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CHAPTER LXVII 343 the board renders valuable service in checking ultra-sensationalism that eventually must react against the maker of such films. 3. If you will notice the censorship tag you will see that it states the film has been "passed" by the board. At the start some manu- facturers used a tag announcing that the film had been "approved" by the board, but it was explained that the board passed much material of which it did not approve and the wording was changed. 4. That aheration is the whole story of the board. It aims at the highest ideals, but it passes much that it does not approve of, since the material is not vicious. Its rulings and suggestions are as liberal as is consistent with common sense and it lays down no arbitrary laws, but seeks to consider the act and the reason rather than the act alone. The picturing of a wanton crime will be forbidden where precisely the same crime will be passed if the commission of that crime is necessary to point the lesson that crime must inevitably find its punishment. A crime performed in a moment of passion is more apt to be passed than a deed done in cold blood. A crime sug- gested may be passed where the crime shown in detail would be dis- approved. 5. In general the board bars from stories all pictures based on Clime and the commission of crime, all immorality and immoral acts, the lewd, the lascivious, the vicious, the cruel, the irreverent and the irreligious. But while these factors are all barred, many of them may be used if done with proper care—if used to point a moral, lascivious and irreligious themes excepted. These are always barred. (i. If Smith shoots Brown in cold blood to get the money that he knows Brown carries and if this act is performed merely to throw a little sidelight on the character of Smith, the deed will be barred. Precisely the same action might be allowed if the object was to show that having killed Brown, Smith, though escaping the law, found a punishment more terrible in the tortures of his own conscience. 7. But it is not probable that the board would pass a film showing the actual murder, because it is not necessary to show this. It is sufficient to show the two men quarreling. There is a cut to some other scene and we come back to Smith standing over Brown with a smoking revolver in his hand. 8. The woman who wantonly gives herself up to a life of shameful pleasure is not regarded as the fit subject for a story to place before young people. The woman who is led astray and who repents and is forgiven will point a moral. 9 It is best to avoid the underworld and the higher walks of crime. Saloons and other places of evil repute should not be shown or else shown so briefly as to carry small effect. Keep away from the atmos- phere of crime and debauchery and avoid as much as possible the showing of fights, burglaries, or any other infraction of the laws. The juvenile mind is receptive and observant. We question whether they learn much in the picture theatres that they have not already learned outside, but it is easier to blame it on photoplays than any-