Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-02-11
A public statement
Of the pertinent facts
in the case Of
ESQUIRE
POSTMASTER GENERAL

The Hearing Board reached ia deo,-
SION promptly and by vote Of t~o-io-
nne. found that the material attacked
IN Esauire was not obscene and that
the magazine satisfied in every respect
the conditions Of the second.class mail
ing statute and wss therefore entitled
10 the continued enjoyment Of lts sec
ond.cla. mailing privileges.
This decision. although now official
" known to have been reached on
November IL. Was not announced by
the Postmaster General and Esquire
learned Of il only from v Arlington and
New York newspaper stories which re-
ported Vt. These reports, however, were
never denied by the Postmaster Cen
eral and Esquire was widely oongrstu-
lated on winning the trial.
FINALLY, on December 30, 1913, Post.
master General Walker shocked not
only the officials Of the magazine, but
the entire press and public Of the coun-
try sswell. by overriding and reversing
his self-sppointed Board and revokins
Fsduires second.cisss privileges a, ri
February 28. 1914. He took this action
not on the ground that Esquire IA oh
,oene but on the ground that the msss'
nine makes no special contribution IN
the public welfare.
This action. in turn, represented only
L.. .u,o,, II ,hs N, .t1ss ron.
tents, in the light Of his own interpre-
tstion Of the meaning Of the statute Of
1870 establishing the conditions for
,econd.clan mail. The statute merely
requires. as fourth condition, that
publication, to qualify as second-olas
mail matter, must he devoted to the
dissemination Of information Of
public character, or To literature, the
.ciences. arts or some special industry
nor does the statute require that such
periodicals shall be solely or I'm
iirelv" so devoted The res.Onsble and
traditional Interpretation Of the .ist'
ute has always been that such puhlios.
tions must be substantially devoted to
material OF that character There "a no
magazine today which ia entirely de-
voted 10 information Of public char.
actor. If that were To he construed 10
exclude everything that makes no "spe-
cisl contribution 10 the public good
or the public welfare.
Because Government counsel had
pursued an equivocal course, shifting
10 ground that had been specifically
excluded bv both the original and
amended citations against the maya.
zinc. Esquire, during the course 81
the hearing, not only defended itself
against the charge Of obscenity, but
also introduced affirmative evidence II
the most comprehensive and conclu'.
i've character, showing that II satisfied
fully, inevery respect, the fourth ,ta,u.
tory condition for sccond-ols" mail
matter.
Thus il vas established. 10 the sstis.
faction Of the Postmaster Generals
own Hearing Board, that thu maya.
zine, like many other comparable mag
AHlnFss II tupAidnilhiif u'Nbitu w wv
contents called for nv the long.eslsh.
lished Interpretation Of the statutes
requirements.
This IL matter 81 public record, "a
revealed by the following quotation
from the majority opinion Of the Hear.
ing Board, summarizing both the evi.
dence and tho findings reached by the
Board on November /, 1913:
The Post Office Department put in
proof eleven copies Of Esquire, Jsnu.
sry TO November 1913 inclusive, con.
tanning the matter complained Of.
These issues had a total Of approx.
matcly 1912 pages Of reading and sd.
vertising matter Of which about 20
pages were cited a. coming within tn,
charges sci forth IN the notice TO show
cause. They continue 90 separate
items Of complaint. OF these 90 items
III were approved as not being obscene
nv someone or more OF the Poet Office
Departments own witnesses. About
1886 pages Of these exhibits were mol
condemned by the Department and
both counsel for the Department and
some of lis witnesses stated that parts
thereof we're not Objectionable, al
though most of the Department. Wit