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A STUDY IN SOCIAL LEGISLATION 11 order to be on the safe side of an argument which is far from settled. The motion picture industry is avowedly attempting to present the types of pictures which the audiences wish to see. This is evidenced by the fact that the different types of houses show different types of pictures. For example, the motion picture houses are divided into two classes, the neighborhood houses and downtown houses. Neighborhood houses include all those which are in outlying parts of cities or in the smaller cities and villages. " Million dollar spectacles " are shown primarily in the downtown houses, i. e., those centrally located in large cities, because it has been found that if they are to be successful, such pictures must derive most of their income from the audiences which frequent the downtown houses. Many actors are known to be excellent drawing cards in the neighborhood theatre, while in the centrally located theatre their pictures are failures. In reporting on the drawing ability of a picture, the exhibitor is usually asked to mention the type of audience to which it was shown. The president of one of the largest chains of theatres in this country remarked recently to the author that "the downtown audiences will stand for a lot more sex stuff than the neighborhood audience, and they expect it, too." We may safely say that the industry is trying to give its customers what they want, even though they may want questionable products. 1 1 This not uncommon statement, that the motion picture interests are giving the public what it wants, is largely true, but is worthy of comment as an argument against censorship only to show that, as the Lancaster (Pa.) Law and Order Society pointed out in an open letter to Governor Sprout of Pennsylvania, dated November 29, 1920, this is a condemning admission, for it admits that the industry has no independent responsibility or ideals, and therefore needs to be watched, and that "it is not true that the moving picture men have no responsibility in this matter, for they themselves have helped to demoralize the public taste," Lancaster Law and Order Society, Annual Report, 1920, p. 5. There is no lack of precedent for the governmental regulation of industries which claim to give the people what they desire. We have detailed require- ments for the formation of corporations; the milk, meat and general food supply is " previewed "; many drugs are minutely regulated in their distribution-