Full opinion text
CLARK, Chief Judge. This is an appeal by Samuel Roth from his conviction for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1461. The indictment contained twenty-six counts charging the mailing of books, periodicals, and photographs (and circulars advertising some of them) alleged to be “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy and of an indecent character.” Throe counts were dismissed. After a trial the jury found defendant guilty on four counts, and not guilty on nineteen. The trial judge sentenced defendant to five years’ imprisonment and to pay a fine of $5,000 on one count, while on each of the other three counts he gave a like term of imprisonment, to run concurrently, and a $1 fine remitted in each case. On this appeal, defendant claims error in the conduct of the trial, but once again attacks the constitutionality of the governing statute. This statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1461, originally passed as § 148 of the act of June 8, 1872, 17 Stat. 302, revising, consolidating, and amending the statutes relating to the Post Office Department, and thence derived from Rev.Stat. § 3893, herein declares unmailable “[e]very obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing, print, or other publication of an indecent character,” and makes the knowing deposit for mailing of such unmailable matter subject to a fine of not more than $5,-000 or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both. In United States v. Rebhuhn, 2 Cir., 109 F.2d 512, 514, certiorari denied Rebhuhn v. United States, 310 U.S. 629, 60 S.Ct. 976, 84 L.Ed. 1399, Judge Learned Hand, in dealing with a claim of unconstitutionality, pointed out that it had been overruled in Rosen v. United States, 161 U.S. 29, 16 S.Ct. 434, 480, 40 L.Ed. 606, “and many indictments have since been found, and many persons tried and convicted. * * * If the question is to be reopened the Supreme Court must open it.” Since that decision many more cases have acknowledged the constitutionality of the statute, so much so that we feel it is not the part of responsible judicial administration for an inferior court such as ours, whatever our personal opinions, to initiate a new and uncharted course of overturn of a statute thus long regarded of vital social importance and a public policy of wide general support. It is easy, in matters touching the arts, to condescend to the poor troubled enforcement officials ; but so to do will not carry us measurably nearer a permanent and generally acceptable solution of a continuing social problem. Against this background we are impressed by the decision this year of a great court in Brown v. Kingsley Books, Inc., 1 N.Y.2d 177, 151 N.Y.S.2d 639, 641, 642, 134 N.E.2d 461, 463, where, accepting general constitutionality of such legislation, the decision breaks new ground in upholding authorization of preventive relief by way of injunction at the suit of a public officer. In his opinion, Judge Fuld summarizes' the controlling law thus: “That clearly drawn regulatory legislation to protect the public from the evils inherent in the dissemination of obscene matter, at least by the applicartion of criminal sanctions, is not barred by the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment, has been recognized both by this court [citing cases] and by the United States Supreme Court [citing cases].” Among cases from New York which he cites is People v. Doubleday & Co., 297 N.Y. 687, 77 N.E.2d. 6, affirmed by an equally divided court, 335 U.S. 848, 69 S.Ct. 79, 93 L.Ed. 398, while among the cases in the United States Supreme Court upon which he relies are United States v. Alpers, 338 U.S. 680, 70 S.Ct. 352, 94 L.Ed. 457; Winters v. People of State of New York, 333 U.S. 507, 510, 518, 520, 68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed. 840; and United States v. Limehouse, 285 U.S. 424, 52 S.Ct. 412, 76 L.Ed. 843. He goes on to say: “Imprecise though it be — its ‘vague subject-matter’ being largely ‘left to the gradual development of general notions about what is decent’ (per L. Hand, J., United States v. Kennerley, D.C., 209 F. 119, 121) — the concept of obscenity has heretofore been accepted as an adequate standard.” In the case last cited, Judge Hand asked [209 F. 121], “ * * * should not the word ‘obscene’ be allowed to indicate the present critical point in the compromise between candor and shame at which the community may have arrived here and now?” and continued : “If letters must, like other kinds of conduct, be subject to the social sense of what is right, it would seem that a jury should in each case establish the standard much as they do in cases of negligence.” In quoting this with approval, the Ninth Circuit has recently said: “We think Judge Learned Hand was in the best of his famous form in his happy use of words.” Besig v. United States, 9 Cir., 208 F.2d 142, 147. So this important social problem, which has come down to us from English law and which has led to statutes of á generally similar nature in almost all of the other jurisdictions in this country, see Brown v. Kingsley Books, Inc., supra, 1 N.Y.2d 177, 151 N.Y.S.2d 639, 134 N.E.2d 461; Note, 22 U. of Chi.L.Rev. 216, has resulted in a general judicial unanimity in supporting such prosecutions. There is a considerable body of additional precedents beyond those cited above, both in the Supreme Court of the United States and in other federal jurisdictions, of which various examples are given in the footnote. It will not do to distinguish these cases as dicta or suggest that they have not considered modern problems. They are too many and too much of a piece to allow an intermediate court to malee an inference of doubt in the circumstances. We can understand all the difficulties of censorship of great literature, and indeed the various foolish excesses involved in the banning of notable books, without feeling justified in casting doubt upon all criminal prosecutions, both state and federal, of commercialized obscenity. A serious problem does arise when real literature is censored; but in this case no such issues should arise, since the record shows only salable pornography. But even if we had more freedom to follow an impulse to strike down such legislation in the premises, we should need to pause because of our own lack of knowledge of the social bearing of this problem, or consequences of such an act; and we are hardly justified in rejecting out of hand the strongly held views of those with competence in the premises as to the very direct connection of this traffic with the development of juvenile delinquency. We conclude, therefore, that the attack on constitutionality of this statute must here fail. Defendant, however, takes special exception to the judge’s treatment in his charge of the word “filthy,” asserting that he opposed this term to the other parts of the statute, so as to render the statute vague and indefinite. What the judge said was this: “‘Filthy’ as used here must also relate to sexual matters. It is distinguishable from the term ‘obscene,’ which tends to promote lust and impure thoughts. ‘Filthy’ pertains to that sort of treatment of sexual matters in such a vulgar and indecent way, so that it tends to arouse a feeling of disgust and revulsion.” But this seems to us in line with long-standing judicial definitions of the term. The words “and every filthy” were inserted in the statute at the time of the enactment of the Penal Code in 1909. And in United States v. Limehouse, supra, 285 U.S. 424, 426, 52 S.Ct. 412, in 1932, Mr. Justice Brandéis for the Court pointed out the obvious intent to add “a new class of unmailable matter — the filthy.” As he definitely pointed out, this plainly covered sexual matters; and the Court, so he said, had no occasion to consider whether' filthy matter of a different character also fell within the prohibition. We do not see how this case can be read other than as support for the interpretation made by the court below and for the validity of the Act as interpreted. Moreover, earlier it had been ruled by the Sixth Circuit in Tyomies Pub. Co. v. United States, 6 Cir., 211 F. 385, 390, in 1914, that the trial judge properly submitted the issue to the jury as to whether or not a picture was filthy with the explanation : “ ‘By the term “filthy” is meant what it commonly or ordinarily signifies;' that which is nasty, dirty, vulgar, indecent, offensive to the moral sense, morally depraving and debasing.’ ” This is in substance what Judge Cashin charged' here. See also United States v. Davidson, D.C.N.D.N.Y., 244 F. 523, 534, 535; Sunshine Book Co. v. Summerfield, D.C.D.C., 128 F.Supp. 564. Hence, having in mind Judge Hand’s admonition in United States v. Kennerley, supra, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 209 F. 119, 121, that the jury must finally apply the standard thus indicated, we think there was nothing objectionable in the judge’s, instructions to the jury. Certainly, against this background, “filthy” is as clear arid as easily understandable by the jury as the terms “obscene” and “lewd” already committed to its care. Possibly some different nuances might have been given the term — though we are not sure what,-nor are we given suggestions — but we cannot believe that the jury would have been helped. Nor did the defendant at the time find anything to question in the charge; his counsel, after the judge had granted all the specific additional requests he made, said that the judge had “fairly covered everything.” Now he is not in a position to press this objection. Here we have more than a waiver by failure to object. We have in fact an instance of submission of issues to the jury on more than a single ground which might have been separated had the parties so desired. Since no request for separate verdicts or for withdrawal of this issue from-'the jury was made, the conviction must stand as supported by the clear evidence of obscenity. United States v. Mascuch, 2 Cir., 111 F. 2d 602, certiorari denied Mascuch v. United States, 311 U.S. 650, 61 S.Ct. 14, 85 L.Ed. 416; United States v. Smith, 2 Cir., 112 F.2d 83, 86; United States v. Goldstein, 2 Cir., 168 F.2d 666, 672; Claassen v. United States, 142 U.S. 140, 147, 12 S.Ct. 169, 35 L.Ed. 966; Stevens v. United States, 6 Cir., 206 F.2d 64, 66; Todorow v. United States, 9 Cir., 173 F.2d 439, 445, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 925, 69 S.Ct. 1169, 93 L.Ed. 1733; United States v. Myers, D.C.N.D.Cal., 131 F.Supp. 525, 528. On either ground, therefore; this assignment of error must fail. Our conclusion here settles the substantial issues on this appeal. As we have indicated, if the statute is to be upheld at all it must apply to a case of this kind where defendant is an old hand at publishing and surreptitiously mailing to those induced to order them such lurid pictures and material as he can find profitable. There was ample evidence for the jury, and the defendant had an unusual trial in that the judge allowed him to produce experts, including a psychologist who stated that he Would' find nothing obscene at the present 'time. Also various modern novels were'submitted to the jury for the sake of comparison. Very likely the jury’s moderate verdict on only a few of the many Counts submitted by the government and. supported by the testimony of those who'had been led to send their orders through the mail was because of this wide- scope' given the defense. As the judge pointed out in imposing sentence, defendant has been convicted several times before under both state and federal law. Indeed this case and our discussions somewhat duplicate his earlier appearance in Roth v. Goldman, 2 Cir., 172 F.2d 788, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 938, 69 S.Ct. 1514, 93 L.Ed. 1743. Defendant claims error in entrapment .because his advertisements were answered by government representatives. But this method of obtaining evidence was specifically approved in Rosen v. United States, supra, 161 U.S. 29, 42, 16 S.Ct. 434, 438, 480, and has been usual at least ever since: Ackley v. United States, 8 Cir., 200 F. 217, 222. In no event was there any improper entrapment. See United States v. Masciale, 2 Cir., 236 F.2d 601. The government’s summation in the case was within the scope of the evidence, and the court’s charge was concise and correct. But one other matter needs to engage our attention. That was the defendant’s claim of error in that the court charged with respect to the statute as it was at the time of the offenses, although it had been amended on June 28, 1955, or before the trial. But this amendment was designed to stiffen the Act and arose because in Alpers v. United States, 9 Cir., 175 F.2d 137, a conviction for mailing obscene phonograph records was reversed on the ground that such records were not clearly embodied in the statutory language quoted above. Although this decision was reversed and the conviction reinstated in United States v. Alpers, supra, 338 U.S. 680, 70 S.Ct. 352, the Congress was so anxious that there be no loophole that it enacted an amendment making unmailable now “[ejvery obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance.” It would seem clear, therefore, that defendant has no ground of complaint because he was tried under the statute existing at the time of his offense; and in no event could he have been harmed. Judgment affirmed. . As pointed out below, the quoted wording was somewhat expanded by Congress in 1955, after the commission of the offenses here involved. . The injunction against sale of paper-covered booklets “indisputably pornographic, indisputably obscene and filthy” — the words are Judge Fuld’s, 1 N.Y.2d 177, 151 N.Y.S.2d 639, 640, 134 N.E.2d 461, 462— was granted under a 1941 statute, N.Y. Code Cr.Proc. § 22-a, on suit of. the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York. While the court was unanimous in holding the statute constitutional and the injunction proper, there were two opinions — a detailed analysis of the legal background by Judge Fuld, concurred in by two other judges, and a brief and more formal statement by Judge Desmond, concurred in by two other judges. . See, e. g., Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 24 L.Ed. 877; Swearingen v. United States, 161 U.S. 446, 16 S.Ct. 562, 40 L. Ed. 765; Dunlop v. United States, 165 U.S. 486, 17 S.Ct. 375, 41 L.Ed. 799; Public Clearing House v. Coyne, 194 U.S. 497, 508, 24 S.Ct. 789, 48 L.Ed. 1092; Robertson v. Baldwin, 165 U.S. 275, 281, 17 S.Ct. 326, 41 L.Ed. 715; Near v. State of Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U.S. 697, 716, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357; Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 571-572, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031; Beauharnais v. People of State of Illinois, 343 U.S. 250, 266, 72 S.Ct. 725, 96 L.Ed. 919; Schindler v. United States, 9 Cir., 221 F.2d 743, certiorari denied 350 U.S. 938, 76 S.Ct. 310; United States v. Hornick, 3 Cir., 229 F.2d 120, affirming D.C.E.D.Pa., 131 F.Supp. 603; Roth v. Goldman, 