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328 MOTION PICTURES I922-I945
operative services, too, which I felt the motion picture medium had an obligation to perform.
It was therefore my idea not only to try to compose the differences among the producing and distributing companies but also to urge the public, through women's clubs and various fine and influential groups, to encourage our growth— not with brickbats but with counsel and cooperation.
I knew it would not be easy, but I knew it could be done.
On January 14, 1922, I met with the producers in New York and gave them my answer.
In the days between my acceptance of the motion picture offer and the opening of the new office, it was interesting to watch the reactions— both in the press and in myself.
On the lighter side was a humorous cartoon of which the artist, Albert T. Reid, sent me an autographed print. It was titled "The Cynosure of Boyville." Two little urchins behind my back were discussing the reported salary when one broke in with, "Man! That ain't half of it. He gits to see all the movie shows for nothin'!" But in front of me, clasping my hand, another youngster is saying with a smile, "Gee, Mr. Hays— I congratulate you. I'd rather have your job than any job in the world."
That's about the way I felt myself.
Many people, however, either saw the industry as a frightful mess or thought I was going to march in like a dictator. But I remembered plenty of experiences in politics and in the Post Office Department which had proved that folks are willing and able to work together for a good end, if they can see it. I was sure that there were appeals in the movies capable of uniting industry and public in a joint program for better motion pictures.
That joint program was the keynote of my subsequent quarter century of effort. It never changed.
Of the industry leaders who were founding the Association, I said in my first press release of January 18, "I believe in the earnestness and integrity of their determination to carry out these purposes and am convinced of the possibilities of very large plans and successful consummation."
The statement of the founders' committee, professing similar faith in me, prophesied that the industry would move forward "to its predestined place of importance in the civilization of today and tomorrow." And I want to record, with gratitude and deep appreciation, that this "honeymoon" of January 1922 continued. As in all healthy human relations, there were often completely divergent points of view, once or twice so violently opposed that I broke the glass and cut my hand banging on the conference-table top. In so bitterly competitive an industry, it was often a struggle to find common ground, but in the end we usually got to