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PAGE 5—THE SAYAHTsAH BULLETIN, MaFcb '3, '1953.' Direct Mail Trade Centering On Youth By Russell Shaw (N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE) WASHINGTON, — “I sincerely believe that trash such as this serves only one purpose —- to incite more sex crimes.” “It is shocking to know that even little children are able to obtain such filth by answering an ad... How many more sex crimes must be committed before the public wakes up?” “To my mind this is degraded and filthy trash. Why should it be in the mail boxes of people who are trying to be decent?” These are excerpts from three of the 50,000 letters of protest and complaint received annually by the U. S. Post Office Department in regard to one problem — the direct mail trade on pornography which is centering more and more on the nation’s children. Mail order pornography is rela tively new. Postal officials say it has become big business only in the past 10 years. While its true proportions are guesswork for the most part, available facts indicate that it is very big business indeed: A U. S. Senate committee in vestigating juvenile delinquency estimated that dealers in obscene material do an annual gross mail business of between 300 and 350 million dollars. Postal officials say these pro moters distribute as many as 100,000 of their circulars daily. One New York dealer, at the time of his conviction on obsceni ty charges, carried on a business worth 5270,000 annually. Postal meters showed the same dealer sent out $3,000 worth of mail every month. The mail order obscenity racket is centered in two cities, New York and Los Angeles. The bulk of the business is carried on by 12 07’ 15 individuals who have been in the trade for years. They operate through various fronts, designed to prevent, their identifi cation. Using different names, they rent post office boxes as mailing addresses. Postal officials say one promoter may employ as many as 200 to 300 different names in the course of his operations. One dealer operated from 50 post of fice boxes at the same time. The stock in trade of the dealers is fairly standard —- photographs, slides, films, books and novelties. A few gimmicks also have been introduced -— including a coded pornographic letter sent out by a California dealer and ‘personal ized’ letter printed in facsimile handwriting. The pornography dealers oper ate in much the same way as any mail order firm. Their first task is to build up a mailing list. This they do by advertising their product in ‘men’s’ magazines and similar publications. They also . acquire names from brokers who compile aritbsell suefcGists.* a * The dealers’ catch-all methods of seeking customers explain why much of their pornography is sent to children in their teens, or younger. The letters of complaint postal officials receive from parents tell the same story again and again. A youngster answers an ad for a cowboy picture, or a model air plane, or camping equipment. In a few weeks the circulars begin to arrive — and keep arriv ing. They make their pitch in blatant terms: “Rejected for advertising! Ob jectionable material! We can no longer offer our art films to you through the leading magazines. Therefore we are contacting our select list by direct mail.” “Dear friend, I have gome movies that were made below the border, in Mexico. For certain reasons, I have to get rid of them quick.” “The kind of photos and films you’ll be proud to show your buddies... “The censors say we have blown the lid off and may have stepped out of bounds. Because of this situation, it may be neces sary to destroy our negatives. We therefore urge you to order im mediately.” The distributors of such materi al, one Post Office inspector said curtly, are “greedy promoters who don’t care about subverting youth, so long as they can make a fast buck.” When parents write to protest, they often indignantly ask why the Post Office Department doesn’t ‘do something about it.’ As a matter of fact, the depart ment is doing something. At all times postal inspectors are carrying several hundred simultaneous investigations o f these dealers. However, one in spector said, the department is hampered in its efforts to stop their activities by the “cumber some” methods it must use. At present, there are two ways in which the department can crack down on a dealer — civil action and criminal action. The first involves hearings within the department to determine whether a given dealer’s material is mail- able under present obscenity laws. The second involves court action, which may result in fines and im prisonment for convicted smut dealers. However, the Post Office De partment labors under disadvan tages no matter which procedure it employs. Its own hearings are often lengthy affairs and a dealer, if the decision goes against