2 Cir., 172 F.2d 788, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 938, 69 S.Ct. 1514, 93 L.Ed. 1743. . See Huid, J., in Brown v. Kingsley Books, Inc., 1 N.Y.2d 177, 151 N.Y.S.2d 639, 641, note 3, 134 N.E.2d 461, 463: “It is noteworthy that studies are for the first time being made, through such scientific skills as exist, concerning the impact of the obscene, in writings and other mass media, on the mind and behavior of men, women and children. (See, e. g., Jahoda and Staff of Research Center for Human Relations, New York University [1954], The Impact of Literature: A Psychological Discussion of Some Assumptions in the Censorship Debate.)” . Sen.Rep. No. 113, 84th Cong., 1st Sess., supporting the 1955 amendment to § 1461 discussed below, has this to say: “The subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary investigating juvenile delinquency in the United States reports that the nationwide traffic in obscene matter is increasing year by year and that a large part of that traffic is being channeled into the hands of children. That subcommittee recommended implementation of the present statute so as to prevent the using of the mails in the trafficking of all obscene matter. The passage of S. 600 will contribute greatly in tlie continuing struggle to combat juvenile delinquency and the corruption of public morals.” 2 U.S.Code Cong. & Adm.News 1955, p. 2211. See also Chief Justice Vanderbilt, Impasses in Justice, 1.1956] Wash.U.L.Q. 267, 302: “(4) Our greatest concern with the oncoming generation, I submit, relates to the perversion of young minds through the mass media of the movies, television, radio, and the press, especially so-called comics. Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (1954). See also Feder, Comic Book Regulation (Univ. of Calif. Bureau of Pub. Admin. 1955). The problem is only beginning to receive the consideration its seriousness calls for. Hero is a field in which the law schools are well equipped to furnish leadership in a controversy where rare discrimination and courage are required.” Perhaps scholarly research may suggest better statutes than' we have; but it is doubtful if help can be found in such suggestions as for the inclusion in legislation of the enticing invitation, “For Adults Only.” Cf. Ernst & Seagle, To the Pure 277 (1928). . And by Judge Fuld and Ms colleagues; see supra note 2. . It also eliminated the former fifth paragraph now superfluous. See the Senate Keport cited supra note 5.
FRANK, Circuit Judge (concurring). The reference in Judge Clark’s opinion to juvenile delinquency might lead the casual reader to suppose that, under the statute, the test of what constitutes obscenity is its effect on minors, and that-the defendant, Roth, has been convicted for mailing obscene writings to (or for sale to) children. This court, however, in United States v. Levine, 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 156, has held that the correct test is the effect on the sexual thoughts and desires, not of the “young” or “immature,” but of average, normal, adult persons. The trial judge here so instructed the jury. On the basis of that test, the jury could reasonably have found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that many of the books, periodicals, pamphlets and pictures which defendant mailed were obscene. Accordingly, I concur. • I do 'so although I have much difficulty in reconciling the validity of that statute with opinions of the Supreme Court, uttered within the past twenty-five years, relative.to the; First Amendment as applied to other kinds-of legislation. The doctrine expressed in those opinions, as I understand it, may be summarized briefly as follows: Any statute authorizing governmental interference ' (whether by “prior restraint” or punishment) with free speech" or free press runs counter to the. First Amendment, except when the government can show that the statute strikes at words which are likely to incite to a breach of the peace, or with sufficient probability tend either to the overthrow of the government by illegal means or to some other overt anti-social conduct. The troublesome aspect of the federal obscenity statute — as I shall try to explain in the Appendix to this opinion— is that (a) no one can now show that, with any reasonable probability obscene publications tend to have any effects on the behavior of normal, average adults, and (b) that under that statute, as judicially interpreted, punishment is apparently inflicted for provoking, in such adults, undesirable sexual thoughts, feelings, or desires — not overt dangerous or anti-social conduct, either actual or probable. Often the discussion of First Amendment exceptions has been couched in terms of a “ ‘clear and present danger’ ”. However, the meaning of that phrase, has been somewhat watered down by Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494, 71 S.Ct. 857, 865, 95 L.Ed. 1137. The test now involves probability; “ ‘In each case (courts) must ask’ ”, said Chief Justice Vinson in Dennis, “ ‘whether the gravity of the “evil,” discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger.’ ” It has been suggested that the test now is this: “The more serious and threatened the evil, the lower the re; quired degree of probability.” It would seem to follow that the less clear the danger, the more imminent must it be. At any rate, it would seem that (1) the .danger or evil must be clear (i. e., identifiable) and substantial, and (2) that, since the statute renders words punishable, it is invalid unless those’words tend, with a fairly high degree of probability, to incite to overt conduct which .is Obviously harmful. For, under the First Amendment, lawless or anti-social “acts are the main thing. Speech is not punishable for its own sake, but only because of its connection with those * * * • act's * * * But more than a remote connection is necessary * * * ” See) e. g., American Communication’s Ass’n, C.I.O. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 398, 70 S.Ct. 674, 683, 94 L.Ed. 925, as to “the right of the public to be protected from evils of conduct, even though the First Amendment rights of persons or groups are thereby in some manner infringed”. (Emphasis added.) As I read the Supreme Court’s opinions, the government, in defending the constitutionality of a statute which curbs free expression, may not rely on the usual “presumption of validity.” No matter how one may articulate the reasoning, it is now accepted doctrine that, when legislation affects free speech or free press, the government must show that the legislation comes within one of the exceptions described above. See, e. g., Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494, 71 S.Ct. 857, 95 L.Ed. 1137; Joseph Burstyn, Inc., v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495, 503, 72 S.Ct. 777, 96 L.Ed. 1098. Moreover, when legislation affects free expression, the void-for-vagueness doctrine has a peculiar importance; and the obscenity statute is exquisitely vague. (See the Appendix, point 9.) True, the Supreme Court has said several times that the federal obscenity statute (or any such state statute) is constitutional. But the Court has not directly so decided; it has done so sub silentio in applying the federal statute, or has referred to the constitutionality of such legislation in dicta. The Court has not thoroughly canvassed the problem in any opinion, nor applied to it the doctrine (summarized above) concerning the First Amendment which the Court has evolved in recent years. I base