Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

10 REEL and SLIDE lumbering in Pennsylvania, making pig iron, the sugar industry in Louisiana, rice growing, cotton, cranberries, etc. The photographic laboratory of the museum is fully equipped for developing and printing motion picture film as well as for making lantern slides in very large numbers. Not infrequently as many as 15,000 to 20,000 prints on paper are made and mounted in the course of a couple of months. These photographs are sent free to the schools. An able artist is' working continually in the curator's office doing work of real merit in coloring lantern slides. In all this educational work the Commercial Museum of Philadelphia is giving to the schools of Pennsylvania just exactly the help and assistance which the schools need, fitting its lectures to the course of study prescribed by the board of education. In this fact lies the great strength and value of what this institution is doing. Province of Saskatchewan, Canada, to Aid Farmers With Films MOVING picture farming under the direction of the provincial Department of Agriculture will soon be a regular thing in Saskatchewan, Canada. The cinematograph will teach farmers how to fatLen a steer. A celluloid film will illustrate the fine points in feeding hogs. If doubts obsess the farmer as to the proper way to ship wheat a movie will solve his difficulties. The drama of cows, the tragedy of pigs from the first squeal to sausage, and comedies of the barnyard will all be depicted for the edification and education of the prairie farmer. The plan has been nearly worked out. Moving pictures to be shown at farmers' meetings have been taken for officials of the department (of all farm animals and farm industries). Steers fed on different grains will be shown to illustrate the best foods and the pictures will be accompanied by a flash of the current hoof price on the market. Proper methods of plowing, seeding and discing land will be presented. Pictures of shipping livestock and grain will emphasize the advantages of the co-operative plan, which Saskatchewan farmers are taking up and which has been indorsed by the Royal Commission on Marketing. "The new land law, which offers farms to settlers on twentyyear terms with only 10 per cent cash down," said a department officer, "will result in a great influx of immigrants into Western Canada. Our moving pictures will be used particularly to teach these settlers the most profitable methods of farming." Film Manufacture of Spruce for Airplanes The tale of the giant spruce from its towering place in the interior of Oregon's forest and its course through the sawmill in preparation for government airplanes has just been completed by W. A. Van Scoy, Portland motion picture man, and sent to New York in a series of films entitled "The Seeker." The remote regions of the Siletz Bay country, around the sawmill at Mill Port, 37 miles away from the nearest railroad and reached only by pack train over rough and rocky mountain trails to the head of tidewater and then down the Siletz River, or else by boat through very shallow water of the Siletz Bay, was the scene of Mr. Van Scoy's picture. The inaccessibility of the country made the milling process the more interesting. ' Toronto Schools to Have One Cent Film Shows The management committee of the Board of Education, Toronto, Canada, has decided to equip all schools of the city with dark blinds so that the rooms may be turned into moving picture theaters for "matinee performances." To cover the expense a one-cent admission fee with be charged the children. Drs. Noble and Brown, two members of the committee, were particularly enthusiastic about the proposition and dwelt at length on the educational possibilities of pictures. "A Daughter of Israel," featuring Norma Talmadge, was presented* at the parish house of the Episcopal Church in Pottsville, Pa., recently. Dr. Charles E. Low, health officer of Wilmington, N. C, gave an illustrated lecture at the Chamber of Commerce in that city on the local fight against mosquitoes and malaria. "Four Exciting Adventures in the Realm of Art" is the subject of a lantern slide lecture given by Albert Kelsey, an architect of Philadelphia, at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Tex., recently. Educator Says Movies Influence Children More Than the Church ADDRESSING the censorship commission of the Chicago City Council last month, Prof. E. W. Burgess of the University of Chicago cited statistics to show that motion pictures today have a greater influence on children than the church. "It used to be that we spoke of the influence of the home, school and church on a child," said the professor. "But now we talk of the influence of the home, school and the movies." The statistics cited by Prof. Burgess were gathered by 237 teachers in public schools. The survey covered about 100,000 children in the grammar schools, from the fourth to the eighth grades, and some high school students. Prof. Burgess said the commission sent questionnaires to the teachers, with a request that they question the children and transmit this information to the commission. The questionnaires asked five main questions. They follow, with a summary of the answers : Results of School Survey Views of life and life's duties. What effect on children's minds? False and distorted ideas '. 82 No report 51 Unfitted children for future duties 38 Irresponsible and selfish views 23 Life is for excitement 14 Adult and false views 13 Nonacquirance of any ideas 11 Broadened view of life 10 Assisted judgment 8 Made believer in luck 8 Dissatisfaction 5 Other bad effects 5 Another question dealt with the movies causing a lack of respect for authority. The answers were : Yes 84 No ...62 Yes, with reservations 85 No report 18 Non-committal 15 Precocious on sex life: Yes 112 No 27 Yes, with reservation , 39 Non-committal r 35 No report 20 Disregard of marriage ties : Yes 75 No 20 . Yes, with reservations 24 No report 39 Non-committal 26 Bad effect on modesty and purity : Yes 97 No „ 24 Yes, with reservations 11 No report 29 Non-committal 7 23 Churchmen Disagree With Burgess Several Chicago church "workers were interviewed on Prof. Burgess' statement in regard to the influence of motion pictures on children. "Of course the movies have more influence than the church on children who never go to church," said Dr. Robert R. Biggar of the Cook County Sunday School Association. "But the church should offer rival movie attractions in the churches on weekday nights. And it should use its influence to see that only good, inspiring movies are shown in the commercial houses. "We ourselves, in our convention April 12 in Rev. Johnson Myers' church, are going to show a six-reel movie to delegates from various men's Bible study classes, showing how a men's Bible class rejuvenated a church." Bishop Samuel Fallows also was inclined to wonder whether Professor Burgess' statement is true. "We would have to be more specific," said the Bishop. "I don't think a child in a good Christian home, who goes to Sunday school, is likely to be more strongly influenced by movies than bv his other teaching. But all the responsibility is thrown upon the poor church. As to the presenting of movies by the church, that is all right in theory, on week nights, but requires more funds than many churches have. But I do believe in having the churches open for social work every night in the week."