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Scott, F. R. "Freedom of Speech in Canada." In Canadian Political Science Association, Papers and Proceedings. Ottawa, The Association, 1933, pp. 169-89. S203
Consideration of freedom of speech and, to a lesser degree, of the press in Canada in light of the economic crisis of the 1930's. The author reports on the restrictions placed on works dealing with economic and social radicalism.
Scott, George R. "Into Whose Hands," an Examination of Obscene Libel in Its Legal, Sociological and Literary Aspects. London, Swan, 1945. 236p. (Reprinted by Waron Press, Brooklyn, 1961) S204
Deals with the origin and development of laws and court decisions relating to obscenity in England and the United States. The author describes the trials and tribulations of authors, publishers, and booksellers who have been subjected to the pressures of censorship. He suggests alteration in existing English laws dealing with obscenity. The title of the book is derived from the classic test of obscenity stated by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn in 1868: "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 may fall."
-------. "The Law Relating to Obscenity and Its Dangerous Implications." Journal of Sex Education, 3:148-52, February-March 1951. S205
Scott, Leroy. "Hays Organization Cooperates with Authors' League." The Authors' League Bulletin, 15(9):6-7, January 1928. S206
Agreement between a Motion Picture Committee of the League and the Hays office on the basis and procedure for banning plays and fiction by the latter, to give authors and their work adequate protection from arbitrary and capricious action.
Scott, Paul W. "War Censorship." Wilson Library Bulletin, 14:291, 295, December 1939. S207
A comparison of Canadian censorship of 1939 with United States regulations in World War I. Canadian censorship regulations of World War II provide for the suppression of "any adverse or unfavorable statement, report or opinion likely to prejudice the defence of Canada or the efficient prosecution of the war."
Scott, W. J. "The Lolita Case." Landfall 58:134-38, June 1961. S208
Deals with the prosecution of the book, Lolita, under the New Zealand Indecent Publications Act. In the decision the literary and artistic merits of the book were subordinated to the tendency of the work to corrupt and deprave.
Scott-James, R. A. "The Firm Censorship." Saturday Review (London), 151:8-9, 3 January 1931. S209
If official censorship is to be retained for the theater and extended to the cinema as has been proposed, it should be reformed. It should reflect public opinion, and the defendant should have the right to plead his case before a tribunal. The censor should be the servant of the people, not the master.
-------. "Should Reviewers Be Censors?" Spectator, 150:280-281, 3 March 1933. S210
Defends the right and duty of reviewers to say that a bad book is bad.
"Scouring the Smut From the Newsstand." Literary Digest, 92:31-32, 12 February 1927. S211
"Screening Public School Textbooks in Indiana." Nation, 173:511, 15 December 1951. S212
[Scripps-Howard Newspapers]. Synopsis of the Law of Libel and the Right of Privacy. New York, Scripps-Howard, 1963. 29p. S213
This handbook "is published for the purpose of alerting newspaper editors, reporters, desk men and others in the newspaper field of the dangers arising from the use of libelous words, statements, expressions and pictures, and from the invasion of a person's privacy."
Scroggs, Sir William. The Lord Chief Justice Scroggs, His Speech in the Kings-Bench, the First Day of This Present Michaelmas Term, 1679. Occasion'd by the Many Libellous Pamphlets Which Are Publisht against Law, to the Scandal of the Government, and Publick Justice . . . London, R. Pawlet, 1679. 8p. (Also in Howell, State Trials, vol. 7, pp. 701 ff) S214
Scroggs was a Restoration judge who presided with a heavy hand over a number of sedition cases, attempting to regulate printing through the court. He maintained, in his speech, the right of the court in the interest of public safety to "take care to prevent and punish the mischiefs of the Press." If the press were not contained, the country would be at the mercy of the libels of the Papists, the factious, and the mercenaries. According to Scroggs it was illegal under the Regulation of Printing Acts to publish anything whatever about the government. Scroggs was later impeached for his arbitrary acts in connection with sedition trials.
Scrutineer, pseud. "Secret Blacklist; Untold Story of the USIA." Nation, 179:376-79, 30 October 1954. S215
The Washington correspondent of a New York newspaper reports anonymously on the compilation and use of a whitelist and a blacklist of writers, artists, and composers, by the U.S. Information Agency overseas. The blacklist contains some 7,000 names of (1) avowed Communists, (2) invokers of the Fifth Amendment, (3) persons convicted of crimes involving national security, and an unpublicized fourth category--"additional data" cases, where there is derogatory information about the person in the files.
Seabury, William M. Motion Picture Problems; the Cinema and the League of Nations. New York, Avondale Press, 1929. 426p. S216
Section 6 deals with The Broken Reeds, Censorship and the Industry. "The nations should agree upon a few fundamental specifications of pictures," Seabury states, "the showing of which should be prohibited internationally by such agreement and nationally by appropriate executive or legislative enactment . . . Inspection, instead of censorship, applied at the source of production, by inspectors designated by the League of Nations, in behalf of all of the nations requesting such action, would achieve highly desirable results."
-------, The Public and the Motion Picture Industry. New York, Macmillan, 1926. 340p. S217
Seabury was former general counsel to the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry. He discusses block booking and circuit booking as restraints of trade, Treasury Department censorship, copyright restrictions, restrictions on attendance by children, and Sunday closing. Chapter 11 deals with The Futility of Censorship. "While there should be no state or other censorship of pictures before their exhibition and hence no censorship commission with its attending expense and utterly futile activity, there should nevertheless be legislative authority to prevent the exhibition of pictures which it is obvious to everyone but those engaged in the industry should not be exhibited even though they may not be actually obscene."
Seagle, William. Cato; or The Future of Censorship. London, Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1930. 96p. S218
A classic analysis of censorship of sex expression in literature. "The great crime is now neither blasphemous nor seditious libel, but 'obscene libel.'" Art rather than religion or politics is under attack today. Censorship is only practical when ideas are likely to affect the masses. The "penny pamphlet" is more dangerous to authority than the "three guinea book," but a work in a foreign language is considered safe. The writer distinguishes between two kinds of obscenity: that which represents "excessive sexualism and contravenes the sense of shame, and that which has less sexual exhibitionism but tends to bring accepted morality into contempt. It is the latter, the sexual radicalism, that is subject to the more severe censorship. The newspaper, Seagle notes, has won comparative freedom of expression through years of struggle. The book and especially the stage play have less freedom. Seagle traces the development of sex censorship in England and America and looks into the future. Ultimately, he predicts a psychological censorship in which "perfection of the mind of man will be the ruling passion of the government of society."
-------. "Paradox of American Censorship." In S. D. Schmalhausen, ed., Behold America. New York, Farrar and Rinehart, 1931, pp. 343-59. S219
The reason for the Compatibility of democracy and censorship is plutocracy. America has traditionally demanded freedom from prior restraint, but not from subsequent punitive censorship. While Americans have objected to government interference with their freedom, they have allowed self-censorship and censorship by private societies. In the minds of some, obscenity became an offense of the same order as murder and arson, and unorthodox sex ideas were akin to radical social and economic doctrines. "The censorship of the Machine Age dominates in all countries where capitalism and industrialization flourish. But it has been carried to its greatest lengths naturally in America." The author sees in the monopolies of the capitalist system the greatest threats to freedom of expression.
-------. "The Technique of Suppression." American Mercury, 7:35-42, January 1926. S220
Deals with three types of statutes by which various states have eroded the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. These statutes are known popularly as Red Flag, Criminal Syndicalism, and Criminal Anarchy or Sedition Laws.
[Sealy, George, and Joseph Hodson]. An Address to the Public, relative to a late Trial at Salisbury Assizes, in March 1774, on a curious Information, The King, at the Suit of Wm. Buckler, Esq. (A Justice of the Peace for Wilts) against the Printers of the Salisbury Journal [Sealy and Hodson]. Together with a Copy of the said Information, and the Argument of Council, before the Court of King's Bench at Westminster. London, 1774. 45p. S221
The printers were found guilty of publishing a libel on Justice of the Peace William Buckler in the form of an anonymous public apology. The decision was rendered by Lord Mansfield, who denied that freedom of the press was an issue. Included is a letter from William Temple of Trowbridge, inviting those who wished to protest the decision in the name of freedom of the press to meet at his house.
"A Season of Censorship Discussion." Publishers' Weekly, 111:1566-69, 16 April 1927. S222
Editorial on the recent wave of censorship in New York and Boston.
A Second Letter to Sir Charles Forbes . . . on the Suppression of Public Discussion in India, and the Banishment, without Trial, of Two British Editors from that Country by the Acting Governor-General, Mr. Adam. By a Proprietor of India-stock. London, Printed for J. M. Richardson, 1824. 70p. (East India Pamphlets, vol. 2, no. 8; also in The Pamphleteer, 1825, vol. 25, pp. 33-60) S223
A Second Letter to the Right Honourable The Earl T----E. In Which The Proceedings relative to J----N W----S, from March 28th to June 18th are Mutually considered; the Person clearly pointed out who was the Cause of the present Distractions: and A Curious Anecdote, With regard to Lord M----D's Family, Never published before . . . London, A. Henderson, n.d. 44p. S224
Deals unsympathetically with John Wilkes and favorably with Lord Mansfield, who presided at Wilkes's libel trial.
"Seditious Libels." Law Times, 48:431-32, 2 April 1870. S225
A summary of the sedition law as it stands today, with recommendations now before the Government to extend the law in the interest of suppressing the Irish national press.
Seelman, Ernest P. Law of Libel and Slander in the State of New York. . . . Albany, Williams Press, 1933. 742p. Supplement 1941. 180p. S226
Swindler describes this work as the "most comprehensive study yet made of libel law within the boundaries of one state's laws and court cases."
Segal, Paul M. "Recent Trends in Censorship of Radio Broadcast Programs." Rocky Mountain Law Review, 20:366-80, June 1948. S227
Notes on court decisions, 1931-47.
Segal, Roland. "South Africa: The End of Free Speech." Writer, 10-11, Winter 1962. S228
A South African writer in exile describes the new apparatus of censorship established under the Nationalist Government.
Seitz, Don C. "Newspapers and the War." American Review of Reviews, 50:465-68, October 1914. S229
Effects of English and German censorship on American newspapers at beginning of World War I.
Seldes, George. "Abettors of Tyranny; New Critics of the Press." Nation, 180:138-40, 12 February 1955. S230
Concern with "the most dangerous activity of the McCarthyite movement"--the attempt to destroy an opposition by using a red smear to arouse popular opinion against it.
-------. Can These Things Be. New York, Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. 433p. S231
A sequel to You Can't Print That! An exposé of propaganda and censorship that the author claims exists in the coverage of foreign news by the American press. His attacks are aimed at the influence of fascism, the official foreign press, and the Catholic Church.
-------. The Catholic Crisis. New York, Messner, 1939. 357p. S232
A candid discussion of pressures brought to bear by the Catholic Church against the American press, movies, and book publishers. Considerable attention is given to the Legion of Decency and to the efforts of the Church to influence American public opinion in behalf of the Fascists in Spain.
-------. Freedom of the Press. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1935. 380p. S233
The author describes what he considers the corrupting influences of big business on the press--the utilities, oil, and drug companies. He shows how, over the years, news has been suppressed or perverted to suit vested interests. He describes the fight of the independent press against "invisible government" and pressure groups.
-------. Lords of the Press. New York, Messner, 1938. 408p. S234
A violent attack on the American Newspaper Publishers' Association and certain individual publishers who, he claims, have used the pretext of protecting freedom of the press to protect vested interests.
-------. Los Amos de la Prensa, Prólogo, notas y Epílogo de Gregorio Selser. Buenos Aires, Editorial Triangulo, 1959. 479p. (Colección "Historia Viva") S235
-------. "New War on the Press; 'Reform' from the Right." Nation, 180:113-16, 5 February 1955. S236
"For the first time in American history the press, which Jefferson described as playing a greater role in a democracy than government itself, is under sustained attack from the right--the reactionary or potentially fascist element in the United States." Account of McCarthyism and its efforts to discredit and destroy democratic elements in the press.
-------. "The Poisoned Springs of World News." Harper's Magazine, 169:719-31, November 1934. S237
Seldes is concerned with the control and manipulation of news from those countries with dictatorships. He calls for the press of the free world to fight for the news and for the newspapers to stand behind their correspondents against the censorship of dictators.
-------. You Can't Print That! The Truth Behind the News, 1918-1928. New York, Payson & Clarke, 1929. 465p. S238
A newspaper correspondent recounts his experience with censorship and propaganda during and immediately after World War I. The first part deals with United States and British censorship of news during the war; the remainder of the book deals largely with postwar censorship in Italy, Russia, Arabia, and Mexico.
Seldes, Gilbert. The Great Audience. New York, Viking, 1950. 299p. S239
In a section on the movies the author discusses the Production Code as it operates primarily against sex, and the pressure groups that bear on the movie industry. The Code "sets out to uphold the sanctity of the institution of marriage and ends by undermining the moral foundation upon which marriage stands." Seldes considers the public-interest responsibility of radio and television and proposes a revolution of the popular arts in terms of physics rather than aesthetics, in terms of social significance rather than private pleasures.
-------. "Law, Pressure, and Public Opinion." Hollywood Quarterly, 1:422-26, July 1946. S240
The author offers "an incomplete thesis: that social controls which operate effectively on such older forms as books and newspapers are not sufficiently developed to give us standards in radio and the movies. This, in turn, means that we are developing controls of the popular arts by trial and error; and that both laws and pressures may be useful, as they certainly may be vicious."
-------. "Pressures and Pictures." Nation, 172:104-6, 3 February 1951; 172:132-34, 10 February 1951. S241
The order given by the New York City commissioner of licenses for the Paris Theater to end its presentation of the film The Miracle began "a case more complex than most in the history of civil liberties." The Board of Regents is expected to decide whether the picture may continue. "If they decide against the picture, the issue will be taken to the courts and the interested public will discover that movies are not protected by the First Amendment. If the decision is to continue the picture, a powerful organized drive will be undertaken to alter the New York State law in order to subject the Board of Regents to minority pressure." The articles discuss the forms and limits imposed by pressures and the particular danger for movies since they are not legally considered as part of the press or organs of public opinion.
-------. The Public Arts. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1956. 303p. S242
In this critical analysis of the movies, radio, and television, Seldes considers, among many facets of broadcasting, the three major problems relating to aspects of freedom--the right to broadcast, the right to editorialize, and immunity from censorship. He also devotes a chapter to Edward R. Murrow's challenge to Senator McCarthy and the concept of "equal time" that was involved.
-------. "A Short Angry View of Film Censorship." Theater Arts, 35:56-57, August 1951. S243
A picture of film censorship--by the Johnston office under the Code and before the picture is made; by State boards of review before the film has been shown; and by police power after a film is exhibited. The "dwindling privilege of free expression in the films corresponds to the dwindling exercise of free expression in schools, in politics, in newspapers, in broadcasts."
"Self-Censorship of the Stage." Literary Digest, 90(1):25, 3 July 1926. S244
Comments on the voluntary play-juries established to review New York stage productions for possible deletion or termination.
Selwyn, James. "The Town That Battled over Sex Education." Redbook, 110(1):54-55, 106-8, November 1957. S245
Citizens of Argenta, Ill., were alarmed over the flood of pornography. When the Superintendent of Schools proposed a sex education program as a solution, a controversy was touched off, with an organization known as Parents Unlimited leading the opposition to the use of certain movies, books, and talks. In a town vote, sex education won by 386 to 103.
Selz, Jay, and Howard K. Smith. "The Nervous Networks." Progressive, 27(9):20-23, September 1963. S246
News-analyst Smith reveals, in an interview, the pressures applied against television newsmen.
Semar, John. "The Censor and The Mask." Mask, 2:49-52, October 1909. S247
An essay by the editor, in defense of the censor of drama, calling for more rather than less censorship to prevent London from being flooded by vulgarity. "The theatre is not the property of the mob and is not a place for exhibitions, animal or human."
Semeta, Ramutis R. "Journalist's Testimonial Privilege." Cleveland-Marshall Law Review, 9:311-22, May 1960. S248 §
In examining the contention that newsmen have statutory privilege to refuse to reveal the source of their news, the author finds the journalist's cause for such a grant inadequate. Such decisions should be left to judicial tribunals.
Semmler, Clement. "James Joyce in Australia." In his Uncanny Man. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1963, pp. 13-30. S249
An account of the censorship of Joyce's books in Australia.
"Senate Debates 'Censorship.'" Publishers' Weekly, 117:1668-69, 22 March 1930. S250
Debate between Senators Reed Smoot on one side and Bronson Cutting and Burton K. Wheeler on the other, over the obscene and seditious book clause in the tariff bill. Smoot defended Customs censorship; Cutting and Wheeler argued against legislation that reflected fear of foreign literature.
Senator Hennings and FOI. Columbia, Mo., Freedom of Information Center, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, 1960. 3p. (Publication no. 41) S251 §
A résumé of Senator Hennings' efforts to increase the flow of information from government to the people.
Sensabaugh, George F. That Grand Whig, Milton. Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press, 1952. 213p. (Stanford University Publications, University Series, Language and Literature, volume 11) S252
A study showing the impact of Milton's political thoughts in the latter part of the seventeenth century when the Whigs were in power. The author shows how the ideas in Milton's great work on the freedom of the press, Areopagitica, which probably created very little stir during the Puritan Revolution, were revived in the works of Charles Blount and William Denton to attack the licensing act. He demonstrates by use of parallel text how Blount and Denton borrowed heavily from Milton both for ideas and actual phrasing in their pamphlets. He also discusses at some length Blount's pamphlet, Reasons Humbly Offered . . ., which attacked the licenser, Edmund Bohun.
"Sense and Censorship." Literary Digest, 54:1318-199, 5 May 1917. S253
Comments by newspapers and Congressmen on the censorship clause in the wartime espionage law
Sercombe, Parker H. "Free Speech? Not Yet--Not Yet!" Physical Culture, 18:48, July 1907. S254 §
Excerpts from an address made in Chicago at a reception for Moses Harman, released from prison after serving a sentence for obscenity. Includes comments on the mobbing of the editor of Voice of the Negro.
Serviss, Trevor K. "Freedom to Learn: Censorship in Learning Materials." Social Education, 17:65-70, February 1953. S255
A textbook editor discusses the attacks on school textbooks. Sincere, constructive criticism of textbooks is welcomed by publishers, but much of it comes from "self-appointed, dogmatic guardians of a way of life in which we must live according to the prescription of the few." He reports on the New York Times study of textbook censorship, and discusses at some length the care and safeguards that are observed in the preparation of school textbooks.
Sethre, Robert A. "Freedom of Information Scores on the Campus." Quill, 43(5):13-14, May 1955. S256
"Steady prodding by the University of Washington Daily opens the door to Board of Control sessions."
Sevareid, Eric. "Censors in the Saddle." Nation, 160:415-17, 14 April 1945. S257
"Among the miserable legacies this war will leave in many parts of the world is a system of censorship which has become such an intricate, cunning mechanism, such a deeply ingrained habit of the official mind that free journalists are now confronted with the most exhausting obstacle course the profession has known in decades."
Seven Arts. London, Hansom Books, 1956-date. Monthly. S258
A composite of the monthly periodicals Books and Bookmen, Films and Filming, Dance and Dancers, Music and Musicians, Plays and Players, and Records and Recordings, which sometimes carry news and comment on freedom of expression related to the various media.
Severson, Thor. "The Last Outpost of Feudal Journalism: Copper Controls the Press of Montana." Nieman Reports, 6(4):39-42, October 1952. S259
"This is from the first of six articles in the Denver Post on the influence of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company on the public in Montana through its chain of newspapers."
Seward, William H. "Law of Libel and Slander." Western Law Journal, 2:465-72, July 1845. S260 §
Extracts from a speech by William H. Seward in the case of Cooper v. Greeley and McElrath, before the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Seward calls for a review of the law of libel which puts an undue restraint on free expression by the public press. He states that the American courts have "extended still wider the broad and dangerous definitions of libel, which in an unfortunate age were adopted in England, and have rendered it impossible to justify any libel, however true."
Sex and Censorship. Vol. 1, no. 1, 1958. San Francisco, Mid-Tower Publishing Co. Wallace de Ortega Maxey, editor. A total of three issues published during 1958-59. S261 §
A sensational exposé of censorship, presented for popular appeal. The first issue contains an article by Henry Miller, The Censor Censored; an article by James Kepner, Jr., One Magazine Cleared; and articles on the court decision on Allen Ginsberg's Howl.
"Sex and Censorship in Literature and the Arts." Playboy, 8(7):27-28+, July 1961. S262
A panel discussion by Judge Thurman Arnold; Dr. Albert Ellis, psychologist; Ralph Ginzburg, author; Maurice Girodias, publisher; Norman Mailer, author; Otto Preminger, movie director; and Barney Rosset, publisher. The aim of the discussion is to shed some light on the writer--and those in allied arts--confronted with the conflict between his work, as it relates to sex, and the forces of censorship.
Seymour, Charles. "How Free Can Speech Be in Time of War?" New York Times Magazine, 12 April 1942, pp. 13, 32. S263
When war rages there is a conflict between freedom of speech and national security. The president of Yale University believes that we can continue to have both.
Seymour, Gideon. "American Society of Newspaper Editors Report on Atomic Information Problems." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 4:211-12, July 1948. (Reprinted in Summers, Federal Information Controls in Peacetime, pp. 116-21) S264 §
Seymour, Henry. "Literary 'Hall-mark' of the Old Bailey." Adult, 2:323-25, December 1898. S265 §
A critique of the Bedborough trial and criticism of the "contemptible part played by George Bedborough," whom Seymour and The Adult had supported, and the unfair remarks made by the judge. The case involved Havelock Ellis' Studies in the Psychology of Sex.
-------. "Our Conventional Virtue." Adult, 2:289-91, November 1898. S266 §
Inspired by opposition to the prosecution of George Bedborough for selling Havelock Ellis' Studies in the Psychology of Sex.
-------. "To the Breech, Freeman!" Adult, 2:157-60, July 1898. S267 §
An account of the arrest of George Bedborough for the sale of Ellis' Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Includes a statement of the Free Press Defence Committee, formed in Bedborough's behalf and headed by Seymour, who succeeded Bedborough as editor of The Adult.
Seymour, Whitney N. "Authority of the FCC Over Broadcast Content." Journal of Broadcasting, 4:18-26, Winter 1959-60. S268
Testimony of the special counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters before the FCC.
Sforza, Carlo. "A Basic Condition of International Reconstruction: Freedom of Opinion and Press." American Political Science Review, 37:838-50, October 1943. S269
Freedom of information is a basic factor in the prevention of international misunderstandings which lead to war. It has the power to preserve other freedoms.
Shaffer, Helen B. Bad Influences on Youth. Washington, D.C., Editorial Research Reports, 1955. (Editorial Research Reports, 2:499-518, 1955) S270
Includes a discussion on the influence of pornography, crime and horror comics, movies, and television, voluntary censorship of movies and television; and difficulties in enforcement of the Comic Book Code.
-------. Censorship of Movies and TV. Washington, D.C., Editorial Research Reports, 1961. (Editorial Research Reports, 1:265-82, 1961) S271
A summary of the current status of censorship under these topics: Movie Tribulations and the Courts, Censorship--Official and Non-Official, and Dilemma Posed by Conflicting Demands (protection of child v. freedom of adult).
-------. Status of Birth Control. Washington, D.C., Editorial Research Reports, 1958. (Editorial Research Reports, 2:775-92, 1958) S272 §
Controversy over birth control therapy, a summary of American and foreign birth-control laws, and obstacles to acceptance of birth control, including the position of the Catholic Church.
"Shall There Be a Book Censorship?" Literary Digest, 74:31-32, 26 August 1922. S273
John Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice proposes a system of voluntary censorship. Article includes comments from the press.
Shaman, Dianna L. "Margaret Sanger: Mother of Birth Control." Coronet, 4(3):66-73, March 1966. S274
[Shanks v. American News Co.]. Albany Law Journal, 23:401, 421, May 1881. S275
Editorial comment on the libel case in which Shanks, a lawyer, won a $2,500 libel suit against the newspaper Truth.
"The Shape of Things." Nation, 173:201-2, 15 September 1951. S276
Two editorials, the first concerning the withdrawing of Reader's Digest from the 113 Catholic schools of the diocese of Green Bay, Wis., for publication of an article: Margaret Sanger: Mother of Planned Parenthood. The second editorial concerns the efforts of the Sons of the American Revolution to put into effect their resolution calling on public libraries and schools to label Communist literature with a stamp or sticker.
Shapiro, Martin. Freedom of Speech: The Supreme Court and Judicial Review. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1966. 182p. S277
In the first chapter the author considers the conflict between the "judicially modest," who want to keep the Supreme Court free from political process and the "judicially activist" who represent in the area of First Amendment freedoms those whose methods and ideologies have no other defenders. In chapter two the author discusses the "clear-and-present-danger" rule, widely used for activist judicial protection of freedom of speech. In chapter three he discusses an alternative doctrine--"balancing of interests," which he considers "little more than a tactical device adopted by the modest to avoid the activist implication of the danger rule." The final chapter discusses the preferred position doctrine for freedom of speech and how the clear-and-present-danger rule can implement this preference.
Shaplen, Robert. "Scarsdale's Battle of the Books. How one Community Dealt with 'Subversive Literature.'" Commentary, 10:530-40, December 1950. (Reprinted in Downs, The First Freedom, pp. 359-70; also in C. W. Scott and C. M. Hill, eds., Public Education under Criticism, pp. 322-26) S278 §
What happened when a group of zealots in Scarsdale, N.Y., tried to purge the school libraries of the works of Howard Fast, an acknowledged Communist, and other authors known or alleged to have Communist leanings. The story tells of two years of attack from the ultra-right Committee of Ten. School officials met the issues patiently and intelligently and the attack was defeated.
Sharp, Eugene W. The Censorship and Press Laws of Sixty Countries. Columbia, Mo., University of Missouri, 1937. 50p. (University of Missouri Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 24, Journalism Series, no. 77) S279
Part IV deals with legislation then current on censorship, suppression, and control of the press.
-------. "Cracking the Manila Censorship in 1899 and 1900." Journalism Quarterly, 20:280-85, December 1943. S280
"Study of a little-known censorship episode that occurred during the Philippine insurrection of 1899."
Shattuck, C. H. "E. L. Bulwer and Victorian Censorship." Quarterly Journal of Speech, 34:65-72, February 1948. S281
How the plays of Bulwer were shaped by moral and political pressures from the stage censor. "He could not dig deep into problems of human passion, he could not cut wide swaths across social ills; for all questions of ability aside--those regions were closed to him."
Shaw, Archibald B. Censorship of Materials and Program. Washington, D.C., National Education Association, Commission on Professional Rights and Responsibilities, 1963. 6p. mimeo. S282 §
The associate secretary, American Association of School Administrators, in a talk before an NEA convention, describes some of the pressures to alter or exclude materials and programs in the schools. Among areas under attack are the United Nations and sex educations.
-------. "What Can the Superintendent Do?" NEA Journal, 52:22-23, May 1963. S283
Deals with textbook censorship. "The wise superintendent doesn't wait until the flames of controversy have been fanned into a book-burning conflagration, just as he doesn't wait for the school to burn down before turning in the fire alarm. The sagacious superintendent prepares three levels of defense--good structure, good routines, and good emergency drill." (Part of an 11-page feature on textbook censorship.)
Shaw, Elton R. What Shall We Do with the "Comstock" Law and the Post Office Censorship Power? Washington, D.C., National Committee for Revision of the Comstock Law, [1938]. 44p. (Also a Chapter in Shaw's book, The Body Taboo.) S284
The occasion for the pamphlet was the obscenity charges against Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett. The author, executive secretary of the National Committee for Revision of the Comstock Law, reviews the long history of government action against alleged obscenity. He cites arguments against the obscenity laws by authors, lawyers, and others. He quotes from the September 1937 issue of Sunshine & Health, Editor Ilsley Boone's account of the seizure of the July 1937 issue of that nudist magazine.
Shaw, Fred. "A Call to Arms." ALA Bulletin, 56:1001-4, December 1962. S285
Words of advice to librarians on censorship. Some old ideas on the subject expressed in colorful language: "I feel that witch-hunters are more dangerous than witches." "One of the predictable results of the recent Tropic trial in Dade County was that many teenagers who were hardly mature enough for the Hardy boys were trying to read Henry Miller." "A probation officer of my acquaintance says he knows many delinquents who are in trouble because they can't read, but not one who is because he can." "What we have to worry about is the insidious pressure to remove books from the shelves, the telephone calls to administrators, and antagonism from the Mrs. Grundys who are willing to admit that they haven't read the books they object to." It is sex that usually gives the trouble. He quotes a minister friend who argues that we ban the wrong books. The most obscene books are the sickening novels that picture the world as it is not.
Shaw, George Bernard. The Author's Apology from Mrs. Warren's Profession. By Bernard Shaw. With an Introduction by John Corbin, The Tyranny of Police and Press. New York, Brentano's, 1905. 66p. S286
Shaw's defense of his play, Mrs. Warren's Profession, first appeared in England in 1902 when the play was produced there after an eight-year ban. The essay is reproduced on the occasion of the censorship of Arnold Daly's American production by New York Police Commissioner McAdoo. John Corbin's introduction was reprinted in part from the New York Sun.
-------. "Censorship of the Drama." Spectator, 135:405-6, 12 September 1925. S287
Shaw denies the report (Spectator, 15 August) that he favors retention of censorship by the Lord Chamberlain. "The one person on earth who should have nothing to do with a largely satirical and discourteous art which raises fierce controversy on subjects on which the Court is constitutionally obliged to be neutral, is the Lord Chamberlain." Shaw would limit action to prosecution of the manager for obscenity, blasphemy, or sedition.
"The Censorship of the Stage in England." North American Review, 169:251-62, August 1899. (Also in Shaw on Theatre, edited by E. J. West. New York, Hill and Wang, 1958, pp. 66-80) S288
Criticism of stage censorship in England where "no play may be publicly performed until a certificate has been procured from the Lord Chamberlain that it 'does not in its general tendency, contain anything immoral or otherwise improper for the stage."' Shaw believes that "nothing short of abolishing the monarchy" could get rid of the censorship system in England. He warns Americans who may attempt to set up stage censorship to "remember how the censorship works in England, and DON'T."
-------. The Doctor's Dilemma, Getting Married, and The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. New York, Brentano's, 1911. 443p. S289
In the Preface to The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (pp. 323-42). Shaw recounts the case of the suppression of this work by the Lord Chamberlain. In a Rejected Statement (pp. 345-80). Shaw pleads for abolition of the licensing system, before a Joint Select Committee of the Parliament. His plea is rejected by the Committee. In Preface Resumed (pp. 385-405). Shaw resumes his attack on the censorship activities of the Lord Chamberlain. The Rejected Statement appears in Downs, The First Freedom, pp. 254-65; excerpts from the Preface appear in McCormick, Versions of Censorship, pp. 334-44.
-------. "Preface." In Three Plays by Brieux, Member of the French Academy. With Preface by Bernard Shaw. English Versions by Mrs. Bernard Shaw, St. John Hankin and John Pollock. 2d ed. New York, Brentano's, 1911, pp. vii-liv. S290
In the preface, Shaw discusses the censorship of Brieux's plays in France and England. In France, censorship was broken; in England, where a censor of plays is part of the king's retinue, it is more difficult to abolish. The prohibition of Brieux plays in England in 1909 led to the appointment of a Select Committee of Parliament to investigate censorship. The English system, Shaw states, suppresses plays such as those by Brieux "dealing seriously with social problems whilst allowing frivolous or even pornographic plays to pass unchallenged." He discusses English stage taboos and explains "why the unmentionables must be mentioned on the stage."
-------. "Prosecution of Mr. Bedborough." Adult, 2:230-31, September 1898. S291 §
"The prosecution of Mr. Bedborough for selling Havelock Ellis' book [Studies in the Psychology of Sex] is a masterpiece of police stupidity."
-------. "[Review of] H. Belloc's The Free Press." Nation (London), 22:599-602, 9 February 1918. S292
"I found out early in my career that a Conservative paper may steal a horse when a Radical paper dare not look over a hedge, and that the rich, though very determined that the poor shall read nothing unconventional, are equally determined not to be preached at themselves. In short, I found that only for the classes would I be allowed, and indeed tacitly required, to write on revolutionary assumptions. I filled their columns with sedition; and they filled my pockets (not very deep ones then) with money. In the press as in other departments the greatest freedom may be found where there is least talk about it."
-------. "Saint Joan Banned: Film Censorship in the United States." In Shaw on Theatre, edited by E. J. West. New York, Hill and Wang, 1958, pp. 243-52. (Originally appeared in London Mercury, October 1936) S293
Shaw discusses the request of the Hays Office to modify his play for an American movie production in order to meet obligations of the Catholic Action group. The absurd modifications requested, Shaw notes, "represent not the wisdom of the Catholic Church, but the desperation of a minor official's attempt to reduce that wisdom to an office routine." Censors are popular with theater managers because they afford police protection. They interfere with serious work without preventing real pornography. "I must continue to insist on the evil they do, on the good that they fail to do, and on the better ways of achieving their purpose that are readily available."
-------. Shaw on Censorship; Being an Extract from the Minutes of Evidence Before the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on the Stage Plays (Censorship), 1909. London, Shaw Society, 1955. 19p. (Shavian Tract, no. 3) S294
-------. Statement of the Evidence in Chief of George Bernard Shaw before the Joint-Committee on Stage Plays (Censorship and Theatre Licensing). London, Printed privately, confidentially, 1909. (Also appears in the Brentano edition of The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, pp. 345-80; and in Downs, The First Freedom, pp. 254-65) S295 §
Shaw was one of a number of prominent authors and dramatists called before the Joint Select Committee of the Parliament in 1909 to consider Britain's stage censorship. The investigation grew out of the furor caused when Shaw's play, The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, was rejected by the Lord Chamberlain as blasphemous. Shaw's testimony in opposition to censorship was rejected by the Committee and omitted from their printed report, but this privately circulated version became a collector's item. In the Preface to his banned play, The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, Shaw recounts the events of the investigation. In The Rejected Statement Shaw argues not only against the existing censorship by the Lord Chamberlain which he considers imbecilic and mischievous, but against censorship by more enlightened critics, or by a panel of arbitrators. He pleads for the same freedom of expression for stage plays as for newspapers and pamphlets--that is, no prior restraint. He recommends that censorship be abolished, and that licensing of theaters be transferred to local authorities with specific legal protection given to theater managers against unreasonable restraints.
-------. Gilbert Murray, et al. The Censorship of Plays in the Office of the Lord Chamberlain: The Case for Abolition. Letchworth, Printed at the Arden Press, 1908. 44p. S296
Articles by Shaw, Murray, and others suggesting various lines of reform. Includes a brief history of stage censorship in England and a list of plays recently approved or censored. In a section on censorship in practice, Shaw notes that one of the worst features of the existing arrangement is the practice of the examiner of plays to take no cognizance of the author as such and his refusal to communicate directly with any author concerning the work which he has condemned in the secrecy of St. James's Palace. The system operates largely against the serious drama. "The creator of a statute of the early years of the last century says that our prophets shall not use the theatre as a forum." In an article reprinted from The Nation, Shaw criticizes both the system and the present censor, Mr. Redford. The first and most intolerable rule of the censor is that "dramatic art is too unclean a thing to be allowed to be religious. It may be lewd, and it may be silly; but it must not dare touch anything sacred." There are three great taboos on the question of sex--you must never mention abortion, incest, or venereal disease. The play may wallow in vice, but must never show the serious consequence. The banning of Shaw's own play, Mrs. Warren's Profession, and Ibsen's Ghosts are examples of the taboo on these serious sex themes. Shaw rejects the solution of employing a tribunal of eminent men of letters as censors. "The sensible course is obvious. Abolish the censorship of plays altogether, root and branch." If necessary license theaters, managers, and even dramatists but let the play "be born and take its chance with the consciences of men just as it came from the conscience of the author."
-------, Sean O'Casey, et al. "Censorship: Comments by Readers." [i.e., G. B. Shaw, Sean O'Casey, T. C. Kingsmill Moore, and James Hogan]. The Bell (Dublin), 9:395-409, February 1945. S297 §
Comments on Monk Gibbon's defense of censorship, appearing in the January 1945 issue. The editor, Sean O'Faolain, observes, "We now have, here, a Literary Censorship, a Film Censorship, the Censorship of the secret reports of the Librarians' Association, and the private censorship which any citizen irrespective of class, education, age, or sanity may exercise over any book in a public library merely by objecting to it." Shaw (pp. 395-401) notes that all governments suppress, persecute and punish offenders under the headings of blasphemy, sedition, and libel "to maintain conformity of conduct and doctrine." Civilization has traditionally obstructed and penalized change, yet "without change there can be no development." People who do not believe as everyone else does "must suffer persecution until their numbers grow sufficiently to intimidate their persecutors." A licensing system would work perfectly "if the licensing authorities and the censors were wise and benevolent . . . were omnipotent and ubiquitous gods with unlimited time to spare." There is mischief in assuming that "the authorities should be members of the profession they are appointed to restrain and regulate, much as if judges should be burglers and murderers. . . . The censorship is damned, not by the rare masterpieces it suppresses but by the heaps of pernicious trash its license prevents the police from prosecuting." Shaw suggests that "the remedy is to abolish the censorship and trust to the licensing from year to year by the local authorities of all places of public entertainment." O'Casey (pp. 401-67) disputes Gibbon's claims of the importance and influence of books. Food is more important to children than thought; children get more of their ideas from their parents than from the printed word; Hitler was more influential than any writers of books. The problem is not so much what people have missed by censorship (reading people have always read what was banned) but how long Ireland is going to stand "this pompous, ignorant, impertinent and silly practice." Authors must always fight the enemies of free thought whether they be official censors or such unofficial guardians as the Watch and Ward Society or The National Office for Decent Literature. Moore (pp. 407-8) believes every man not only has the right to form and hold his own views but "this, in turn, involves the right of access to known facts and to the opinion of others." Professor Hogan believes that "the further you get away from activity with social implications the less censorship there should be. . . . Censorship of literature should be at the very minimum by comparison with the censorship which the community enforces against various forms of political opinion."
Shaw, Ralph R. Literary Property in the United States. Washington, D.C., Scarecrow Press, 1950. 277p. S298
The purposes of the book are to clarify the objectives and scope of copyright and of common-law rights, to describe the present state of common and statutory law covering literary property as it affects scholarship, to identify literary property rights which do not appear to be recognized by our laws and court decisions, and to indicate areas for restudy.
Shaw, Robert. "Forms of Censorship." Hollywood Quarterly, 1:199-210, January 1946. S299
"It is the purpose of this article to examine as objectively as possible some recent trends toward radio censorship and restriction."
Shayon, Robert L. "Editorials on the Air." Saturday Review, 43(46):113-114, 12 November 1960. S300
Many stations abstain from editorializing for fear of inviting regulation by the FCC.
-------. "Looking at the Birchers." Saturday Review, 48(33):41, 14 August 1965. S301
Report of a 90 minute program featuring the John Birch Society, presented over National Educational Television, in which founder Robert Welch told the commentator: "There aren't two sides to every question. This is one of those smart-sounding phrases that have been introduced largely by liberals to promote certain ideas."
-------. "Mr. Percy's Torch for Television." Saturday Review, 43(41):61-62, 8 October 1960. S302
Tribute to an advertiser, Charles H. Percy of Bell & Howell, who sponsored a controversial television program (C.B.S. Reports) despite a threat of boycott of his product.
-------. "The Public May Be Heard." Saturday Review, 48(26):44, 26 June 1965. S303
Deals with efforts before the FCC, of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ in behalf of the public interest in broadcasting, indicating that public interest groups can play a part in the granting and renewal of broadcast licenses.
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