that statement on the following analysis of the cases: In Ex parte Jackson, 1877, 96 U.S. 727, 24 L.Ed. 877, the Court held valid a statute relating to the mailing of letters, or circulars, concerning lotteries. Such letters or circulars might well induce the addressees to engage in the overt conduct of engaging in lotteries. The Court, only in passing, referred to the obscenity statute and said it, too, was valid. In Rosen v. United States, 1896, 161 U.S. 29, 16 S.Ct. 434, 480, 40 L.Ed. 606, the issue was solely the sufficiency of an indictment .under the obscenity statute, not the validity of that legislation, and the Court did not discuss its validity. In Swearingen v. United States, 1896, 161 U.S. 446, 16 S.Ct. 562, 40 L.Ed. 765, the Court reversed a conviction under the obscenity statute; it did not consider its constitutionality. Dunlop v. United States, 1896, 165 U.S. 486, at page 501, 17 S.Ct. 375, at page 380, 41 L.Ed. 799, did not discuss the constitutionality of the statute; moreover, the opinion shows that it dealt with advertisements soliciting improper sexual relations, i. e., with probable conduct, not with mere thoughts or desires. In Public Clearing House v. Coyne, 1904, 194 U.S. 497, at page 508, 24 S.Ct. 789, at page 793, 48 L.Ed. 1092, which did not involve the validity of the obscenity Act, the Court said in passing that its constitutionality “has never been attacked.” In United States v. Limehouse, 1932, 285 U.S. 424, 52 S.Ct. 412, 76 L.Ed. 843, the Court decided the correct interpretation of the word “filthy” in the statute, and did not consider the question of constitutionality. Moreover, there the defendant had mailed letters attacking the characters of the recipients who might well have been moved to conduct in breach of the peace. In Winters v. People of State of New York, 1948, 333 U.S. 507, 68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed. 840, the Court held void for vagueness a state statute making it a crime to distribute publications consisting principally of news or stories of criminal deeds of bloodshed or lust so massed as to become vehicles for inciting violent and depraved crimes. The Court said in passing, 333 U.S. at page 510, 68 S.Ct. at page 667, that legislation subjecting obscéne publications to governmental control is valid. In Doubleday & Co. v. People of State of New York, 1948, 335 U.S. 848, 69 S.Ct. 79, 93 L.Ed. 398, the Court, by an evenly divided vote, without opinion affirmed a state court decision sustaining a state obscenity statute. In United States v. Alpers, 1950, 338 U.S. 680, 70 S.Ct. 352, 94 L.Ed. 457, the Court construed the statute as amended, and affirmed a conviction thereunder, but did not consider its. constitutionality. In the following cases, where the validity of no obscenity'statute was involved, the Court, in passing, referred to such legislation as valid: Robertson v. Baldwin, 1897, 165 U.S. 275, 281, 17 S.Ct. 326, 41 L.Ed. 715; Near v. State of Minnesota, 1931, 283 U.S. 697, 716, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357; Lovell v. City of Griffin, 1938, 303 U.S. 444, 451, 58 S.Ct. 666, 82 L.Ed. 949; Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 1942, 315 U.S. 568, 571-572, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031; Beauharnais v. People of State of Illinois, 1952, 343 U.S. 250, 266, 72 S.Ct. 725, 96 L.Ed. 919. • I agree with my colleagues that, since ours is an inferior court, we should not hold invalid a statute which our superior has thus often said is constitutional (albeit without any full discussion). Yet I think it not improper to set forth, as I do in the Appendix, considerations concerning the obscenity statute’s validity with which, up to now, I think the Supreme Court has not dealt in any of its opinions. I do not suggest the inevitability of the conclusion that that statute is unconstitutional. I do suggest that it is hard to avoid that conclusion, if one applies to that legislation the reasoning the Supreme Court has applied to other sorts of legislation. ’ Perhaps I have overlooked conceivable compelling contrary arguments. If so, maybe my Appendix will evoke them. “ To preclude misunderstanding of my purpose in stirring- doubts about' this statute, I think it well to. add the following : (a) As many of the publications mailed by defendant offend my personal taste, I would not cross a street to obtain them for nothing; I happen not to be interested in so-called “pornography”; and I think defendant’s motives obnoxious. But if the statute were invalid, the merit of those publications would be irrelevant. Winters v. People of State of New York, 333 U.S. 507, 510, 68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed. 840. So, too, as to defendant’s motives: “Although the defendant may, be the worst of men * * * the rights of the best of men are secure only as the rights of the vilest and most abhorrent are protected.” (b) It is most doubtful (as explained in the Appendix) whether anyone can now demonstrate that children’s reading or looking at obscene matter has a probable causal relation to the children’s antisocial conduct. If, however, such a probable causal relation could be shown, there could be little doubt, I think, of the validity of a statute (if so worded as to avoid undue ambiguity) which specifically' prohibits the distribution by mail of obscene publications for sale to young people. But discussion of such legislation is here irrelevant, since, to repeat, the existing federal statute is not thus restricted. (c) Congress undoubtedly has wide power to protect public morals. But the First Amendment severely limits that power in the area of free speech and free press. (d) It is argued that anti-obscenity legislation is valid because, at the time of the adoption of the First Amendment; obscenity was a common law crime. Relying (inter alia) on Bridges v. State of California, 314 U.S. 252, 264-265, 62 S.Ct. 190, 86 L.Ed. 192 and Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U.S. 233, 248-249, 56 S.Ct. 444, 80 L.Ed. 660, I have tried in the Appendix to answer that argument. (e) The First Amendment, of course, does not prevent any private body or group (including any Church) from instructing, or seeking to persuade, its adherents or others not to read or distribute obscene (or other) publications. That constitutional provision — safeguarding a principle indispensable in a true democracy — leaves unhampered all non-governmental means of molding public opinion about not reading literature which some think undesirable; and, in that respect, experience teaches that democratically exercised censorship by public opinion has far more potency, and is far less easily evaded, than censorship by government. The incessant struggle to influence public opinion is of the very essence of the democratic process. A basic purpose of the First Amendment is to keep that struggle alive, by not permitting the dominant public opinion of the present to become embodied in legislation which will prevent the formation of a different dominant public opinion in the future. (f) At first glance it may seem almost frivolous to raise any question about the constitutionality of the obscenity statute at a time when many seemingly graver First Amendment problems confront the courts. But (for reasons stated in more detail in the Appendix) governmental censorship of writings, merely because they may stimulate, in the reader, sexual thoughts the legislature deems undesirable, has more serious implications than appear at first glance: We have