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[-------]. A Full and Accurate Report of the Trial of William Cobbett, Esq. (Before Lord Tenterden and a Special Jury), on Thursday, July 7, 1831, in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall. London, W. Strange, 1831. 45p. (Also in Macdonell, Reports of State Trials, n.s., vol. 2, pp. 789-904) C405
Cobbett had been sympathetic with the revolt of the agricultural laborers in his Political Register of 11 December 1830, and it was for these sentiments that he was brought to trial. Cobbett, then aged 68, delivered an eloquent defense in his own behalf. The jury, despite a plea from the judge, failed to reach a verdict and Cobbett was released. Richard Carlile, who had been more outspoken in behalf of the same revolt, was sentenced to two years. This report of the Cobbett defense was distributed throughout England.
[-------]. A Report of an Action for a Libel, Brought by Dr. Benjamin Rush, against William Cobbett, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, December term, 1799, for Certain Defamatory Publications in a Newspaper Entitled Porcupine's Gazette, of which the Said William Cobbett Was Editor. Philadelphia, Printed by W. W. Woodward, 1800. 70p. C406
Cobbett made an abusive attack on the Philadelphia physician, Benjamin Rush, for the medical advice the doctor had given in the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. After a long delay in bringing the case to trial, the Court awarded Dr. Rush a verdict of $5,000. To meet this Cobbett was forced to sell his Philadelphia property.
[-------]. "Trial for a Libel Published in Cobbett's Weekly Political Register." In Borrow, Celebrated Trials, vol. 6, pp. 56-68 (Also in Birkenhead, Famous Trials, vol. 2, pp. 253-62) C407 §
In 1810 Cobbett was brought to trial before the unsympathetic Lord Ellenborough, accused of sedition for articles appearing in his Political Register. He insisted in pleading his own case, which he did very poorly because of his lack of legal training, and was convicted. There was a long delay in sentencing during which it is believed Cobbett tried to negotiate with the government, even to the point of giving up his Register. This fell through and he was sentenced to two years in Newgate Prison. He continued to edit his Register from prison, but his financial situation forced him to sell his Debates, Parliamentary History, and State Trials to his printer, Hansard, who continued them.
[-------]. "Trial for Libels upon Lord Hardwicke and Other High Officers of Ireland, 1804." In Howell, State Trials, vol. 29, pp. 1 ff. C408 §
Cobbett was fined for publishing criticism of the administration of Ireland in his Political Register.
-------. Trial of Republicanism; or, A Series of Political Papers, Proving the Injurious and Debasing Consequences of Republican Government and Written Constitutions; with an Introductory Address to the Hon. Thomas Erskine, Esq. London, Cobbett and Morgan, 1801. 63p. C409
Various references to freedom of the press in America.
[-------]. "Trial of William Cobbett for Libel, Philadelphia, 1797." In American State Trials, vol. 6, pp. 675-86, and Wharton, State Trials, pp. 322-32. C410
This English journalist, in exile in the United States, directed abusive criticism against the King of Spain in his Porcupine Gazette. At the request of the Spanish Minister he was brought to trial before Chief Justice McKean of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. McKean, after a statement on the law of libel as it was directed against irresponsible and scurrilous personal invective, assumed the role of prosecutor, and in so doing is believed to have libeled the prisoner. The Grand Jury refused to return an indictment.
Cobbett's Weekly Political Register. London. Vols. 1-89, 1802-35. Title varies. Suspended April-June 1817, June-July 1819. C411
This political journal, edited by the violent and sarcastic William Cobbett, carried articles that led to his various arrests for libel. It also reported on the prosecution of libel cases in the English courts, his own and others. During Cobbett's imprisonment for libel (1810-12) he continued to edit the Register, which carried his letters from Newgate Prison, some of which discussed the issues of seditious libel and freedom of the press. The supplement to vol. 8 of Niles Political Register, 26 August 1815, reproduces several of Cobbett's letters relating to freedom of the press.
Cockburn, Henry C. An Examination of the Trials for Sedition Which Have Hitherto Occurred in Scotland. Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1888. 2 vols. C412 §
A critical study of legal aspects of the infamous sedition trials that took place in Scotland, principally in 1793 and 1794, growing out of the hysteria that swept the country with the events of the French Revolution. The author was a prominent British jurist, but not to be confused with Lord Chief Justice Alexander Cockburn who formulated the famous test for obscenity. This work includes commentary on the cases of William Callender, Walter Berry, James Robertson, Thomas Muir, Thomas F. Palmer, Joseph Gerrald, and others.
Cocks, O. G. "Applying Standards to Films; Voluntary Censorship in England." Survey, 32:337-38, 27 June 1914. C413
Codding, George A., Jr. Broadcasting without Barriers. Paris, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1959. 167p. C414
"The task undertaken in this study is threefold: to determine the extent to which broadcasting has been made available to the world's peoples; to define the obstacles--political, economic and technical--which impede its full and proper use as a medium of communication; and to examine possible ways and means of extending its benefits more widely." A section on freedom to listen deals with problems concerning the right of persons to listen to broadcasting from another country, the type of program which should or should not be broadcast to the people of another country and the right of a country to stop, by jamming, programs from other countries.
