A POPULAR FALLACY

Indignant advocates of freedom in art are roused by the latest ban placed upon Sean O'Casey's play by the Mayor of Boston in the role of dramatic critic. This censorship is not particularly important in itself. Only as it reflects the movement that is prevalent in some parts of the country to impose certain moral standards upon plays, movies, and books, does it merit any wrathful outburst.

The League for Decency, and kindred organizations, are laboring under a popular fallacy that deserves more consideration than it has in the past. Only when the would-be reformers realize that all art, literature, and other popular expressions of ideas, are a direct reflection of the times and the people living in them will any kind of change be possible.

If the mores of a people is such that it enjoys and makes possible the production of what by some is considered "indecent" expression, then no censorship will ever get at the root of the problem. These reformers, like most, are concerned with the overt expression and not with the underlying and subtle causes of the manifestation. It is not the products of men that should be attacked. Rather, some inquiry should be made into the reasons for the production and the desire on the part of people to foster them. A person who has indecent thoughts will not be made into a better person by being prohibited from seeing things he wants to see and reading books he wants to read.

It is definitely a sign of weakness on the part of church organizations and other reform groups when they resort to censorship. It is a confession of their own inability to instill in persons certain moral ideas that they think are right. The only test for the truthfulness of ideas can only be made when all ideas have the same opportunity for expression and when a choice between alternatives is afforded.

Questions of right and wrong will be debated forever and standards will change endlessly. No moral standard, however, will ever be made right by the use of might. Let the guardians of our morals persuade us of their rightness and put aside the cudgel of intolerance that is resented by intelligent men.