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A STUDY IN SOCIAL LEGISLATION 17 vary as the time, setting, and themes of the pictures brought before him vary. All scenes or motives which are prohibited by the Pennsyl- vania Board of Censors may be classed under the five headings of violations of social standards in regard to sex, person, property, religion and the state. l Eight out of nineteen rules deal primarily with violations of sexual standards, six deal with other offenses against the person, and two with offenses against property. None deal exclusively with violations of religious standards, or with offenses against the State. Profanity in subtitles and ridicule of religious sects are forbidden in minor provisions of rules which have to do mainly with other subjects. The State seems to be almost entirely unprotected, for the only provisions made in its behalf are the one which prohibits stories or scenes which hold up to ridicule or reproach races and other social groups, and might therefore incite riots, and that which forbids pictures dealing with counterfeiting. The emphasis is almost entirely on questions of sex and physical safety, with private property running a poor third in the race for protection. The basis for these working standards of the Pennsylvania Board of Censors is Section 6 of the censorship act passed May 15, 1915. This section provides that the Board shall approve all films which are "moral and proper; and shall dis- approve such as are sacrilegious, obscene, indecent, or immoral, or such as tend in the judgtnent of the Board to debase or corrupt morals." 2 Attention is called to the fact that the legal statement in the above quotation of what should not be permitted to be shown on the screen is nothing new in the history of American legisla- tion, or that of any other civilized nation. Certain acts which have been deemed detrimental to the welfare of the group have always been tabu. This country has always considered that 1 For purposes of comparison with the standards of other organizations, the Pennsylvania rules are quoted in full in Appendix D. 2 Pennsylvania State Board of Censors, Rules and Standards, Harrisburg, 1918, p. 4.