Coggeshall, Reginald. "Was There Censorship at the Paris Peace Conference?" Journalism Quarterly, 16:125-35, June 1939. C415
Coghlan, Ralph. "Contempt Citations against Newspapers." In Problems of Journalism; Proceedings of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1940. Washington, D.C., ASNE, 1940, pp. 158-67. C416
Based largely on the writer's experience on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cogley, John. "How Much Discussion, How Free?" Commonweal, 66:182, 17 May 1957. C417
The Columbia Broadcasting System would not broadcast the talk prepared for the Church of the Air by Father Thurston Davis because it touched on the controversial areas of birth control, censorship, and parochial schools.
-------. Report on Blacklisting. New York, Meridian, 1956. 2 vols. C418
Study of blacklisting in the movies (vol. 1) and television (vol. 2). Sponsored by The Fund for the Republic.
-------. "The Rutgers Affair." Commonweal, 53:329-30, 5 January 1951. C419
The publication of a short story in Rutgers University Antho, which was essentially the case history of an abortion, brought mass pressures and charges of blasphemy from the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic War Veterans. The author quotes the passage labeled as blasphemous which had been lifted from context and misread to be so labeled. He says "the man or group who takes on the obligations of the censor, more especially who assumes the burden of defending God, the Church and religion in general, should be eminently thoughtful, responsible and sure. This is not the kind of cause that is served by bluster, mere vehemence, prejudice or hasty judgment."
Cohen, Chapman. "L[ondon] C[ounty] C[ouncil] and Freedom of Propaganda." Freethinker, 39:379-80, 3 August 1919. C420
The article deals with prohibiting the sale of free-thought and Socialist papers in London public parks.
Cohen, Gerda L. "Obscenity at London Airport." Twentieth Century, 163:256-59, March 1958. C421
A personal experience with the British Customs which confiscated a book the author had been reading. Investigation revealed it was on a list open to the public. The conflict between the Customs and the Olympia Press, Paris, is also revealed in an interview with the director of the press.
Cohen, Steven I. "Wisconsin Provides Civil Action against a Book." Wisconsin Law Review, 1960:309-24, March 1960. C422
A discussion of the recent Wisconsin obscenity act and the Massachusetts statute on which it was based. "The Massachusetts statute has been in effect since 1945 and the Massachusetts court has never doubted its constitutionality."
Cohn, Marcus. "Religion and the FCC." Reporter, 32(1):32-34, 14 January 1965. C423
While the U.S. Supreme court has been gradually strengthening Jefferson's concept of the separation between church and state, the FCC has been doing the opposite by labeling religious broadcasts as being in the public interest.
Cohn, Morris E. "The Censorship of Radical Materials by the Post Office." St. Louis Law Review, 17:95-119, February 1932. C424
Congressional action to deny the use of the mails by refusal to grant a second-class mailing permit is held to be a violation of the First Amendment.
Cokinos, George. "The School Librarian, Censor of Books." Maryland Libraries, 29:13-14, 25, Fall 1962. C425
"The salvation lies in our recruitment of individuals who are flexible, who can adapt to varied situations, who are well read in all fields or at least have varied interests aside from books." The author discusses the special problems faced by school librarians who operate as part of regulated and controlled systems and are often caught in the conflict between teachers who recommend controversial material and students who feel everything should be available to them and, on the other hand, school administrators who are more restrained in their views and sensitive to outside pressures.
Colburn, John C. The Press and an Informed Electorate. Tucson, Ariz., University of Arizona Press, 1963. 12p. (The John Peter Zenger Award for Freedom of the Press, no. 9) C426 §
An address by the 1962 recipient of the award, the managing editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch, "representative of what is best in today's journalism and in its fight for the people's right to know."
Colden, Cadwallader. History of William Cosby's Administration as Governor of the Province of New York, and of Lieutenant Governor George Clarke's Administration through 1737. Albany, New York Historical Society, 1935, pp. 326-39. (Collections, 68) C427
Contains a lengthy contemporary account of the John Peter Zenger trial, drawn largely from the Brief Narrative, believed to have been written by Andrew Hamilton.
Cole, G. D. H. The Life of William Cobbett . . . London, Collins, 1927. 455p. C428
This biography of one of England's most formidable pamphleteers, political journalists, and social reformers, was written by an English economist and social historian. During a long life of intensive and violent political controversy, Cobbett was often involved in attempts by government authorities to suppress his writings, in England as well as in America where he spent a self-imposed exile. Cobbett's attack on the reputation of the Spanish king in the Porcupine Gazette led to his arrest in Philadelphia (1797); two years later he was convicted in Philadelphia for libeling Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1804, having returned to England, Cobbett was fined by authorities for libeling the Irish administration; in 1810 he was sentenced to two years in a London prison for seditious articles in his famous Political Register; and in 1831 he pled his own case successfully in another sedition trial. Cobbett started his career in critical and often abusive journalism as a Tory, but later turned radical. A full account of his prolific publishing is recorded in a biobibliography by L. P. Pearl.
-------. Richard Carlile, 1790-1843. London, Gollancz, 1943. 37p. (Fabian Society Bibliographical Series, no. 13) C429
A brief but comprehensive sketch of the English radical who devoted the greater part of his short life to a crusade for a free press.