him, still has the option of appealing to the courts. Court action is even more un satisfactory. The reasons are two: the nature of the laws and the nature of the courts. Under current laws, persons who mail obscene material can be prosecuted only in the area where it was actually placed in the mail. At present, that means New Yrok and Los Angeles. But it has been pointed out that convictions on obscenity charges are seldom achieved in either New York or Los Angeles courts. The result is, as one postal of ficial puts it, that under present laws pornography dealers can “seek out their jurisdiction and make it assort of sanctuary.” Meanwhile, the obscene materi al continues to flood communities all over the country. Help may be on the way, though, in the form of legislation now before Congress. Bills have been introduced — by Rep. Eman uel Celler of New York and Rep. John Dowdy of Texas — which would permit persons who mail obscene material to be prosecuted where it is received. Such legislation has the hearty endorsement of both the Post Of fice - and Justice Departments. They believe indignant local com munities would soon stamp out the smut trade. However, even the passage of such legislation might leave the legal picture confused. This is be cause the precise position of the Supreme Court has yet to be determined. Last June, in its Roth decision, the high court said the standard for obscenity is: “Whether to the average person, applying contem porary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest.” Postal officials say this defi- t^tfoiji^ronfirmea’’ the position their agency has taken for years. But, in the same breath, they ad mit that subsequent Supreme Court rulings based on it are not in keeping with Post Office views. Notable were two early Jan uary decisions in which the high court reversed lower court de cisions which had upheld postal bans on three publications — two nudist magazines and a periodical which designates itself as “the magazine for homosexuals.” The court did not explain its ruling, but merely cited the Roth de cision. “We don’t know what was in back of it,” one postal inspector remarked candidly. The Post Office Department is under constant harassment, too, by the various civil liberties groups which claim to smell potential ‘censorship’ in every move to restrict distribution of obscenity. Post Office spokesmen refer to their efforts as a “hue and cry” and a “smokescreen.” While lawmakers debate and courts rule, the promoters con tinue to rake in easy profits and parents to write in indignation and alarm. One Milwaukee moth er summed up the feelings of a lot of other people. She wrote: “All I can do is ask that you take care of people like this in whatever way you are able.” Theres’ little excuse for a poor excuse when the world is full of little white lies. A proverb is an undisputed fact that has stood the test of time. CHAPEL5-ON-WHEELS BLESSED BY POPE Rural areas outside of Rome will have their own mobile chapels, recently blessed by His Holi ness Pope Pius XII. Provided by the Pontifical Relief Organization, they will serve areas now without churches. Similar chapels have been successfully used, especially along the Austrian border during the Hungarian uprising, and in other times of disaster in Italy. (NC Photos) WAS FATHER REALLY RIGHT? (By Reverend James D. Moriarfy) I’m still wondering — Was Fa ther really right? Did he mean just what he said? It all happened at a large Cath olic college for men. The stu dent body, 2000 strong, had just finished shaking the rafters of the gym with their lusty voices during a pep session preceding the big game of the season. As the cheer leaders skipped off the stage the Dean of Men emerged from the wings accom panied by two other priests. Fa ther stepped up front in the mid dle of the stage as he motioned to his companions to sit cfown. Before he began to speak he grimaces and covered his ears with his hands as if to indicate his ear drums had been put to a severe test, by the students’ cheer ing. ' ‘Men,” he .said, “if our football team , has the same enthusiasm tomorrow as your cheers have today the opposition won’t have a chance.” With this the students gave him another blast. As soon as there was quiet he continued. “Now I suppose you are wondering who these two young priests are. up here on the stage with me. On my right is Father James O’Connell and my left, Father Dennis Mul- cahey. These men have just come to this country from Ij'eland. Our Bishop has invited them to work in our Diocese and so they will probably spend the rest of their lives among you.” He turned towards the priests, “Corrie up front here Fathers, and let the boys meet you.” As the two young priests flanked him on either side he put a hand lightly on their shoulders and then shouted out to the students in a true MC fashion. “Aren’t