The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-10-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ,. HASKIN. Direceer.
Washington. d. O
NEW YoRK,s ANTI-vICE SOCIETY.

/
they sang OF John Brown, his soul
which he founded to fight vice will
soon celebrate its fiftieth anniversary
and its latest report indicates that it
/ is as busy as ever. In fact, Ats activity
may be even more effective and more
lfar-reaching than it was in the days
when Comstock was the nemesis of
lprurient plays and publishers of litera-
| ture OF the same character.
| Itsis not generally known that the
New York Society for the Suppression
the city and state which give it its
name. Most of the publicity it has
received has been in connection with
| its efforts to suppress plays staged or
books published in New York City.
However the society's report shows
that it has participated in investiga-
tons and prosecutions in several cities
lin Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois,
Missouri and Wisconsin, and that it
Incorporated with a somewhat similar
organization in Paris.
In the course of it's work the So
ciety has been instrumental in pro-
curing the arrest of more than 1900
persons of whom more than $500 were
convicted or pleaded guilty. Sentences
aggregattng GAS years Imprisonment
have been imposed upon the guilty
and fines assessed against them
amounting to more than a quarter of
a million dollars.
In connection with these cases there
have been confiscated 127,904 pounds
of book and sheet stock. 3,231,6S3
obscene pictures and postcards. 21.616
photo negatives and films, 30,S43
plates for printing books. 1872. 45S ar
ticles of immoral use and 3,719.057
circulars. catalogs. ct cetera. Last
year there were also taken on search
warrant 1859 magazines and as evil
n oI
picture films.
In addition to all this the officers
of the society also point with pride
to the part it has taken in the better
public shows movement in New York
City and in bringing about the enact
ment of the law establishing the New
York state motion picture commits
sion. Films now shown in the state
must be licensed by the commission
and license may be refused on the
grounds of indecency. tendency to in
cite to crime and for other causes.
Morgan One of the Founders.
]. Pierpont Morgan, the elder, was
associated with Anthony Comstock as
one of the founders of the society, and
other prominent men included in the
list of incorporators were William e.
Dodge, Jr., Morris K. Jessup and Rob-
ert E. McBurney. Its list of con-
tributors for 1921 totaled some three
hundred individuals and organizations
The society was legalized by an act
OF the legislature of the state of New
York passed May 16, 1873, and its OBJ
ject. as stated in the law, is the en-
forcement of the laws for the suppress
sion OF the trade in and circulation
of obscene literature and illustrations,
advertisements and articles of in
decent and immoral use, as it is or
may be forbidden by the laws of the
state of New York or of the United
States.
The law further provided that the
police force of the city of New York.
as well as of other places where police
organizations exist, shall, as occasion
may require, aid this corporation, its
members or agents, in the enforce
ment of all laws which now exist or
which may hereafter be enacted for
the suppression of the acts and
offenses specified in section of the
act.
Thus it is apparent that the society
is an extraordinary organization with
altogether unusual functions and
powers. Law enforcement is gener-
ally regarded as something to be en-
trusted solely to public officials duly
created and commissioned by the body
that enacts the laws. Such officials
are paid by the government. federal,
state or municipal, as the case may be,
their responsibility is fixed and their
authority carefully defined
Yet here was a group of private in
dfviduals, almost all of whom were
officers, directors, or life members of
the Y. M. c. A. of New York, who
were empowered to enforce certain
laws and the police-the usual law
enforcing officials-were directed to
assist them. None of them and none
of their agents was required to fur
nish bond or otherwise establish his
responsibility and no control whatever
over the officers and agents of the
society was reserved to the state.
Received Half the Fines.
The original act even went so far
fines collected thru the instrumental
ity of this society or its agent, for the
violation OF the laws in this act speci-
fled, shall accrue to its benefit" This
clause was speedily repealed and pro-
vision was made for the division of the
fines between the Female Guardian
society and the Prison Association of
New York, but the fact that it was in
the law as it was first passed is Illus
trative of the confidence imposed by
the legislature in the society at the
time it was formed.
However, it was many years before
the general public accorded it similar
recognition. 1t was something en-
tirely new to the courts, prosecuting
attorneys, the police, and the news
papers and it was an object of suspf-
cion and sometimes of active ami
mostly, as it now admits in its pub
locations. Anthony Comstock, who
was the executive secretary and di-
rector of its activities from the date
of it's founding until his death in 1915,
was subjected to all manner of criti-
cism. He was lampooned and carica-
tured in the press and burlesqued on
the stage, and most people had the
idea that he was either joke or an
officious old busybody who sought
constantly to stick his nose in other
peoples business
Those who violated the laws which
his society was commissioned to en-
force learned in time that Saint An
thony, as he was dubbed, was not a
joke. Whether he undertook to sup
press books and plays that were not
Objectionable save to prudes. and