Cole, Marley. Jehovah's Witnesses; the New World Society. New York, Vantage, [1952]. 229p. C430
Chapter 7, Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News, deals with the Jehovah's Witnesses' battle for freedom of speech, press, and worship through the courts of the United States, Canada, and in 22 other countries. The Appendix contains summaries of the decisions, including 46 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Colegrove, Albert M. "Attitudes toward Crime News." National Probation and Parole Journal, 4:313-19, October 1958. C431
[Coleman, Edward]. The Trial of Edward Coleman, gent. for Conspiring the death of the King etc. London, Printed for R. Pawlet, 1678. (Also in Howell, State Trials, vol. 1, p. 7) C432
A Catholic news writer, executed for treason, was one of the first victims of Titus Oates's testimony in the "popish plot."
Coleman, Peter. Obscenity, Blasphemy, Sedition: Censorship in Australia. Brisbane, Jacaranda Press, 1962. 196p. C433
The history of literary censorship in Australia from the first Obscenity Acts of the 1880's to the present day when the crusade against government censorship is almost over. "The dramatis personae are church groups, women's groups, moralists, booksellers, publishers, freethinkers, revolutionaries, journalists, pornographers, sex-reformers, muck-rakers, religious bigots, race cranks, politicians, lawyers, judges, magistrates, customs officers, postal officials and policemen." A serious study written in a light ironical style.
Coleman, William. A Faithful Report of the Trial of the Cause of Philip I. Arcularius, and William Coleman, gent. etc. being an Action for a Libel, Held at the Sittings before His Honor Judge Livingston, on the Third of January, 1807 . . . Taken by Mr. Sampson . . . New York, Bernard Dornin, 1807. 62p. C434
A suit for an alleged libel published in the New York Evening Post. Coleman, who was a militant Federalist editor and friend of Hamilton, made frequent and scurrilous attacks on the Republicans in his paper.
Coleridge, John Duke Coleridge, 1st baron. Law of Blasphemous Libel: the Summing up in the Case of Regina v. Foote and Others; Revised and with a Preface by the Lord Chief Justice of England. London, Stevens, 1883. 32p. C435
George W. Foote, editor of the Freethinker, was sentenced to one year in prison for blasphemous libel, in a case heard by Judge Coleridge. Foote published his own three-hour defense in a pamphlet, Defence of Free Speech, in which he praised the fairness of Lord Coleridge's handling of the trial.
Coleridge, Samuel T. "Duty of the Communication of Truth . . ." In his The Friend; a Series of Essays . . . London, Edward Moxon, 1863, pp. 30-103. (First published as a collected edition in 1818) C436
Essays 5 through 13 deal with the duty to communicate the truth, and the conditions under which it may be safely communicated. Includes relationship between an individual and his conscience, between the publisher and the state, the law of libel, despotism and insecurity without a free press, and the "only solution of the difficulties of the law of libel compatible with a free press: toleration and tolerance."
A Collection of Scarce and Interesting Tracts. London, John Almon, 1788. 6 vols. C437
Printer Almon has brought together numerous contemporary political tracts, including those for and against prosecutions for seditious libel, general warrants, and seizure of papers. This collection includes Lord Somers' treatise on grand juries, the accounts of the libel trials of Zenger and Owen, and the Candor and Father of Candor letters which previously had been published separately. Over a period of years Almon issued various editions of collected tracts, bearing different titles and with varying contents.
A Collection of Scarce and Interesting Tracts Written by Persons of Eminence; upon the Most Important, Political and Commercial Subjects, during the Years 1763 . . . [to] 1770 . . . London, Printed for J. Debrett, 1787-88. 4 vols. C438
Volume 1 includes Charles Townshend, A Defence of the Minority in the House of Commons, on the Question Relating to General Warrants; Charles Lloyd, A Defence of the Majority . . ., and A Letter concerning Libels, Warrants, the Seizure of Papers. Volume 3 includes George Grenville, Speech . . . on the Motion for Expelling Mr. Wilkes, Mr. Wilke's Letter to Mr. Grenville in Answer to his Speech, and A Letter on the Public Conduct of Mr. Wilkes. Volume 4 includes Another Letter to Mr. Almon, In Matter of Libel, Substance of the Pleadings of the Crown Lawyer and of Mr. Woodfall's Counsel [trial of Henry S. Woodfall, 3 July 1770], Postscript and A Second Postscript to a Late Pamphlet, entitled, a Letter to Mr. Almon, in Matter of Libel, and Philelutherus Anglicanus, A Summary of the Law of Libel.
Collection of the Most Interesting Letters on the Government, Liberty, and Constitution of England, Which Have Appeared in the Public Papers, from the Time that Lord Bute Was Appointed First Lord of the Treasury, to the Death of the Earl of Egremont . . . London, [Almon?], n.d. 3 vols. C439
"In these volumes are contained all the authentic papers relative to the North Briton and the case of Mr. Wilkes; examined with the originals."
Colledge, Stephen. The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Stephen Colledge for High-Treason, in Conspiring the Death of the King, the Levying of War, and the Subversion of the Government. Before the Right Honourable Sr. Francis North, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and other Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer . . . the 17th and 18th of August 1681. London, Printed for Thomas Basset and John Fish, 1681. 102p. (Also in Howell, State Trials, vol. 8, pp. 549-746) C440
Colledge (or College) was a fanatical antipapist, whose coarse verse and "scandalous" pamphlets contributed to his arrest and trial for sedition. He was also accused of threatening the king and of riding armed to Oxford where Parliament was in session. Colledge was found guilty, executed, drawn, and quartered.
