industry in making him this tender and entering into a contract for that sum? “Is it because he is close to the ‘powers that be’? Is it because he to-day controls the mails and four or five hundred thousand post-offices throughout the country? Is it because he has the ear of the President of the United States, and sits in the family circle determining administration policies? "I know not what influenced the motion-picture industry, after scanning the whole country, to choose as the most qualified man in it for its head the present Postmaster General. “Accept? Why, of course he is going to accept. He is now receiving $12,000 a year. It is to be increased through this offer, as some say, $138,000 a year. (Editor’s Note; Three years afterwards Mr. Hays made a new contract, at $260,000 a year. It has been reduced recently because of the depression.) I imagine that they are not offering it because they want the Postmaster General to play as a motionpicture star and show himself on the screen with Doug. Fairbanks, or Fatty Arbuckle or Mary Pickford. I have never heard of his talents along that line. They have chosen him because they think he can do their work. “It is not because of any exceptional ability along business lines that the Postmaster General may have shown in the past. It is not because they think he can exert more influence than anyone else in the United States in elevating the motion-picture industry to a higher standard of morals. No, Mr. President, those are not the reasons that have prompted the motion-picture industry to make the very tempting offer to Mr. Hays. “More significance attaches to the offer being made to the Postmaster General than it would be to any other Cabinet officer. It would be wrong, and should be condemned, if it were made to Mr. Hughes or to Mr. Weeks or to any other of the Cabinet members : but more so to Mr. Hays. He is the politician of the President’s Cabinet. He came into prominence because of his qualifications as an organizer and an astute politician of rare force and energy. He is the late Chairman of the Republican national committee : and it was under him that the Republicans obtained control of the House and Senate three years ago. ... “Mr. President. I believe that the motion-picture people are taking a false step. They are deceived. Their movement is prompted by bad advice. If Mr. Hays wants to resign his place because of the small salary that is coming to him, in order to take this verv remunerative offer, that is all right. That is a matter for Mr. Hays to decide ; but when the motion-picture industry attempts to procure as its head the biggest politician in the Republican Party, we on this side must look upon it with suspicion. “I know the adroitness of this man. I know that he is smart and he is a good organizer ; but as one of the minority party who has very much desired to see the motion-picture industry kept out of politics and exert its influence for high morals and good government, I regret to see it employ a man who, they think, can control the Republican majority in the Senate and the House, and the administration in the White House and thereby obtain favorable legislation. May I suggest to this great industry that the party in power is of short duration, and so far as the House is concerned you will have need to get rid of Mr. Hays after the coming election? “I am not unmindful of the fact that Hays when he came in as Postmaster General removed and condemned censorship. “.A.s an official, he may have thought that was a correct policy ; but I am a little fearful, if he becomes the head of the great motion-picture industry, that he will believe in employing a censorship against the Democratic Party . . “ ... If they think that Mr. Hays can be of great force and influence down in some States or over in some States or up in some States that are controlled by Democratic legislatures in preventing censorship they are mistaken. This man has not the influence that the motion-picture industry thinks he has. Why, you Senators are sore at him because he has winked at civil-service requirements in the selection of postmasters. There is a big howl at the cloakroom at the other end of the Capital over the way he is selecting postmasters. . . . “Mr. President, I have nothing more to say about this matter now. I had hoped that this great industry, which we are all glad has developed and has succeeded so well and which when conducted on high moral ground and free from politics, rendered a high source of amusement, education, and service to the people, would continue aloof from politics. I am sorry to see them now begin to enter the Cabinet and procure one of the Cabinet members and ex-chairman of the Republican campaign committee to mold and direct its policies. If this is the beginning of any such policy, then I serve notice that we watch their step and see to it that the public opinion will rise up and disapprove such methods.’’ Eleven memorable years have gone by since you made that speech and almost every one of your statements about the mistake the motion picture industry was making has been borne out by the facts, for during all these years Mr. Flays has used his influence for the advancement of the interests of the Republican Party. During the preelection campaigning of 1928 for President, some of the New York theatres, owned by members of his organization, showed on their screens five newsreel scenes of the Republican candidate to one of the Democratic, and some of them had eliminated all scenes of the Democratic candidate. It is hardly necessary for me to say to you what part he played in last year’s election : I do not know what decisions were taken at the meetings of Republican party leaders in which Mr. Hays was present, but I do know, because it has been printed in newspapers, that he was drafted by the Republican leaders to go to Indiana to save the political fortunes of ex-Senator Watson. During his regime as head of the trade organization of the moving picture producers. District Court Judge Thacher found the members of his organization guilty of having violated the Sherman Act ; he was upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court in a unanimous decision. And yet (Continued on last page)