these two fine young priests, men. Look at them. I’ll bet they’ve played their share of Irish football. Did you ever see two finer specimens of manhood? What do you think of them, fel lows? Are you glad that they are here? Let them hear your wel come.” The combination of whistles, cheers, shouts, stamping of feet and sundry other sounds which echoed the boys approval proved only that their previous “Pep” session had been rather low in volume. Father let them applaud the priests for a short period. He fin ally motioned for quiet and nod ded to his guests to go back to their chairs on the stage. Then he turned back to the 2000 stu- rents to ask his question. “Men,” he said, and this time his voice was much sharper. “Do you know why these young priests came here to the United States. Now don’t get me wrong. They were not forced to come They came here of their own ac cord but I want to ask you . . . do you know why there is a place for them to work here in this Diocese?” He had perfect attention. It was just as quiet as it had been noisy a few minutes before. “I’ll tell you why.” His tone of voice had changed. This was not just the Dean of Men talking This Was an ex-Army Chaplain who had served with the infantry in two different theatres of war. “There are 2000 of you out there but the reason Fathre O’Connell and Father Mulcahey had to come here to help us is that there are not a couple of you out, there with enough ‘guts,’ . . . yes, I said ‘guts’ to climb into one of these black suits and wear your collar backwards for the rest of your life.” “It takes guts to got out on a football field and tear down a ball carrier thundering towards you like a locomotive. Sure you football players take a beating. But it takes another kind of in testinal fortitude to prompt a man to spend himself and his life for God. Yes, ... we are glad that they are here. But you ought to be ashamed as l am ashamed that it was necessary for priests from other lands to fill the gap. They have had to step in because some of you too easily count yourself out. “God is not going to draft you like the Army does. God only takes volunteers. I know just as sure as I am standing here before you that God has called some of you to be priests . . . How many of you have the “moxie’ to say . . . O.K. Lord. If you need me, I’m willing.” With that he motioned to the two young priests and they dis appeared into the wings together. I’m still wondering ... Was Fa ther really right . . .?” What do you think? Social Studies Rather Than * Sciences Should Re Stressed n Catholic School, Nun Says INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., (NC) — The social studies Curriculum in U. S. Catholic high schools needs strengthening rather than the science program, a second.ay edu cation authority declared here. , “There is nothing radically wrong with our science curricu lum,” Sister Mary Janet., Secon dary school curriculum consultant of the Commission On American Citizenship at the Catholic Uni versity of America stated. “What we need to do is to teach more adequately the social thought of (he Church.” Sister Mary Janet was inter viewed here while attending the National Convention of Secondary School Principals. She said that more effort should be made “to produce responsible Catholic citi zens.” History, she suggested, should be taught from a deeper point of view, involving research, collater al reading, the forming of opin ions, and not in a perfunctory way from a single, often obsolete text book. “The most important parts of the world — Russia, China. Africa,” Sister Mary Janet said, “are passed over in our geography and history texts with only a brief mention. It is time that we revised our outlook on these sub jects.” In spite of evident shortcom ings, Sister Mary Janet said that Catholic schools on all levels are doing an excellent job “in the face of the shortage in faculties and physical facilities.” She disagreed with the view point of Holy Cross Father John Cavanaugh, former Notre Dame University president, and others who have been critical of Ameri can Catholic higher education. According to Sister Mary Janet, their conclusions about the appar ent inferiority of Catholic institu tions are “based on broad general izations and insufficient data. She stressed the need, however, for “better articulation” between the three major levels of educa tion — elementary, secondary and college. “Under our present set-up,” Sister Mary Janet stated, “little or no effort is made to coordinate the three levels. Each develops its own curriculum without regard to the other two.” As an example, she cited the subject of American history. She said: “A student takes American history at least three times on the elementary and secondary level. Why not teach it once, instead, and do a good job?” Asked wheather she agreed with the opinion of a