ight that "The theater is literally making the minds of our
urban populations to-day. It is a huge factory of sentiment, of
character, of points of honor, of conceptions of conduct, of
everything that finally determines the destiny of a nation. The
theater is not only a place of amusement, it is a place of culture, a
place where people learn how to think, act, and feel." Seldom,
however, do we associate the theater with our plans for civic
righteousness, although it has become so important a factor in city
life.

One Sunday evening last winter an investigation was made of four
hundred and sixty six theaters in the city of Chicago, and it was
discovered that in the majority of them the leading theme was revenge;
the lover following his rival; the outraged husband seeking his wife's
paramour; or the wiping out by death of a blot on a hitherto unstained
honor. It was estimated that one sixth of the entire population of the
city had attended the theaters on that day. At that same moment the
churches throughout the city were preaching the gospel of good will.
Is not this a striking commentary upon the contradictory influences to
which the city youth is constantly subjected?

This discrepancy between the church and the stage is at times
apparently recognized by the five-cent theater itself, and a
blundering attempt is made to suffuse the songs and moving pictures
with piety. Nothing could more absurdly demonstrate this attempt than
a song, illustrated by pictures, describing the adventures of a young
man who follows a pretty girl through street after street in the hope
of "snatching a kiss from her ruby lips." The young man is overjoyed
when a sudden wind storm drives the girl to shelter under an archway,
and he is about to succeed in his attempt when the good Lord, "ever
watchful over innocence," makes the same wind "blow a cloud of dust
into the eyes of the rubberneck," and "his foul purpose is foiled."
This attempt at piety is also shown in a series of films depicting
Bible stories and the Passion Play at Oberammergau, forecasting the
time when the moving film will be viewed as a mere mechanical device
for the use of the church, the school and the library, as well as for
the theater.

At present, however, most improbable tales hold the attention of the
youth of the city night after night, and feed his starved imagination
as nothing else succeeds in doing. In addition to these fascinations,
the five-cent theater is also