been warned by eminent thinkers of the easy path from any apparently mild governmental control of what adult citizens may read to governmental control of adult’s political and religious reading. John Milton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, J. S. Mill and Tocqueville have pointed out that any paternalistic guardianship by government of the thoughts of grown-up citizens enervates their spirit, keeps them immature, all too ready to adopt towards government officers the attitude that, in general, “Papa knows best.” If the government possesses the power to censor publications which arouse sexual thoughts, regardless of whether those thoughts tend probably to transform themselves into anti-social behavior, why may not the government censor political and religious publications regardless of any causal relation to probable dangerous deeds? And even if we confine attention to official censorship of publications tending to stimulate sexual thoughts, it should be asked why, at any moment, that censorship cannot be extended to advertisements and true reports or photographs, in our daily press, which, fully as much, may stimulate such thoughts ? (g) Assuming, arguendo, that a statute aims at an altogether desirable end, nevertheless its desirability does not render it constitutional. As the Supreme Court has said, “The good sought in unconstitutional legislation is an insidious feature, because it leads citizens and legislatures of good purpose to promote it without thought of the serious break it will make in the ark of our covenant. * * * » In a concurring opinion in Roth v. Goldman, 2 Cir., 1948, 172 F.2d 788, 790, I voiced puzzlement about the constitutionality of administrative prior restraint of obscene books. I then had little doubt about the validity of a purely punitive obscenity statute. But the next year, in Commonwealth v. Gordon, 1949, 66 Pa.Dist. & Co. R. 101, Judge Curtis Bok,’ one of America’s most 'reflective judges', directly attacked the validity of ány such punitive legislation-. - His brilliant opinion, which states arguments that (so far as I know) have never been answered, nudged me into the skeptical views contained in this opinion and the Appendix. Appendix As a judge of an inferior court, I am constrained by opinions of the Supreme Court concerning the obscenity statute to hold that legislation valid. Since, however, I think (as indicated in the foregoing) that none of those opinions has carefully canvassed the problem in the light of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment, especially as expressed by the Court in recent years, I deem it not improper to set forth, in .the following, factors which I think deserve consideration in passing on the constitutionality of that statute. 1. Benjamin Franklin, in 1776 unanimously designated Postmaster General by the First Continental Congress, is appropriately known as the “father of the Post Office.” Among his published writings are two 2 — Letter of- Advice to Young Men on the Proper Choosing of a Mistress and The-Speech of Polly Baker —which a jury could reasonably find “obscene,” according to the judge’s instructions in the case at bar. On that basis, if tomorrow a man were to send those works of Franklin through the mails, he would be subject to prosecution and (if the jury found him guilty) to punishment under the federal obscenity statute. That fact would surely have astonished Jefferson, who extolled Franklin as an American genius, called him “venerable and beloved” of his countrymen, and wrote approvingly of Franklin’s Polly Baker. No less would it have astonished Madison, also an admirer of Franklin (whom he described as a man whose “genius” was “an ornament of human nature”) and himself given to telling. “Rabelaisian anecdotes.” Nor was the taste of these men unique in the American Colonies: “Many a library of a colonial planter in Virginia or a colonial intellectual in New England boasted copies of Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy, Ovid’s Art of Love, and Rabelais. * * *>> As, with Jefferson’s encouragement, Madison, in the first session of Congress, introduced what became the First Amendment, it seems doubtful that the constitutional guaranty of free speech and free press could have been intended to allow Congress validity to enact the “obscenity” Act. That doubt receives reinforcement from the following: In 1799, eight years after the adoption of the First Amendment, Madison, in an Address to the General Assembly of Virginia, said that the “truth of opinion” ought not to be subject to “imprisonment, to be inflicted by those of a different opinion”; he there also asserted that it would subvert the First Amendment to make a “distinction between the freedom and the licentiousness of the press.” Previously, in 1792, he wrote that “a man has property in his opinions and free communication of them,” and that a government which “violates the property which individuals have in their opinion • * * is not a pattern for the United States.” Jefferson’s proposed Constitution for Virginia (1776), provided: “Printing presses shall be free, except so far as by commission of private injury cause may be given of private action.” In his Second Inaugural Address (1805), he said: “No inference is here intended that the laws provided by the State against false and defamatory publications should not be enforced * * * The press, confined to truth, needs no other restraint * * *; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and demoralizing licentiousness. If there still be improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.” The broad phrase in the First Amendment, prohibiting legislation abridging “freedom of speech, or of the press”, includes the right to speak and write freely for the public concerning any subject. As the Amendment specifically refers to “the free exercise [of religion]” and to the right “of the people * * * to assemble” and to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, it specifically includes the right freely to speak to and write for the public concerning government and religion; but it does not limit this right to those topics. Accordingly, the views of Jefferson and Madison about the freedom to speak and write concerning religion are relevant to a consideration of the constitutional freedom in respect of all other subjects. Consider, then, what those men said about freedom of religious discussion: Madison, in 1799, denouncing the distinction “between the freedom and the licentiousness of the press” said, “By its help, the judge as to what is licentious may escape through any constitutional restriction,” and added, “Under it, Congress might denominate a religion to be heretical and licentious, and proceed to its suppression * * * Remember * * * that it is to the press mankind are indebted for having dispelled the clouds which long encompassed religion * * *” Jefferson, in 1798, quoting the First Amendment, said it guarded “in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press; insomuch, that whatever violates either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others.” In 1814, he wrote in a letter, “I am really mortified to be told that in the United States of America, a fact like this (the sale of a book) can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offense against religion; that (such) a question can be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our freedom of religion? And are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold and what we may