Detroit teaching Sister who suggested last summer that elementary schooling be reduced to six years and high school to three years, Sister Mary Janet replied that this viewpoint is “too optimistic.” “I feel that by a general tightening up of our academic program,” she said, “it might be feasible to reduce the over-all elementary and secondary period from 12 to 11 years, but I don’t believe any fui'ther curtailment, would be advisable.” Heads Caritas BRUSSELS, Belgium, (NC) Philippe Lippens, former director of the Belgian section of UNRRA, has been named chairman of Belgian Caritas, Catholic chari table organization, by His Emi nence Joseph Ernest Cardinal Van Roey, Archbishop of Malines. Mr. Lippens, 48, succeeds Paul Heymans, who retired from the post to assume his duties as com missioner of the Holy See’s pavil ion, Civitas Dei, at the Brussels International Exposition of 1958 After World War II, the new chairman was director of UNRRA in Belgium and was a United Na tions observer in Palestine. He is also a member of the Belgian Olympic committee. Services For Robert Wame RICHMOND HILL, Ga. — Fu neral services for Robert Anthony Waine were held February 25th at St. Ann’e Church, Rev. Aloys- ius Wachter, pastor of the Sacred Heart Church, officiating. CONE STREET GARAGE Roy Livingston Co, 98 CONE, N. W., ATLANTA Available At 18 LOCATIONS Parking Spaces Always LUCAS GRILL Delicious Home Cooked Meals BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNERS Itl IV v GOING FORMAL? RENT your wardrobe from OJQLj \ Jnr. Complete Renta! Service for Men and Women. Handsome Men’s and Boy’s Formal Wear always impeccably tailored and fitted. Special for weddings; Bridal Gowns, Veils, Bridesmaids dresses and Hoops. Also Cocktail dresses and Formats far all other ocasions. O’JCtLj \ Jr,c„ 219 Mitchell Street $W JA. 2-9960 The man who goes around with a sour face ends up in a pickle. “Sava With Safety” Each Account Insured to $10,000 by an Agency of tha U. S. Government. Accounts Opened in Person or By Mail STANDARD FEDERAL Savings and Loan Ast’n. 48 Brood St., N. W., Grant Bldg. ALB. Boyd, Sec’y and Atty, ATLANTA, GA. lest Avenue Dry Cleaners Quality Dry Cleaning & Laundry 252 Forrest Avenue, N. E. MU 8-4810 Mr. and Mrs. Edward West, Prop. Atlanta, Ga, Simpson lead Super larket Home Of Qualify Foods AT REASONABLE PRICES 1620 Simpson Road, N. W, Atlanta, Ga. SY 4-3957 WHITAKER’S WASHATERIA & CLEANING ONE STOP FOR COMPLETE SERVICE 7 a. m. to 7 p. m. daily 7 a. m. to 9 p. m. Saturday 1919 Fair Si., S. W. PL. 5-5555 ATLANTA, GA. Children's Vision Specializing in preventive eyecare for the pre-schooler and vision problems of school children. BY APPOINTMENT ONLY MA 7-6311 Dr. L. F. Warren 1228 Glenwood Ave., S. E. Free Inferior Decorator Service (Free Estimates on Motels & Hotels) c: Mjkhisv^ASSqciATESiUNc. Home Planning Service "The Unusual at Reasonable Prices" 472 Ponce De Leon Avenue, N. E. Atlanta 8, Georgia Call TR 5-2431 • Lamps « Draperies • Scatter Rugs • Floor Covering • Broadloom • Braided Rugs • Furniture • Upholstering • Pictures • Pillows • Venetian Blinds • Window Shades THOMPSON BOLAND- LEE New Charge Accounts Invited Atlanta—-Buckhead—-Decalur- Get the children ready for Easter with SHOOR-TRED Shoes Black patent, white trim, sizes 6V2 to 8, C and D, $7.50 Black patent, red patent or white buck. Worn as strap or pumps. Sizes 8V2 to 12, B to D $8.50 12Vz to 3, B to D $8.95 Many other styles for boys and girls. -WeslEnd—Marietta STM TOM RUE FREEZER COMPLETE LINE OF MEATS, VEGETABLES Processed, Ready For Storage SIDES OF BEEF — HAMS — FRYERS — FISH GROUND BEEF -- PORK CHOPS — PORK ROASTS LAMB — TURKEYS — VEAL JUICES — VEGETABLES — ICE CREAM SCHEDULED FOR DELIVERY IN ATLANTA CASH OR TERMS — CALL US TODAY ATLANTA STEAK COMPANY 282 NORTHSIDE DR., S. W. JA. 5-4978 HARBIN. LESTER AND LEWIS ATLANTA DIOCESAN LOURDES CENTENNIAL PILGRIMAGES Under the Patronage of Most Rev. Francis E. Hyland, Bishop of Atlanta under the Spiritual Direction of Rt. Rev. Joseph G. Cassidy members will depart May 12, 1958 from New York aboard the S. S. Saturnia to visit Lourdes during The Year of Jubilee— proclaimed by the Holy Father to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady’s appearances to St. Bernadette. Choice of 2 itineraries from 30 to 41 days duration includes: Fatima, Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Avignon, Nice, Genoa, Pisa, Naples, Perugia, Ancona, Florence, Venice, Milan, Interlaken, Lucerne, Heidelberg, Wiesbaden, Cologne, Brussels, and Paris from $1,069 More than 60 Pilgrimage departures January through October, For complete Information, see your Travel Agent or American Express Travel Service 121 Peachtree Street, N. E., Atlanta 3, Ga.—Jackson 3-7821 or at Davison's Travel Bureau PROIKT TOUR TRAVEL HJNUS WI1H AMERICAN EXPRESS IIAVHEtS CHEQUES — Sr ENSA1U EVElItUU