And on the other hand, doesn’t it seem a pity, and more than a pity—yes, a great misfortune, a terrible calamity—that so many films, made by commercial-minded producers with apparently no spark of the real spirit of service or patriotism, go forth across the face of the world and spread abroad their idiocies, and meannesses, and lack of idealism, and even uncleannesses, as representatives of America? Think of that, next time you happen to pay money to watch a worthless movie; it may be representing America abroad! To-day the country that sends its films into foreign lands is leading the thought of the world. It is probably not too much to say, although the bare thought itself is a staggering one, that to-morrow the country that excels in the production of popular motion pictures will dominate the world. Fortunately, in the early days of the picture industry in this country there was a man known as David Griffith, who was something of an actor, a little of a writer, and possessed no small measure of real power as a story-teller. From the very start, the mechanical and inventive end, as well as the commercial and organization end, of the industry in this country outstripped competition. Combined with Griffith’s story-telling ability, this technical supremacy and commercial organization put American films in front of those produced elsewhere. American movie-palaces mushroomed into existence by the hundreds, and we developed a huge domestic market that made possible extravagant spectacle-productions costing first tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of dollars. The name of David Wark Griffith became known all over the world; the supremacy of American films became everywhere acknowledged; pictures from the United States went to every corner of the globe, carrying American prestige and influence, increasing American commercial prosperity and development. When the World War ended—and though this may seem so exaggerated that it sounds like a joke, it is not—no little degree of America’s influence and predominant position, during the early weeks of the Peace Conference at Paris, was due to the fact that through the preceding decade our pictures had circled the world. But that is not the end of the story. Since then there has been a big change. Even Griffith, for that matter, as a leader of American picture-makers, has by no means been universally popular outside this country, although as a whole his pictures have received almost as great acclaim as they have here.