Evening star., 1925-06-08
District Attorney Promises
Relentless Prosecution
of All VioIatorS.
TWO MAGAZINES HELD;
ARRESTS ARE EXPECTED
Evans Orders City Swept Clean of
All Salacious cart" and
Publications.

sor in the face of information that.
newsdealers here have renewed thes
sale of obscene literature and lewd
art" District Attorney Peyton Gor- =
don today requested the Police De.
partment to inaugurate an immediate }
campaign against salacious publica-
tions in Washington, with the prom
ise that swift and relentless justice
would be meted out to all persons
found violating the laws governing i'm
modest magazines.
Within an hour after Maj. Gordon's
letter had been received by acting
superintendent Of Police Evans, every
precinct commander in the city had
been ordered to have the newsstands
in their districts investigated, samples
of questionable publications seized and
the copies sent TO the District attor-
ney for examination to determine
whether they would fall under the Dis
trict Code prohibiting the sale or pos
session of magazines that are often
sive to public decency.
Two Magazines Scanned.
Before noon two magazines had
been sent TO Maj. Gordon's Office and
orders were issued to Capt. Brown of
the first precinct to obtain the latest
edition of a third. Inspector Evans
felt confident that the District attor-
ney would order warrants issued for
the arrests of the newsdealers in each
case, declaring there was no doubt in
his mind and in the minds Of the
policemen who seized them that the
publications are well beyond the bor-
der line of common decency.
At the same time Inspector Evans
| tr.
Capital has been. instructed that
Washington must be absolutely swept
clean of the score or more of maga-
zines which are considered immodest
and an actual menace to the welfare
of public morals. He expects the list
| of seized copies to grow rapidly with
| in the next 4S hours, and promised
the fullest cooperation in his fight for
clean literature here.
Gordon Aroused.
Maj Gordon is thoroughly aroused
and declared that this time no mercy
would be shown violators of the law.
When prosecutions were ordered in
several cases a month ago the deal
ers pleaded for time to put their own
houses in order, pointing out that they
were at loss to distinguish between
lawful and unlawful publications uu-
less the District attorney would give
them some basis upon which to de-
eide. They urged him to examine
their publications with the promise
that those banned would be removed
from sale.
The prosecutor ordered the war
rants held up and agreed to assume
the role of censor for limited length
of time. He ordered 26 magazines
barred for sale in Washington within
two weeks and for time the dealers
faithfully carried out their promise.
The time limit set by Maj. Gordon
expired last Monday, however. and
since then it has been learned that
many dealers have taken advantage or
newer editions which have not been
censored to renew their sales.
1t is physically impossible for Maj.
Gordon to continue spending his time
reading ma agazines, he said. The dis
tributors and dealers both know by
this time what class of literature and
art comes within the reach of the law,
and he is through with mediation.
From now on the fight for cleanliness
| in literature in the Nations Capital il
| to be pushed so vigorously that 1T VIII
soon be highly Improbable for any
dealer to even consider handling pub
| llfcations even near the border line or
decency.
All Under Scrutiny.
| Accordingly. he wrote a letter to
mai Sullivan, superintendent of police,
pointing out that the time for action
| has arrived Maj. Gordon assured the
Police Department that when he CEN
sored a number of magazines he did
not intend to give clean bill of health
| to all others, and asked that the po-
| lice officers be instructed to examine
all magazines offered for sale, regard.
| less of whether they were on his black
| list or not, and bring copies of those
appearing questionable to his Office.
/ Inspector Evans, who is acting in
the place of Supt. Sullivan in the
! latter's absence, did not even
wait to send out an order to that ef
! feet in writing. He had all precinct
commanders called to the telephone,
read the District attorneys letter to
| them and issued strict injunction
| that it should be carried out without
delay This o..1er was in turn trans
| ferred to all members of the force
| then on duty as they made their regu-
| lar calls to the station houses. In ad-
| dition, 1t is to be reread at each roll
| call for several days.
Results from this action were al
most instantaneous. Members or the
force must have had some magazines
under their scrutiny even before the
Or0er was TedQ, IOT WIlTllu lWO lOuLS
several copies of two publications were
on their way to Maj. Gordon's office.
When the contents of third were re-
ported to Inspector Evans he ordered
that one be seized by a special police
man and taken to the prosecutor for
| examination with the others.
Appeals to Distributors.
Not only will the campaign apply
| to proprietors of newsstands but to
the central points of distribution as
well. Maj Gordon has been promised
| the fullest cooperation of artists and
civic bodies in his fight. He already
| has authority from number of ma
tionally known sculptors and artists
| to summon them as witnesses to
testify as to the distinction between
real art and lewdness parading under
the guise of art when the cases come
up for trial.
The campaign in Washington has
attracted the attention of the country
and many cities are preparing to fol-
| lowing the lead of the National Capital
| in the battle for decent literature.
| The lull in the fight during til past
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