In the same hearing referred to, quotation was made from a letter written by Carl H. Pierce, special representative of the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company, to the executive secretary of the Motion Picture Board of Trade, in which the following statement appeared:
“You and I have seen hoards turn down such plays as the ‘Life of the Savior’ because they thought it might offend the Hebrews.”
It is apparent that “Jewish sensitiveness” is a spoiled child which has been unduly coddled and that it has interfered to such an extent that the real question becomes one of non-Jewish rights.
The Jewish defenders have been asking, Why should a nation of 110,000,000 people be considered in danger from 3,000,000 Jews? And “Gentile fronts,” with all the zest of a new idea, have shouted the same challenging question.
It might be advantageous to answer thus: Why should a country of 110,000,000 people, mostly of Christian faith and practice, be prevented from seeing the “Life of the Savior” portrayed on the screen because it is feared to offend the Jews?
The answer in both cases is not a comparison of numbers, but a recognition of the fact that, as in the motion picture world the Jews are at the neck of the bottle where they can absolutely control what goes to the public, so they are in other fields at corresponding places of control.
But whether the Jewish producer is qualified to do better than he is doing is a question. When you con¬ sider the conditions from which many of them sprang, you will be rendered rather hopeless of voluntary reform.