Evening star., 1938-05-29
By MIC. X.


from Mr.. william E. Barrett, author OF
the best-selling woman on Horse
back" Mr.. Barrett informed her
that he had sent her article on the
"trues" to Msgr. McMenamin Of Den
yer, and continued as follows:
"Msgr. McMenamin Is the leading
spirit behind the Nationwide drive to
force such publications as you men,
toned Sunday from the newsstands.
He was inspired to the drive when he
found kids in his high school reading
them and found these same youngsters
in possession Of various mail order
products which a minor could not pur-
chase in a drug store. He is modelling
his organization after the Legion OF
Decency, which went after the films.
"The objective is good and the need
for some censorship exists. yet I am a
bit alarmed about the centering Of the
powers Of censorship over magazines
in any group, no matter how well led.
Leaders pass-and mobs elect bad
leaders to take their places. The al
ternatives are worth the space Of an
other article"
Well, certainly the alternatives are
worth thinking about. Mr.. Barrett Is
right there. Msgr. McMenamin is
right, too. These publications should
not exist. But to deal with them by
censorship seems to the reviewer a
striking at effect rather than at cause.
though what other method could be
brought into prompt use against them
she cannot imagine.
The basic reason for the existence
Of the trues Is, as she said in her pre-
ceding article, a popular demand. The
human being likes them. To church,
man, no doubt. this liking is a mani
festation Of original sin, to be dealt
with by removal Of temptation. To q
literary critic, however, it Is evidence
of an ignorance and tastelessness, and
while any one concerned with htera-
ture would cheer at the suppression OF
these wretched periodicals. a critic
may wonder If their disappearance
would alter the conditions Of the pub
lie mind which result at present in
their enthusiastic reception by liter
ally millions. It seems sadly likely
instead that the craving for the poison
would remain, even though the poison
itself was removed.
CINCE getting Mr.. Barrett's letter
- with the suggestion that she write
further on the subject, the reviewer
has done a little investigating among
those accommodating fellows, the news
dealers-accommodating because they
always answer her questions pleasantly,
no matter how serSeless they may
deem the query themselves. She asked
them particularly if the majority OF
the regular buyers Of the trues are
youngsters. And the answer was no.
High school boys buy them, she was
told, but not many young girls. The
great number of the purchases are by
women Of adult years, and for the most
part, as one dealer put it. married
ladies'" So that is the way 1t works,
apparently. Mother brings the poison
home.
Now it seems unlikely that any won1-
an would allow her children to read
matter which she herself thought un-
fit for them, and so one Is forced to
conclude that the married ladies who
make up the public of the trues see
nothing Objectionable in the publica-
tions. And from this 1t follows that
a vast section of the women of the Ma
ton find in these magazines their own
ideals of life and romance and q re-
Election of their own desires. But how
can that be? Obviously not because
of a taste for immortality. Instead. 1t
would seem that the appetite comes
from a combined mawkishness and
ignorance, together with fearful
prudery-a mawkish longing for emo
tionally narrowing experiences, an
ignorance of all those immutable real
tiles which are the basis of good taste,
and a wish to crafty the tasteless de-
sire without improperly.
Closer examination Of the maga-
zines would seem to confirm this dag
nosis, too, for with brilliant virtuos-
ity they pander to all three 1nclina-
tions. In presenting the casual hap
penings of domestic life as overwhelm-
ingly important emotional crises they
pile Pelion on Ossa. In their taste
lessness they exceed belief. And, as the
reviewer remarked before, they present
this foolish truthless material in the
guise Of profound morality, avoiding
the slightest ray Of humor and eschew-
ing hearty salaciousness though going
farther-heaven knows-toward down.
right obscenity than any comic sheet
would dare to 60. Thus they open the
doors of respectable, though ignorant,
homes to themselves. Their publish
ers are truly mastery psychologists.
IF ONLY to see these persons de-
prived of their ill-gotten profits, one
would wish Msgr McMenamin success
in his drive for suppression. But the
question of censorship IS, as Mr.. Bar
rett remarks, another matter. And 1t
is q particularly delicate one just now.
In ordinary times Americans have been
sure enough of their liberties to allow
disciplinary measures to be taken here
and there as specific causes required
them. But in these days, when gov
ernmental meddling has become a
policy, it is hard for any person In love
with the concept of freedom to concede
more ground in any direction whatso-
ever-which is simply to say, OF course,
that the plethora of il-advised re-
strictions currently visited on uS must
make the thinking man or woman re-
sist all additional restrictions on the
sole ground that they restrain.
In q normal time no one would fore
see q menace to the free press by the
removal Of loathsome trash from the
newsstands. On the contrary, the
intelligent would regard it as whole
some measure. But that Is not the
case today. Today the will OF the Gov
ernment to regulate every detail OF
human existence has become so mani
fest that the sane and normal pro-
III