Collet, Collet Dobson. History of the Taxes on Knowledge: Their Origin and Repeal. Introduction by George Jacob Holyoake. London, Unwin, 1899. 2 vols. (Reprinted in 1933 in the Thinker's Library, no. 33) C441
In 1712 the first newspaper tax was enacted in England, which provided the government with a device that replaced the licensing system as a potential means of censorship. This is the story of the 157-year crusade to abolish these "taxes on knowledge," which ended with the repeal of the last such tax in 1869. The author was himself active in the movement.
Collier, Arthur. "Two Purity Societies." Adult, 2:207-9, August 1898. C442 §
The author praises the work of the National Vigilance Association and its executive, W. A. Coote, for the society's attack on sex ignorance. He criticizes the National Association for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice, as an agency based on childish ignorance of the nature of prostitution and sexual tyranny.
Collier, Jeremy. A Defence of the Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage, etc.; Being a Reply to Mr. [William] Congreve's Amendments, etc., and to the Vindication of the Author of the Relapse, [Sir J. Vanbrugh]. London, Keble, Sare & Hindmarsh, 1699. 139p. C443
Congreve and Vanbrugh answered Collier's attack (A Short View, etc.) on them and their plays. Collier followed with this work and a Second Defense . . ., the latter in answer to James Drake's The Ancient and Modern Stages Surveyed.
-------. A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, together with the Sense of Antiquity upon this Argument. London, Keble, Sare & Strahan, 1698. 288p. C444
This devastating criticism of the English theater had an important influence on the establishment of a permanent system of stage censorship in Great Britain. Collier, a nonjuring clergyman with a literary bent, attacked dramatists and their plays by name, citing incidents of vulgarity. King William was sympathetic with Collier's efforts at reform and used his actual words in admonishing the Master of Revels to take a firmer hand in the licensing of plays.
Collier, John. "Anthony Comstock--Liberal." Survey, 35:127-30, 6 November 1915. C445
A favorable appraisal of the work of the vice crusader, written on the occasion of Comstock's death.
-------. "Censorship; and the National Board," Survey, 35:9-14+, 2 October 1915. C446
A discussion of the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures, the conditions leading to its creation and an analysis of its work. The author concludes: "Censorship is impracticable and dangerous because the means involved are too crude for the ends sought; are indeed largely unrelated to the ends sought; and because the indirect damage of censorship infinitely exceeds the direct good which may be accomplished."
-------. "Censorship in Action." Survey, 34:423-27, 7 August 1915. C447
The author, cofounder in 1909 of the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures (a voluntary agency), traces the growth of film censorship in the United States from the first city censorship board (Chicago, 1907) and the first state censorship board (Pennsylvania 1909) to the recent (1915) Supreme Court decision upholding motion picture censorship. He favors voluntary censorship and is sharply critical of much of the legal censorship of city and state boards which he finds unenlightened irresponsible, pathetic, and harmful to the serious development of the movie art.
-------. "Film Shows and Lawmakers." Survey, 29:643-44, 8 February 1913. C448
A protest concerning the delay by the New York Board of Aldermen in enacting the ordinance framed by the Mayor's Committee on Moving Pictures.
-------. "The Learned Judges and the Films." Survey, 34:513-16, 4 September 1915. C449
A criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that precensorship of films is legal. The Court had the option of deciding whether the framers of the Constitution intended to secure the freedom of political, economic, and religious discussions in whatever form, or merely sought to protect newspapers, books, and public utterances. In choosing the limiting second option the court "ignored the voluminous evidence . . . that the motion picture theater had already become . . . an important form of press, of publication and of speech directed toward religious, economic and political subjects." The author, an advocate of voluntary censorship of films, fears for the future in the extension of legal censorship.
-------. "'Movies' and the Law." Survey, 27:1628-29, 20 January 1912. C450
A member of the Committee on Moving Pictures appointed by New York Mayor Gaynor reports on the main points of interest in the proposed ordinance which was framed by the Committee and presented to the New York Board of Aldermen.
Collins, Anthony. Discourse of Free-thinking, Occassion'd by the Use and Growth of a Sect Call'd Free-thinkers. London, 1713. 140p. C451
An argument for the necessity and expediency of rational thinking and intellectual freedom, especially on subjects of religion. His work, which set forth the position of the deists, was widely criticized by theologians and satirized by Jonathan Swift. It was placed on the Roman Index in 1715.
[-------]. A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion . . . To which is prefix'd an Apology for free debate and liberty of writing . . . London, 1724. 62p., 285p. C452
This disciple of John Locke maintained that all belief must be based on free inquiry. In a preface to the Discourse, Collins defends the liberty of writing of the man (William Whiston) whose essay on the Old and New Testaments he is criticizing in the text. Collins argues that every man has a "natural right" to think and judge for himself, to freely profess and publish his opinions and attempt to convince others of their truth. An attempt to suppress opinions that are different from one's own only sheds doubt on the opinions of the suppressor. Clergymen especially should have full liberty to inquire after truth and teach what they believe. "Men have no reason to apprehend an ill consequence to truth from free debate; but on the contrary to apprehend ill consequence from free debate disallow'd." True debate will lessen the number of controversies, contribute to knowledge and the arts, and lead to a solid and lasting peace. Thomas Cooper, in his Treatise on the Law of Libel and the Liberty of the Press, 1830, acknowledges the influence of Collins.
