Then there is the _exhibiting_ end of the business. That concerns the individual theater-owners who show pictures to us in their theaters, night after night, for ten or twenty cents admission, or maybe fifty cents, or even a dollar. These two great branches of the industry are neither of them nearly as interesting as the producing end, any more than the book-keeping connected with a big railroad is as interesting as running a train, or even riding on one. But they are so important that together they pretty much dominate the industry, and to a very large extent determine the kind and quality, as well as the quantity, of the pictures that we see. Accordingly, we shall do well to learn at least enough about them to understand how they work, and how they exert this tremendous influence on the movies, that in turn exert so much influence on us. It is through learning something about the distributing and exhibiting angles of the motion picture business that we can find out why pictures _can’t_ be so very much better than they are to-day, under present conditions. Let us take up the exhibiting end first. In some ways it is the easier to understand. Suppose you were running a motion-picture theater. How would you buy your films? And if ten or a dozen times as many pictures were available as you could use in your theater, how would you _select_ the ones you wanted to use? There are fifteen thousand or so motion picture exhibitors in this country, and the way in which they answer those two questions has much to do with determining how good the pictures that we see in their theaters can be. If you were running a motion picture theatre a first necessity, naturally, would be to make money. You would at least have to support yourself. You would of course want to do more than that, to get ahead, and lay aside something for a rainy day, and make your fortune. So it would be of no use for you to run pictures unless people came to see them, and paid their admissions to get in. If you showed pictures that only a few people in the community liked, you would soon be playing to an empty house, and be driven out of business. While if you got pictures that were popular, you would have a chance to make money. The more people liked the pictures you showed, the more money you would get. [Illustration: _Courtesy Universal Pictures Corporation._ CARRYING AN ELEPHANT TO A “LOCATION.” Transportation is an item of expense that appears so frequently in motion-picture accounts as to puzzle the uninitiated. This picture gives an idea of the almost inconceivable need for unusual items of transportation when all the varied paraphernalia of a picture company has to be carried miles and miles, day after day.] [Illustration: _Courtesy Goldwyn Pictures Corporation._ AN AUTO LOAD OF HORSES. When horses are used on distant locations, in motion pictures, they’re usually hauled to the scene in a motor truck, so that they will be fresh when needed.]