The extent to which people of all ages and races resort to the
moving-picture show is known by few people. In Portland, Oregon, a weekly
attendance of 5000 is reported for a house with a seating capacity of 175;
a weekly attendance of 3500 for a house seating 75; a weekly attendance of
25,000 for a house seating 500. Another with a seating capacity of 567
reports a weekly attendance of 22,000. The attendance of all the
moving-picture houses in any city is a startling revelation of the use of
the time of the people.

All forms of leisure-time consumption are offshoots of the one great
common meeting-place of all the people, the street. The street is more
than an avenue for traffic. It is the social meeting-place of many of the
inhabitants. It is the playground of nearly all the children. Its glitter
and glare, its lights and shadows and care-free spirit, attract boys and
girls. They come as moths flutter about the candle flame and often with
equally disastrous results. The call of the street is irresistible. It is
the simplest, most convenient avenue for the satisfaction of that hunger
for pleasure, excitement, amusement, and recreation, common to all ages,
all races, and both sexes. It is the avenue for the spontaneous outpouring
of the spirit of democracy. No matter how thickly the city may scatter its
playgrounds, its athletic fields, boating and swimming centers and
recreation buildings, the street will always have to be reckoned with as
the one great all-engulfing factor in the use of the leisure time of the
people.

Surely the possibilities for good or evil are infinite when the spirit of
youth and age play free, willingly receiving impressions on every hand.
Unfortunately, in the majority of cases the ministry in this field of
infinite character-building possibilities has fallen into the hands of men
who for the most part reckon its possibilities only in terms of the