buy? * * * Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched ?” Those utterances high-light this fact: Freedom to speak publicly and to publish has, as its inevitable and important correlative, the private rights to hear, to read, and to think and to feel about what one hears and reads. The First Amendment protects those private rights of hearers and readers. We should not forget that, prompted by Jefferson, Madison (who at one time had doubted the wisdom of a Bill of Rights) when he urged in Congress the enactment of what became the first ten Amendments, declared, “If they are incorporated into the Constitution, independent tribunals of justice will consider themselves in a peculiar manner the guardian of those rights; they will be an impenetrable barrier against every assumption of power in the Legislative or Executive; they will be naturally led to resist every encroachment upon rights expressly stipulated for in the Constitution by the declaration of rights.” In' short, the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, was not designed merely as a set of admonitions to the legislature and the executive; its provisions were to be enforced by the courts. Judicial enforcement necessarily entails judicial interpretation. The question therefore arises whether the courts, in enforcing the First Amendment, should interpret it in accord with the views prevalent among those who sponsored and adopted it or in accord with subsequently developed views which would sanction legislation more restrictive of free speech and free press. So the following becomes pertinent: Some of those who in the 20th Century endorse legislation suppressing “obscene” literature have an attitude towards freedom of expression which does not match that of the framers of the First Amendment (adopted at the end of the 18th Century) but does stem from an attitude, towards writings dealing with sex, which arose decades later, in the mid-19th Century, and is therefore labelled — doubtless too sweepingly — “Victorian.” It was a dogma of “Victorian morality” that sexual misbehavior would be encouraged if one were to “acknowledge its existence or at any rate to present it vividly enough to form a life-like image of it in the reader’s mind”; this morality rested on a “faith that you could best conquer evil by shutting your eyes to its existence,” and on a kind of word magic. The demands at that time for “decency” in published words did not comport with the actual sexual conduct of many of those who made those demands: “The Victorians, as a general rule, managed to conceal the ‘coarser’ side of their lives so thoroughly under a mask of respectability that we often fail to realize how ‘coarse’ it really was * * * Could we have recourse to the Vast unwritten literature of bawdry, we should be able to form a more veracious notion of life as it (then) really was.” The respectables of those days often, “with unblushing license,” held “high revels” in night houses.” Thanks to them, Mrs. Warren’s profession flourished, but it was considered sinful to talk about it in books. Such a prudish and purely verbal moral code, at odds (more or less hypocritically) with the actual conduct of its adherents was (as we have seen) not the moral code of those who framed the First Amendment. One would suppose, then, that the courts should interpret and enforce that Amendment according to the views of those framers, not according to the later “Victorian” code. The “founding fathers” did not accept the common law concerning freedom of expression It has been argued that the federal obscenity statute is valid because obscenity was a common law crime at the time of the adoption of the First Amendment. Quite aside from the fact that, previous to the Amendment, there had been scant recognition of this Crime, the short answer seems to be that the framers of the Amendment knowingly and deliberately intended to depart from the English common law as to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. See Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U.S. 233, 248-249, 56 S.Ct. 444, 80 L.Ed. 660; Bridges v. State of California, 314 U.S. 252, 264-265, 62 S.Ct. 190, 86 L.Ed. 192; Patterson, Free Speech and a Free Press (1939) 101-102, 124-125, 128; Schofield, 2 Constitutional Law and Equity (1921) 521-525. Of course, the legislature has wide power to protect what it considers public morals. But the First Amendment severely circumscribes that power (and all other legislative powers) in the area of speech and free press. Subsequent punishment as, practically, prior restraint - For a long time, much was made of the distinction between a statute calling for “prior restraint” and one providing subsequent criminal punishment; the former alone, it was once said, raised any question of constitutionality vis-ávis the First Amendment. Although it may still be true that more is required to justify legislation providing “preventive” than “punitive” censorship, this distinction has been substantially eroded. See, e. g., Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494, 71 S.Ct. 857, 95 L.Ed. 1137; Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 39 S.Ct. 247, 63 L.Ed. 470; De Jonge v. State of Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 57 S.Ct. 255, 81 L.Ed. 278; Thornhill v. State of Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 97-98, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093; Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 572, Note 3, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031. See also Hale, Freedom Through Law (1952) 257-265; Emerson, The Doctrine of Prior Restraint, 20 Law & Contemp. Problems (1955) 648 (a thought-stirring discussion of the problem); Kalven, loc. cit. at 8-10, 13. (For further discussion of this theme, see infra.) The statute, as judicially interpreted, authorizes punishment for inducing mere thoughts, and feelings, or desires For a time, American courts adopted the test of obscenity contrived in 1868 by Cockburn, L.J., in Queen v. Hicklin, L.R. 3 Q.B. 360: “I think the test of obscenity is this, whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort might fall.” He added that the book there in question “would suggest * * thoughts of a most impure and libidinous character.” The test in most federal courts has changed: They do not now speak of the thoughts of “those whose minds are open to * * * immoral influences” but, instead, of the thoughts of average adult normal men and women, determining what these thoughts are, not by proof at the trial, but by the standard of “the average conscience of the time,” the current “social sense of what is right.” See, e. g., United States v. Kennerley, D.C., 209 F. 119, 121; United States v. Levine, 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 156, 157; Parmelee v. United States, 72 App.D.G. 203, 113 F.2d 729. Yet the courts still define obscenity in terms of the assumed average normal adult reader’s sexual thoughts or desires or impulses, without reference to any relation between those “subjective” reactions and his subsequent conduct. The judicial opinions use such key phrases as .this: “suggesting lewd thoughts and exciting sensual desires;” “arouse the salacity of the reader,” “ ‘allowing or implanting * * * obscene, lewd, or lascivious thoughts or desires’ ”, “arouse sexual desires”. The judge’s charge in the instant case reads accordingly: “It must tend to stir sexual impulses and lead to sexually impure thoughts.” Thus the statute, as the courts construe it, appears to provide criminal