Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

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REEL and SLIDE 11 Movies on Husbandry at State Fairs Fifty Thousand Feet of Pictures Produced by Department of Agriculture Now Ready For Exhibition at Fairs and Colleges Before Farmers in All Parts of United States By Don Carlos Ellis (In Charge of Motion Picture Activities, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.) IT is quite well known that the United States Government, perhaps spurred on by conditions resulting from war activities, has put the moving picture to widespread use, both as an educational medium as well as a medium for the dissemination of information. But it is not quite so generally known that the Department of Agriculture, working along lines of its own, has produced already 50,000 feet of films covering almost every subject of value and interest to the American farmer and his family. The Department is the most progressive one in connection with moving pictures in the whole government. Perhaps this is largely due to the fact that films lend themselves so readily to the exploitation of all branches of agriculture and husbandry. The motive for this activity lies in the desire of the department to utilize the readiest means in educating the tiller of the soil along modern lines and for the utmost efficiency. It has been found that the moving picture screen is the ideal method of attaining this result. The department's motion picture plans have by no means all been realized; pictures are constantly in preparation and a regular system of production is mapped out. The most experienced specialists in each branch of study are giving their attention to the productions. Regular Program Laid Out It is not the policy of the department to produce and distribute pictures on the hit or miss plan. A regular program is laid out and is followed in every detail. Only in this way can we reap the full fruits of the movement. Considerable practical experience in the past has well equipped the agriculturist to so produce and distribute the films in a manner that will do the utmost good to the greatest number of people living in our rural districts. Films now in use by the Department of Agriculture teach important lessons in agriculture, forestry, home economics and other subjects covered by the work of the department. All sections of the country as well as a great variety of subjects are represented. The films range in length from split reels of 500 feet to the eightreel "Story of Cotton." A production program of 1,000 feet a week for the six months, beginning November 1, is now in operation. Subjects released during November are "Milk and Honey," a clean-milk production film in two reels; "Game on the Wichita National Forest," three reels; "Cordwood Production," one reel, and a reissue in two reels of "Why Eat Cottage Cheese." Topics thus far covered include activities on the national forests, such as the grazing industry, tree planting, lumbering, forest fire fighting, the work of forest rangers and forms of recreation; prize-winning horses and cattle, Uncle Sam's pig club work, co-operative cow testing, the government poultry farm, construction of wooden hoop and concrete silos, lambs from range to market and wool from sheep to cloth; construction and maintenance of cement, gravel, concrete and macadam roads; bridge grafting on trees, dust explosions, the strawberry industry in Kentucky, co-operative berry growing in the Pacific Northwest, drying fruits and vegetables in the home, and other subjects. Films in process of preparation include the following subjects: Meeting farm labor problems in the eastern, middle and far western states ; control of hog cholera, staged in Iowa ; control of animal parasites, filmed in Texas and Washington ; the story of wheat in the great wheat fields of the Pacific Northwest; exterminating the prairie dog in Arizona ; harvesting California cantaloupes and potatoes; citrus fruit, fumigation in southern California; the Red Cross pig club; control and prevention of dust explosions caused by smut in wheat ; logging timber for wooden ships; handling beef cattle, and the "cootie," taken in cooperation with the Army Surgeon General's office. Subjects Now Being Produced Films of the Department of Agriculture are being shown this fall at about thirty fairs in twenty states, and at demonstration meetings, schools, churches, municipal gatherings and in the regular motion picture theaters as abridgments in one of the commercial screen magazines. The Department of Agriculture recognizes motion pictures as important factors in the propaganda for increased food production, which is essential for the world's reconstruction. While the number of available prints of the department's film is being constantly increased, the demand for them is constantly greater than the supply. Distribution is, therefore, limited to employes and official representatives of the federal government and of the state agricultural colleges. In the system of film distribution the one idea has been to reach the greatest number of people and the people who will secure the greatest profit from the pictures. For what is declared to be the first time, scenes from a motion picture production are being used to illustrate a de luxe gift book. While movie stills have been utilized in getting out popular editions of novels, it is saidthat Dodd, Mead & Co.'s forthcoming edition of Maurice Maeterlinck's "The Blue Bird" marks the first instance of photoplay scenes being given an artistic position of honor. Twenty-four scenes from Maurice Tourneur's production of "The Blue Bird" are utilized in the exquisite new edition of the fantasy. Through the efforts of the Nashville, Tenn., Committee of Safety and Fire Prevention a free motion picture show was given at the Knickerbocker Theater recently. There were two shows. "The Rule of Reason" and "The House That Jack Built" were on the bill. These are safety films that originally were made for educating railroad employes' safe practices and habits, but because of their interesting plots and manner of presenting the lessons taught, they are universally demanded. Wayne Cadwallader, of the R. M. Ford Co., New York, manufacturers, was interviewed at San Francisco in December on his way to the Orient. Mr. Cadwallader is going abroad to boost American dyes and chemicals. Moving pictures, showing how American dyes are made, will play an important part in the scheme of Mr. Cadwallader to convince the Far East that American-made chemicals and dyes are superior to the made-in-Gertnany goods.