Collins, Blanche. "Ordeal at Long Beach." Library Journal, 90:2486-90+, 1 June 1965. C453 §
The librarian of the Long Beach, Calif., Public Library reports on the long fight of that library against censorship pressures of the radical right. First, there was the campaign to remove Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ from the shelves. More recently charges were made by the Education Society of Long Beach, resulting in a five-hour public hearing before the City Council, that the library was excluding "books and periodicals which present points of view which may be described as pro-American and anti-Communist." The library staff cooperated with its critics by patiently checking long lists of books and providing other information requested. The Long Beach episodes, the author points out, are part of "a pattern in this war on public libraries which goes back several years and extends throughout our country. We have had access to the John Birch Society Bulletin and find in it material which ties in with all of this . . . I have realized that we must fight the issue on a broad scale and not get caught fighting the little fight on the little branch of the tree." She writes with appreciation for the support of the city manager, the library staff, the local newspaper, and many community leaders.
Collins, J. P. "Cult of the Hyena." Nineteenth Century, 123:535-49, May 1938. C454
A barbed criticism of the popular press, likened to the hyena for its subbestial behavior, its interest in carrion and garbage, and its intrusion into the private lives of the people. The press faces public clamor for restrictions unless it changes its way.
[Collins, John]. "Trial of John Collins before Littledale, J., and a common jury, at the Warwick Summer Assizes, on August 5, 1839, for publishing a seditious libel." In Macdonell, Reports of State Trials, vol. 4, pp. 1149-76. C455 §
Collins, LeRoy. Remarks by LeRoy Collins, President, National Association of Broadcasters to Conference on Freedom and Responsibility in Broadcasting, at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Ill., August 3, 1961. Washington, D.C., The National Association of Broadcasters, 1961. 6p. C456 §
Collins, Robert H. "Books Defaced with Stickers of Minutemen." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 27 September 1964. p. 10A. C457 §
Stickers bearing the words "A Gun Did Not Kill Kennedy--A Communist Did" and the identification "Minutemen, Norborne, Mo.," were pasted on the title pages of numerous books in a St. Louis bookstore, concentrated largely on books about the late President. Several months earlier books in the Washington University library were similarly defaced with anti-Communist slogans.
Collins, Seward. "Chronicle and Comment; Censorship." Bookman, 70:648-56, February 1930. C458
Collins takes issue with William Allan Neilson and Edward Weeks over their recent articles in the Atlantic Monthly opposing censorship. Censorship, he argues, is needed to prevent corruption of the reader. He favors enforcing censorship laws through the cooperative efforts of two groups--the prosecuting agency and a judicial agency such as the Watch and Ward Society, made up of churchmen and educators.
Collison, R. L. W. "The [Book Selection] Problem--A British View." In Freedom of Communication; Proceedings of the First Conference on Intellectual Freedom . . . Chicago, American Library Association, 1954, pp. 55-62. C459 §
-------. "Books Are Not for Burning." Assistant Librarian, 49:35-37, March 1956. C460
A review of the second edition of Anne Lyon Haight's Banned Books and Rubinstein and Farley's catalog of a University of Kansas exhibit on censorship. In the December 1956 issue of Assistant Librarian the author comments on certain criticisms of Mrs. Haight's work (references to East Germany), observing that censorship may take subtle as well as overt form.
-------. "The Fight for Freedom." Library Assistant, 45:3, 35-38, March 1952; 45:133-34, November 1952. C461
A discussion of the activities of the American Library Association's Committee on Intellectual Freedom and the conference held in June 1952 to discuss attacks on library book selection policies by individuals and pressure groups.
-------. "What Is Censorship?" Assistant Librarian, 49:191-93, December 1956. C462
Colorado. Legislative Council. Comic Books: Related Matters and Problems; Report to the General Assembly. Denver, The Council, 1956. (Research Publication no. 19) C463
Colson, John. "Municipal Administration and the Freedom to Read." Wisconsin Library Bulletin, 60:175-78, May-June 1964. C464 §
[Colton, Calvin]. Abolition a Sedition. By a Northern Man. Philadelphia, G. W. Donahue, 1839. 187p. C465
Antiabolitionist sentiment as applied to press regulations.
Columbus, pseud. Letter to a Member of Congress; Respecting the Alien and Sedition Laws . . . [n.p. 1799]. 48p. C466
Combe, Abram. An Address to the Conductors of the Periodical Press, upon the Causes of Religious and Political Disputes, with Remarks on the Local and General Definition of Certain Words and Terms which have been often the Subject of Controversy. Edinburgh, Printed by James Auchie, 1823. 48p. C467
The writer claims that much of the distress in the world is caused by ignorance, and that the periodical press has a responsibility to give full and accurate information on all sides of a controversy, that truth may be perceived. Much of the pamphlet is devoted to a study of different meanings given to terms used in controversial literature of the time, and the writer uses a work of William Cobbett for this study of the semantics of politics.
Combe, George. Suppressed Documents; or, An Appeal to the Public against the Conductors of the Scottish Guardian. Glasgow, J. McLeod, 1836. 14p. C468
Come, Arnold B. "The Christian and Censorship: Some General Principles." Issue, 1(1):9-11, Winter 1963. C469 §
A theology professor opposes civil censorship as contrary to Christian doctrine, which exalts freedom of the human spirit. Resistance to evil thought should be the responsibility of the church, the home, and the school, rather than the law and government. Abuses to freedom of the press should be met largely through appeal to conscience and public opinion. "The abuses of the freedom of thought and expression are finally controlled and adequately dealt with only by that thought and expression that opposes error with truth." Dr. Come was witness for the defense in the Marin County Tropic of Cancer trial.
Comfort, Alex. "Social Aspects of Censorship & Pornography." Now, 8:11-14, May-June 1947. C470 §
In a power society censorship has operated against three main threats to itself--criticism of power, criticism of religion, and open discussion of sexual matters--"the last in part because rulers have always had a hardly-conscious conviction that sexual freedom was in some way related to political liberty, and in part because of the need to appear as the upholders of a morality increasingly based upon fear . . . Censorship by power against sedition and heresy is easy to understand, but the censorship of genuine pornography is illogical--pornography tends to stabilize an ill-adapted society, rather as prostitution does . . . The most serious feature of the history of pornography is its progressive deviation away from mere sexual ribaldry toward more and more abnormal outlets." Present-day pornography has ceased to be bawdy and has become brutal and scabrous.
"Comic Books and Children: a Radio Script." Illinois Libraries, 37:43-46, February 1955; 37:98-102, March 1955. C471 §
A critique of Frederic Wertham's book, Seduction of the Innocent, an indictment of horror comics, conducted by a panel of teachers and librarians.
["'Comics' and 'Obscene Publications'"]. Bookseller, 2551:1646-50, 13 November 1954. C472
Calls for reform of the obscenity law in England which puts legitimate publishers "under the shadow of Old Bailey." It is hypocritical to condemn books as unfit for children that are not intended to be read by children and at the same time claim that horror comics written for children are not "technically" obscene.
"The Comics: Do They Or Don't They?" Juvenile Delinquency Digest, 1(2):1-4, March 1955. C473
Comics Magazine Association of America. Facts About Code-Approved Comic Magazines. New York, The Association, 1963. 32p. (The Code is reprinted in McNickle, Policing the Comics) C474
"Included is a description of how the Code Authority operates, a brief background of the comics magazine industry and of the C.M.A.A., an analysis of the content of Code-approved comics, their educational as well as entertainment values, documentary material on the efficacy and public approval of the self-regulation program, and the complete text of the Code."
Commager, Henry S. "The Blasphemy of Abner Kneeland." New England Quarterly, 8:29-44, March 1935. C475
Kneeland was the freethinking editor of Investigator, who had defied Boston authorities in 1833 by publishing the second edition of Dr. Charles Knowlton's birth control book, Fruits of Philosophy. In the following year he was brought to trial on a blasphemy charge for irreverently ridiculing the doctrine of prayer and the miracles, and denying the divinity of Christ. The case dragged through the courts for 4 years and inspired numerous sermons, articles, and pamphlets. Kneeland was found guilty in a Boston court and sentenced to 60 days. Despite a petition signed by some of the most illustrious names in Boston, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld the sentence, thus upholding the constitutionality of the blasphemy statute. Commager writes of the effect of the Kneeland trials: "Society was rocked to its foundation, the pillars of morality and religion tottered, and the commonwealth seemed doomed, but in the end the forces of light triumphed over the powers of darkness, immorality was rebuked, and blasphemy silenced."
-------. "A Fighting Printer--and a Free Press." New York Times Magazine, 19 April 1953, pp. 13, 63-67. C476
The story of John Peter Zenger and the role he played in establishing America's freedom of the press. Written on the occasion of the opening of the Zenger Memorial Room in New York City's Federal Hall, on the site of old City Hall where Zenger was imprisoned, tried, and acquitted.
-------. Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent. New York, Oxford University Press, 1954. 155p. C477
"The great danger that threatens us is neither heterodox thought nor orthodox thought, but the absence of thought." In his essay on Free Enterprise in Ideas, Commager presents a vigorous case for freedom of speech and press. This essay is reprinted in Downs, The First Freedom, pp. 230-35.
-------. "Jefferson and the Book-Burners." American Heritage, 9(5):65-68, August 1958. C478
"When he offered Congress his library, his foes charged that it was full of books which 'never ought to be read' and probably ought to be burned." An account of the action of Congress, with quotes from various sources, in approving the payment to Jefferson of $23,900 for his library of about 6,000 volumes. Quotations from Niles Register, 1814-15, vol. 7, Supp., pp. 63-65.
-------. "The Problem of Dissent." Saturday Review, 47(51):21-23, 81, 18 December 1965. C479
Commager defends the right of criticism of American government policies on Vietnam, citing precedent in American history. If government officials "can silence criticism by the argument that such criticism might be misunderstood somewhere, then there is an end to all criticism, and perhaps an end to our kind of political system. . . . We do not need to fear ideas, but the censorship of ideas. We do not need to fear criticism, but the silencing of criticism. We do not need to fear excitement or agitation in the academic community, but timidity and apathy."
-------. "The Right of Dissent." Current History, 29:197-203, October 1955. C480
The editors of Current History had referred to the "almost tragic conflict between the need for security and the democratic idea of liberty and justice." Commager disagrees with this viewpoint and feels that security and freedom are interdependent as are freedom and democracy.
"A Commentary." Criterion, 8:185-88, December 1928. C481
A comparison of censorship in Ireland and Boston.
"Comments on the New York Textbook Censorship." New Yorker, 25:19, 9 October 1949. C482
Satirical comments on a New York Board of Education pamphlet setting up 23 criteria for selecting textbooks and library books for use in the public schools. Three criteria, selected for special barbs, are the requirement that materials selected must be "free from subject matter that tends to irreverence for things held sacred," that materials must present both sides of a controversial issue with fairness, and must be free of objectionable slang expressions. "Irreverence for things held sacred has started many a writer on his way, and will again . . . the Board should strive for a well-balanced library, not a well-balanced book."
The Commission on Freedom of the Press. A Free and Responsible Press; a General Report on Mass Communications: Newspapers, Radio, Motion Pictures, Magazines, and Books. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1947. 138p. C483
A general summary of the findings of the Commission, composed of a group of scholars, headed by Robert M. Hutchins. The study of mass communications "deals with the responsibilities of the owners and managers of the press to their conscience and the common good for the formation of public opinion." The Commission found that although the mass media had increased in importance and influence, the number of persons who were able to express their ideas through it had decreased. The Bill of Rights protects the press and other media from government but not from the private interests which control it. The Commission recommends ways in which the press itself, the government, and the public can bring about a more responsible press. It proposes that the government publicize its works and aims when the private media fail to do so; it recommends that the press accept the responsibility of being a common carrier of information and ideas; and that the public be encouraged to augment the commercial press with its own nonprofit press. The Commission recommends that antitrust laws be used sparingly. The following special studies were issued by the Commission: Hocking, Freedom of the Press: A Framework of Principle; Chafee, Government and Mass Communications; Inglis, Freedom of the Movies; White and Leigh, Peoples Speaking to People, and White, The American Radio. The Library of Congress bibliography, Freedom of Information, devotes a section, pp. 75-83, to the report and its critics.
[-------]. "Press Reactions to Freedom of the Press Report." Nieman Reports, 1(3):14-20, July 1947. C484
Excerpts from press comments, pro and con.
Committee on Evaluation of Comic Books. An Evaluated List of Comic Books. Cincinnati, The Committee, 1951. 4p. C485 §
"The Committee . . . with its 75 trained reviewers has evaluated the 423 comic books available. These books are placed in the categories of No Objection, Some Objection, Objectionable, and Very Objectionable. Those in the first two are deemed suitable for use by children and young people." The list also contains Criteria for Evaluating Comic Books as to (1) cultural area, (2) moral area, and (3) morbid emotionality.
"Communist Propaganda Ban Complicates Postal Bill." Congressional Quarterly (Weekly Report), 20:503-5, 30 March 1962. C486
Background and discussion of the debate in Congress over the proposal to direct the Post Office to screen Communist propaganda.
Comstock, Anthony. "The Children of Our Nation and Their Foes." Light, 99:17-19, September-October 1914. C487
A brief account of the author's work in the fight against obscene books and pictures.
-------. " Combatting the Moral Cancer Planters." Light, 53:58-63, January 1907. C488 §
The secretary of the New York Society for Suppression of Vice reports on censorship of obscene literature in an article written for delivery to the National Purity Conference in Chicago. Comstock was unable to attend.
-------. A Defense of Detective Methods. An Open Letter to Judge Jenkins of Milwaukee, Wis. New York, 1892. 16p. (Reprinted from The Christian at Work) C489
A defense against public criticism of the entrapment methods used by agents of the New York vice society.
-------. "Demoralizing Literature." In Papers, Addresses . . . First National Purity Congress . . . 1895. New York, American Purity Alliance, 1896, pp. 418-22. C490
The systematic corruption of youth through demoralizing literature is the first cause of delinquency. (Photograph of Comstock on p. 419.)
-------. Frauds Exposed, or How the People Are Deceived and Robbed, and Youth Corrupted. Being a Full Exposure of various Schemes operated through the Mails and unearthed by the Author in a Seven Years' Service as a Special Agent of the Post Office Department and Secretary and Chief Agent of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. New York, J. Howard Brown, 1880. 576p. C491
While the work deals largely with the campaign against using the mails for lotteries, bogus schemes, and patent medicines, there are also chapters on Fight Against Obscene Literature, Obscene Publications, Infidelity Wedded to Obscenity, a detailed account of the D. M. Bennett trial, and Comstock's fight with the liberals of the National Defense Association.
-------. Morals, Not Art or Literature v. Laws and Brief. New York, New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, 1914. 68p. C492
Contents: Art Indictable If It Tends to Corrupt Morals, Freedom of the Press, Lewd Defined, Test of Obscenity, and Standard Works Indictable.
-------. Morals versus Art. New York, J. S. Ogilvie, 1888. 39p. (The People's Library vol. 12, no. 406) C493
Having recently attacked the "obscene classics" of Balzac and Boccaccio, Comstock turned to works of pictorial art. In 1887 he made a raid on the New York art gallery of Herman Knoedler, seizing 117 prints of French masterpieces. In this pamphlet Comstock attempts to state his case that art is not above morals; that where the two conflict, morals must prevail. He charges that the youth of the country is endangered by importation of "lewd French art--a foreign foe."
-------. Obscene Publications and Immoral Articles of Mail. New York, J. S. Ogilvie, 1888. C494
-------. "The Suppression of Vice." North American Review, 135:484-89, November 1882. C495
Comstock describes the circumstances surrounding the founding of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1873. The purpose of the Society is to see that the federal and state laws against obscenity are enforced. Evidence of violation is frequently discovered through advertisements. He describes the Society's methods of trapping the vendor of obscene matter and enumerates some of the successes of the Society in destroying offensive material and securing the arrest and conviction of offenders. In the same issue J. M. Buckley defends the society (pp. 495-501) and O. B. Frothingham states his opposition to vice societies (pp. 489-95).
-------. Traps for the Young. New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1883. 253p. (Reprinted in 1967 by Belknap Press, with introduction by Robert Bremner) C496
The founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice has written this book to expose "the mighty forces for evil that are to-day exerting a controlling influence over the young" in the form of pernicious literature. He specifically warns against the modern novel, the daily and weekly paper with its news of crime and sex, the half-dime novel and story paper, pornography by mail, free-love literature, artistic and classical traps "catering to the animal in man," and infidel and liberal tracts, which "in some respects are worse" than the criminal and obscene. He discusses his fight with liberal groups over the "Comstock" postal laws.
-------. "Vampire Literature." North American Review, 153:160-71, August 1891. C497
Comstock reports on his crusade against immoral literature.
-------. "The Work of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and Its Bearings on the Morals of the Young." Pedagogical Seminary, 16:403-20, September 1920. C498
-------, et al. "Comstock in Cold Type: His Address before the Brooklyn Philosophical Association." Truth Seeker, 29(52): 822-24, 27 December 1902. C499
Comstock discusses the controversial Craddock case (Miss Ida Craddock was an eccentric crusader for sex education, who committed suicide rather than face a prison sentence for obscenity). He is followed by opposition speakers E. C. Walker, Henry Rawley, Moncure D. Conway, and Hugh A. Pentecost.
"Comstock as a Psychologist." Truth Seeker, 34:179, 23 March 1907. C500
A critical view of the vice crusader.
Conder, George W. Free Press versus Free Speech: being a reply to strictures in the British Banner of May 17th, in a letter to the editor. London, William Freeman, 1854. 27p. C501
A Congregational minister from Leeds takes the editor of the Church paper, British Banner, to task for, among other things, his interpretation of liberty of the press in the discussion of Church matters. The editor, in a lengthy piece on the liberty of the press, had accused Condor of threatening freedom of the press. The issue of press freedom is not clearly drawn.
Conference on Thought Control in the United States. Thought Control in U.S.A. Complete Proceedings of the Conference on Thought Control. Hollywood, Calif., Arts, Sciences & Professional Council, Progressive Citizens of America, 1947. 432p. Edited by Harold J. Salemson. C502
A conference of West Coast scientists, educators, lawyers, doctors, writers, actors, artists, musicians, and other professional people to consider the extent of thought control in their respective fields and report findings to the Conference as a whole. "The conclusions of the reports were of overwhelming unanimity that there is an alarming trend to control the cultural life of the American people in accordance with reactionary conceptions of our national interest." Among the contributions relating specifically to freedom of the press are the following: Toward a Free Press by Charles J. Katz; Thought Control in American Advertising by Joe Weston; Radio in a Free Culture by Reuben Ship; FCC and Freedom of the Air by Milton S. Tyre; The Threat to Freedom (radio) by Sam Moore; The Writer as the Conscience of the People (re: Zola) by Albert Maltz; Medical Care and Thought Control by Medical Division, HASPC; With Whom Is the Alliance Allied? (Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals) by Carey McWilliams; You Can't Do That (motion pictures) by Adrian Scott; and the Screen Writer and Censorship by Richard Collins.
"Confidentiality of News Sources under the First Amendment." Stanford Law Review, 11:541-46, May 1959. C503
Deals with the case of Garland v. Torre, 358 U.S. 910 (1958), in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the contempt charge against a newspaper correspondent for refusing to name a news source.
"Confused Standards of Literary Censorship." Literary Digest, 53:1033-34, 21 October 1916. C504
Criticism of the suppression of Theodore Dreiser's The Genius by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.
Congressional Digest. [Special Censorship Issue]. 9:33-57, February 1930. C505
A panel discussion, Is Official Censorship of Books Desirable, concerns the issue before Congress as to whether objectionable foreign books should be prohibited by the U.S. Customs. Favoring censorship are Senators Reed Smoot, Frederick H. Gillett, Guy D. Goff, Park Trammell, J. Thomas Heflin, Editor G. W. Ochs-Oakes, Judge John Ford, former Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, and author Hendrick W. van Loon. Opposing censorship are Senators Bronson Cutting, Millard E. Tydings, Robert M. LaFollette, Jr., and Burton K. Wheeler, Professor Zechariah Chafee, Jr., Alfred Bettman, and William A. Neilson. Articles on censorship in the issue include Freedom of Communication in America by Leon Whipple, Censorship in Early European History by George H. Putnam, and The U.S. Customs Service and Its Censorship of Foreign Publications by Seymour Lowman. There is also a summary of state laws regulating obscene literature. The March 1957 issue of Censorship Bulletin, American Book Publishers Council, reprinted a verse by Ogden Nash entitled "Invocation," poking fun at Senator Reed Smoot's proposals to put a tariff ban on improper books. The verse had originally appeared in an issue of the New Yorker during the 1930 hearings.
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