punishment for inducing no more than thoughts, feelings, desires. No adequate knowledge is available concerning the effects on the conduct of normal adults of reading or seeing the “obscene” Suppose we assume, arguendo, that sexual thoughts or feelings, stirred by the “obscene,” probably will often issue into overt conduct. Still it does not at all follow that that conduct will be antisocial. For no sane person can believe it socially harmful if sexual desires lead to normal, and not anti-social, sexual behavior since, without such behavior, the human race would soon disappear. Doubtless, Congress could validly provide punishment for mailing any publications if there were some moderately substantial reliable data showing that reading or seeing those publications probably conduces to seriously harmful sexual conduct on the part of normal adult human beings. But we have no such data. Suppose it argued that whatever excites sexual longings might possibly produce sexual misconduct. That cannot suffice: Notoriously, perfumes sometimes act as aphrodisiacs, yet no one will suggest that therefore Congress may constitutionally legislate punishment for mailing perfumes. It may be that among the stimuli to irregular sexual conduct, by normal men and women, may be almost anything — the odor of carnations or cheese, the sight of a cane or a candle or a shoe, the touch of silk or a gunnysack. For all anyone now knows, stimuli of that sort may be far more provocative of such misconduct than reading obscene books or seeing obscene pictures. Said John Milton, “Evil manners are as perfectly learnt, without books, a thousand other ways that cannot be stopped.” Effect of “obscenity” on adult conduct To date there exist, I think, no thorough-going studies by competent persons which justify the conclusion that normal adults' reading or seeing of the “obscene” probably induces anti-social conduct. Such competent studies as have been made do conclude that so complex and numerous are the causes of sexual vice that it is impossible to assert with any assurance that “obscenity” represents a ponderable causal factor in sexually deviant adult behavior. “Although the whole subject of obscenity censorship hinges upon the unproved assumption that ‘obscene’ literature is a significant factor in causing sexual deviation from the community standard, no report can be found of a single effort at genuine research to test this assumption by singling out as a factor for study the effect of sex literature upon sexual behavior.” What little competent research has been done, points definitely in a direction precisely opposite to that assumption. Alpert reports that, when, in the 1920s, 409 women college graduates were asked to state in writing what things .stimulated them sexually, they answered thus: 218 said “Man”; 95 said books; .40 said drama; 29 said dancing; 18 said pictures; 9 said music. Of those who replied “that the source of. their sex information came from books, not one specified a ‘dirty’ book as the source. Instead, the books listed were: The Bible, the dictionary, the encyclopedia, novels from Dickens to Henry James, circulars about venereal diseases, medical books, and Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic.” Macaulay, replying to advocates of the suppression of obscene books, said: “We find it difficult to believe that in a world so full of temptations as this, any gentleman whose life would have been virtuous if he had not read Aristophanes or Juvenal, will be vicious by reading them.” Echoing Macaulay, “Jimmy” Walker remarked that he had never heard of á woman seduced by a book. New Mexico has never had an obscenity stat.ute; there is no evidence that, in that state,- sexual misconduct is proportionately greater than elsewhere. Effect on conduct of young people Most federal courts (as above noted) now hold that the test of obscenity is the effect on the “mind” of the average normal adult, that effect being determined by the “average conscience of the time,” the current “sense of what is right”; and that the statute does not intend “to reduce our treatment of sex to the standard of a child’s library in the supposed interest of a salacious few”; United States v. Kennerley, D.C., 209 F. 120, 121. However, there is much pressure for legislation, designed to prevent juvenile delinquency, which will single out children, i. e., will prohibit the sale to young persons of “obscenity” or other designated matter. That problem does not present itself here, since the federal statute is not thus limited. The trial judge in his charge in the instant case told the jury that the “test” under that statute is not the effect of the mailed matter on “those comprising a particular segment of the community”, the “young” or “the immature”; and see United States v. Levine, 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 156, 157. Therefore a discussion of such a children’s protective statute is irrelevant here. But, since Judge Clark does discuss the alleged linkage of obscenity to juvenile delinquency, and since it may perhaps be thought that it has some bearing on the question of the effect of obscenity on adult conduct, I too shall discuss it. The following is a recent summary of studies of that subject : “(1) Scientific studies of juvenile delinquency demonstrate that those who get into trouble, and are the greatest concern of the advocates of censorship, are far less inclined to read than those who do not become delinquent. The delinquents are generally the adventurous type, who have little use for reading and other nonactive entertainment. Thus, even assuming that reading sometimes has an adverse effect upon moral behavior, the effect is not likely to be substantial, for those who are susceptible seldom read. (2) Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, who are among the country’s leading authorities on the treatment and causes of juvenile delinquency, have recently published the results of a ten-year study of its causes. They exhaustively studied approximately 90 factors and influences that might lead to or explain juvenile delinquency; but the Gluecks gave no consideration to the type of reading material, if any were read by the delinquents. This is, of course, consistent with their finding that delinquents read very little. When those who know so much about the problem of delinquency among youth — the very group about whom the advocates of censorship are most concerned — conclude that what delinquents read has so little effect upon their conduct that it is not worth investigating in an exhaustive study of causes, there is good reason for serious doubts concerning the basic hypothesis on which obscenity censorship is dependent. (3) The many other influences in society that stimulate sexual desire are so much more frequent in their influence and so much more potent in their effect that the influence of reading is likely, at most, to be relatively insignificant in the composite of forces that lead an individual into conduct deviating from the community sex standards. * * * And the studies demonstrating that sex knowledge seldom results from reading indicates the relative unimportance of literature in sexual thoughts and behavior as compared with other factors in society.” Judge Clark, however, • speaks of “the; strongly held views of .those with compe-tence in the premises as to the very direct-connection" of obscenity, “with the- development .of juvenile delinquency.” He; cites and quotes from a recent opinion of the N.ew York Court of Appeals and