DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 14

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

THE FOURTH LARGEST INDUSTRY (Copyright, 1927} THE fourth largest industry in the United States is a business that was not in existence a quarter of a century ago. It is the moving picture industry and now represents an invested capital of 1.500,000,000 dollars. This warrants us in looking ahead and in surmising that one of the greatest businesses in the world in the next 25 years is practically unheard of at present, so rapidly do things grow in America. In casting about for the reasons why the motion picture industry has grown we find it has become so great because it appeals to a fundamental want of human nature. It is the acme of amusement and there is nothing that people want more than to be amused and nothing they are willing to pay more for. It appeals to the whole people. It requires no education nor particular outstanding intelligence to appreciate it. High brow and peasant alike are attracted. Those kinds of business which attract many littles have a firmer foundation in prosperity than the business that appeals to a select class. All the money from street cars comes in in five-cent pieces, yet the street car industry represents enormous capital. The money from the post office dribbles in in very small quantities, yet it is a tremendous concern. An industry which attracts millions of people in three or four audiences a day and keeps this up day in and day out for the whole year has immense possibilities. The motion picture business is not a fad, for it rests upon real human want. It is the ideal entertainment. It does not require the use of language and you are saved the difficulties that come from imperfect hearing. Anybody can understand pictures and indeed the effort of words is to make a mental picture. In motion pictures you have the image without the medium of words. Beginning in amusement the motion picture will go into all other avenues. It is of use to illustrate surgical operations. Its possibilities in scientific instruction are great. In the teaching of history and geography in the schools it enters upon a field as yet unscratched. It has been the best advertiser for America that has been found, for it popularises American life and makes the whole world familiar with it. It is being recognised as one of the chief agents for promotion of international goodfellowship and, like commerce, its effect upon world politics will be irenic.