Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-02-12
ESQUIRE

The Hearing Board reached rs deer
sion promptly and by vote of iwo-to.
one, found that the material attacked
in Esquire was not obscene and that
The magazine satisfied IN every respect
the conditions Of the second-class mail.
ing statute and was therefore entitled
TO the continued enjoyment of ITS sec
ond-class mailing privileges
THIS decision. although now official.
" known to have been reached on
November n, was net announced 10y
the Postmaster General and Esquire
learned of II only from v Arlington and
New ! ork newspaper stories which re-
ported IL, These reports, however, were
never denied Nv the Postmaster Cen
eral and Esquire Was widely congra,u-
lated on winning the TRIAL.
Finally. on December 80 1913, Post,
master General Walker shocked not
-ealy the officials of the magazine, bat
the entire press and public OF the coun.
try as well, hy overriding and reversing
his sell.appointed Board and reyoking
Esquire's second-class privileges a. Of
February 20, 1874 He took this action
not on the ground that Esquire il oh.
soene but on the ground that the maya.
zinc makes no special contribution TO
the public welfare"
This action, in turn, represented only
his own opinion OF The magazine con-
tents, in the light of has own interpre.
tsiion Of the meaning Of the statute Of
1879 establishing the conditions for
second.cla. mail. The statute merely
requires, az fourth condition, tina, a
publication, to qualify as second.class
mail matter, mus, be devoted 10 the
dissemination Of information of .
public character. or to literature, the
sciences. arts or some special industry
nor does tho statute require that such
periodicals shall be solely" or "cn.
tirely" so devoted The reasonable and
traditional Interpretation OF the stat
ute has always been that such publics.
lions must be substantially devoted 10
material Of that character. There il no
magazine today which Is entirely de-
voted Ia information Of a public char
actor. If that were 10 be construed 10
exclude everything tina, make. NO .pc-
cial contribution 20 the public good
or the public welfare.
Because Government counsel had
pursued an equiyocal course, shifting
10 ground that had been specifically
excluded by both the original and
amended citations against the maya.
zine, Esquire, during the course Of
the hearing, not only defended itself
against the charge Of obscenty. bur
also introduced affirmative evidence OF
the most comprehensive and oonclus.
i've character, showing that It satisfied
fully, in every respect, The fourth ststu.
tory condition for sccond.class mail
matter.
Thus il was established, to the salts.
faction Of the Postmaster Generals
own Hearing Board, that ihi. maya
zinc, like many other comparable mas.
azincs. is substantially devoted 10 the
contents called for byihr long rvtai1.
hshed Interpretation of the statute
requirements,
This is a matter of public record, a.
revealed by the following quotation
from the majotity opinion Of the Hear
ing Board. summarizing both the cyi.
dcuce aud The hndiugs reached boy the
Board on November IL, 1913;
The Post Office Department pat in
proof eleven copies oi Esquire, Jsnu
ary 10 Noycmbcr 1913 inclusive con.
tanning The matter complained Of.
These issues had total Of approx.
malely 1872 pages Of reading and all
,ertising matter Of which about 80
pages were cited As coming within the
charges set forth IN the notice to show
cause. They constitute 90 separate
items Of complaint, OF these 90 items
60were approved as not being obscene
by someone or more Of the Post Office
Departments own witnesses. About
1890 pages of these exhibits were not
condemned by the Department and
both council for the Department and
some at Hs witnesses stated that parts
thereof were not objectionable, al
though most Of the Departments vii.