Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

206 MOTION PICTURE COMMISSrON". the exchange representing certain manufacturers situated in that locality had it before and sent it out,with its regular program, and many other matters pertinent to the business. Gentlemen of the committee. I have a paper in my hand which bears strongly on the question before the-House, and I bespeak your careful consideration of it. It is a message from the President of the United States, dated the White House. February 10, 1913, signed by William H. Taft, and refers to the exhibition of pictures in public places of amusement in the District of Columbia. The message reads: To the Senate: I return herewith, without approval, Senate i)ill 2t>0(), entitled "An act to authorize the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to prevent the exliibi- tiou of obscene, lewd, indecent, or vulgar pictures in public places of amusement In the District of Columbia." Upon inquiry, I find that the requirement of section 2, that all picture films shall be submitted to the District Commissioners for investigation and approval before exhibition, is, under present conditions, not only unnecessary but inca- pable of enforcement without unduly encroaching upon the services of the police force of the District. In this connection I wish to call your attention to the accompanying letter of the Attorney General on the subject to the District Com- missioners, dated February 3, 1913. I beg to suggest that the purpose of this bill may be accomplished by a statute merely prohibiting, under a penalty, the exhibition of objectionable pic- tures, without the requirement of prior Investigation and approval by the com- missioners before exhibition, and to recommend the passage of such a measure. Wm. H. Taft. The White IIouse, February 10, 1913. Gentlemen of the committee, ex-President Taft is known to be a good lawyer and a man possessing a good, sound, well-balanced mind. If he, in his judgment, saw fit to veto a measure providing for the censorship of moving pictures, and Mayor Gaynor, with whose opinions everyone is familiar, likewise vetoed a measure presented to him for the censorship of moving pictures in the city of New York, both of these gentlemen stating that the purposes attempted to be accomplished may be so accomplished by statutes prohibiting under penalty the exhibition of objectionable pictures, and that, gentlemen, is the law of the land as laid down by many of our most eminent jurists—I say this committee should be mindful of the suggestions made by those gentlemen, the framers of our Constitution, and by those eminent judges who interpret and lay down the law. The veto message of President Taft cont;iins two letters, one from the Assistant Attorney General, and one from the Board of Conmiis- sioners of the District of Columbia, in which they state that it was not necessary to have censorship of moving pictures in advance. I beg to submit those letters and read then into the record. (The letters referred to are as follows:) Department of Justice. January 31, HU3. Tfie Commissioners of the District of Columbia. M'nshing toil. D. 0. Genti.emkn: The Tresident lias referred to the .Vltorney Oonoral, with a re- quest that he advise him of any objection he may know to its approval. Senate bill 2600, entitled "An act to "authorize tlie Commissioners of the District of Columbia to prevent the exhibition of obscene, lewd, indecent, or vulgar pic- tures in public places of amusement in the District of Colum'oia," the provisions of which are as follows: