Evening star., 1961-03-26

generally commended war on
collation., Report Obscene
Mail to Your Postmaster"
and called it an affront to
the sensibilities Of thousands
of mail users. He then an
nounced he viii soon have a
new book out -. "a love
story, Of course"
Mr.. Day believes that
prosecution, not press agen-
try. will stamp out pornog-
raphy." But David 10th
argues that laws, too, are
ineffective.
In his new volume he
sketches a revealing history
of sex in literature and
touches on the mechanics
Of censorship in the United
States. He challenges So
cial scientists to study
New Mexico, the only State
without a law against
obscene literature, to de-
termine If pornography is
circulated there more or less
than elsewhere. But Mr.. 10th
fails to point out that many
other States are for all
practical purposes without
= obscenity laws because so
many years have passed
without a single prosecution.
Enforcement
Several Federal agencies
have a finger in the pornog-
raphy pie. Congress. for in,
stance, passes the laws.
Customs is very active in
restricting foreign pornogra-
ply, especially pictures. The
Justice Department prose-
cutes the obvious pornogra-
pliers. And its FBI tries to
enforce laws against carry
ing pornography across State
lines, but the courts are the
final authority.
For Nationwide publishers,
the Post Office Department
is the chief censor.
Paperback books and maga-
zines reaching newsstands
by truck are uncensored, for
all practical purposes, ex-
cept on a local level. But
for big. steady circulation,
magazines must use the mails.
Hardcover book publishers
may use trucks, too, as a
matter Of economics, to dis
tribute to retailers. But they
need the mails to reach the
critics, for mail-order sales,
book club distribution and
advertising.
Postmaster General. Sum-
merfield's judicial officer was
Charles D. Ablard. Mr.. Ablard
never got a chance to judge
"Chatterley" because Mr..
Summerfield publicly dis
cussed it. Mr.. Ablard re-
signed and went into private
practice here.
And Mr.. Summerfield,
who has no legal experience,
lost his case. Mr.. Ablard'S
pre-judgment of the courts
decision proved correct. In
fairness to Mr.. Summerfield.
Mr.. Ablard told The Star
last week, the "Chatterley"
case was the only one in
which Mr.. Summerfield di-
rectly interfered with his
departments legal experts.
"Mr. Day is both trained
in law and well educated"
one of these career men said
recently. II think that now
we can concentrate on pre-
senting cases with a solid
legal basis and not try to
outguess the Postmaster Gen.
eral."
The new boss has pledged
"the toug hest breakdown
ever conducted" on obscene
mail and he points to con-
victions already obtained in
his first weeks as Postmaster
General.
He feels present legisla-
ton, as regards the mails,
is adequate and plans to
make it more effective. Thus,
he has requested % new
postal inspectors from Con-
gress, and has moved to re-
lieve present inspectors of
non-inspection work. And he
urged the Justice Depart
ment to become more active.
Mr.. Day believes the read
ing public generally agrees
with the line drawn by the
Post Office. He is not very
patient with liberals who say
that works Of literary merit
should be immune from OBJ
scenity laws.
Possibly. a challenge may
come in connection with the
New York revival of Aris-
tophanes' classic 'Lysistrata. .
The new production will be