an; article-.by Judge Vanderbilt-, which in, turiy cité the writings of persons thus-described by Judge Clark as "those with-, competence in.the premises.”,- .One of the. cited writings is a report, by Dr,. Jahoda and associates, entitled The Impact of, Literáture: A Psychological Discussion of Some'Assumptions in the Censorship Debate (1954). I have read this report (which is a careful survey of all available studies and psychological theories). I think-it expresses an attitude quite, contrary to that- indicated by Judge Clark. In order to avoid any possible bias in my interpretation of that report, I thought it well to ask Dr. Jahoda to write her own summary of it, which, with her permis.sion, I shall quote. (In doing so, I am following the example of Mr. Justice Jackson who, in Federal Trade Commission v. Ruberoid Co., 343 U.S. 470, 485, 72 S.Ct. 800, 809, 96 L.Ed. 1081, acknowledged that he relied on “an unpublished treatise”, i. e., one not available to the parties. If that practice is proper, I think it similarly proper to quote an author’s unpublished interpretation of a published treatise.) Dr. Jahoda’s summary reads as follows: “Persons who argue for increased censorship of printed matter often operate on the assumption that reading about sexual matters or about violence and brutality leads to anti-social actions, particularly to juvenile delinquency. An examination of the pertinent psychological literature has led to the following conclusions : “1. There exists no research evidence either to prove or to disprove this assumption definitively. “2. In the absence of scientific proof two lines of psychological approach to the examination of the assumption are possible: (a) a review of what is known on the causes of juvenile delinquency; and (b) review of what is known about the effect of literature on the mind of the reader. “3. In the vast research literature on the causes of juvenile delinquency there is no evidence to justify the assumption that reading about sexual matters or about violence leads to delinquent acts. Experts on juvenile delinquency agree that it has no single cause. Most of them regard early childhood events, which precede the reading age, as a necessary condition for later delinquency. At a later age, the nature of personal relations is assumed to have much greater power in determining a delinquent career than the vicarious experiences provided by reading matter. Juvenile delinquents as a group read less, and less easily, than non-delinquents. Individual instances are reported in which so-called ‘good’ books allegedly influenced a delinquent in the manner in which ‘bad’ books are assumed to influence him. “Where childhood experiences and subsequent events have combined to make delinquency psychologically likely, reading could have one of two effects: it could serve a trigger function releasing the criminal act or it could provide for a substitute outlet of aggression in fantasy, dispensing with the need for criminal action. There is no- empirical evidence in either direction. “4. With regard to the impact of literature on the mind of the reader, it must be pointed out that there is a vast overlap in content between all media of mass communication. The daily press, television, radio, movies, books and comics all present their share of so-called ‘bad’ material, some with great realism as reports of actual events, some in clearly fictionalized form. It is virtually impossible to isolate the impact of one of these media on a population exposed to all of them. Some evidence suggests that the particular communications which arrest the attention of an individual are in good part a matter of choice. As a rule, people do not expose themselves to everything that is offered, but only to what agrees with their inclinations. “Children, who have often not yet crystallized their preferences and have more unspecific curiosity than many adults, are therefore perhaps more open to accidental influences from literature. This may present a danger to youngsters who are insecure or maladjusted who find in reading (of ‘bad’ books as well as of ‘good’ books) an escape- from’ reality which they do not dare face. Needs which are not met in the real world are gratified in a fantasy world. It is likely, though not fully demonstrated, that excessive reading of comic books will intensify in children those qualities which drove them to the comic book world to begin with: an inability to face the world, apathy, a belief that the individual is hopelessly impotent and driven by uncontrollable forces and, hence, an acceptance of violence and brutality in the real world. “It should be noted that insofar as causal sequence1 is implied, insecurity and maladjustment in a child must precede this exposure to the written word in order to lead to these potential effects. Unfortunately, perhaps, the reading of Shakespeare’s tragedies or of Anderson’s and Grimm’s fairy tales might do much the same.” Most of the current discussion of the relation between children’s reading and juvenile delinquency has to do with so-called “comic books” which center on violence (sometimes coupled with sex) rather than mere obscenity. Judge Vanderbilt, in an article from which Judge Clark quotes, cites Feder, Comic Book Regulation- (University of California, Bureau of Public Administration, 1955 Legislative Problems No. 2). Feder writes: “It has never been determined definitely whether or not comics portraying violence, crime and horror are a cause of juvenile delinquency.” Judge Vanderbilt, in the article from which Judge Clark quotes, also cites Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (1954) Dr. Wertham' is the foremost proponent of the view that “comic books” do contribute to. juvenile delinquency. The Jahoda Report takes issue with Dr. Wertham, who relies much on a variety of the post-hoc-er go-propter-hoc variety of argument, i. e., youths who had read “comic books” became delinquents. The argument, at best, proves too much-: Dr. Wertham points to the millions of young readers of such books; but only a fraction of these readers become delinquents. Many of the latter also chew gum, drink coca-cola, and wear soft-soled shoes. Moreover, Dr. Wertham specifically says (p. 298) that he is little concerned with allegedly obscene publications designed for reading by adults, and (pp. 303, 316, 348) that the legislation which he advocates would do no more than forbid the sale or display of “comic books” to minors.- As previously noted, the federal obscenity statute is not so restricted. Maybe some day we will have enough ■reliable data to show that obscene books and pictures do tend to influence children's sexual conduct adversely. Then a federal statute could be enacted which would avoid constitutional defects by authorizing punishment for using the mails or interstate shipments in the sale of such books and pictures to children. It is, however, not at all clear that children would be ignorant, in any considerable measure, of obscenity, if no obscene publications ever came into their hands. Youngsters get a vast deal of education in sexual smut from companions of their own age. A verbatim report of conversations among young teen-age boys (from average respectable homes) will disclose their amazing proficiency in obscene language, learned from other boys. Replying to the argument of the need for censorship to protect the young Milton said: "Who shall regulate all the * * * conversation of our youth * * * appoint what shall be discussed * * *?” Most judges who reject that vie