Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/298

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286
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

from the reckless talk and blabbering we hear from other investigating committees. Iam hopeful you can take this law, if il is passed, and send it on to the other States and let them model it iu the sume way.

Mr, Fitzpatrick has told me that he hopes this very same law may become part of their statutes, too, He realizes they have fallen short of what they hoped to do. Ile is very much interested in this gim- mick or device—better call it that—which will enable us to get our foot. in the door at least, anyhow.

Té will not be censorship because that siune storekeeper can handle the most vicious type of literatere that might be indictable as long as he does not sell if to a minor.

Tam confident that no storekeeper who is that vicions will weleome repeated fines in court, faking away from his profits, nntil he reaches the point where he will place his hands in the air and say, “To hell with all this kind of trash, I don’t want it around here.”

I wrote a letier to Dell Comics and I told them about tle work that is being done here m trying to have them become interested in onr New Jersey News Dealers Association, which is a nonprofit, organi- zation working on no budget. ne appropriation, end sorry to say, that T personally am ont the money for the seals wud for the pledge ecards and for the labor and work,

It isa job of love. ‘This is not the responsibility ordinarily by the bay association. We have been practically in every tewn in Union Jounty. We have pictures taken of storekeepers cooperating, and the editor of the Ehzabeth Journal had a lead editerial 2 weeks ago in Which he congratulated one of the storekeepers, Mr. Sullivan, whose business has jamped marvelously since he placed in his window and signed a pledge card to the eifect, “I pledge to sell only clean }itere- ture to children.”

As a result of that, kind of community elfert we are going into Rahway this week; we are going into Linden; we are going te hive pictures nnd seals going on the windows. People are becoming alert. Wo have addressed the following: Catholic War Veterans of Union Connty, al Linden; Kmehts of Colambus, at New Providence; Youth Guidance Conneil, at Rahway; Union County Grand Jurors Associa- tion, al Elizaheth; Catholic Daughters of America, at Prenton; Holy Nine Society, at Rozelle; and a YMCA forum in Summit.

We have had 8 or 9 or 10 evening engagements in recent times on this snbjeel, the harmful inflnence of the comie books on the youth of our country.

If people are awakened and realize what is going on, I think they will rise up in arms and they will support and they will boyeott—L do not bke to use that word “boycott”; it has been used before and it is a harmful word to use, but J think if it ts necessary, 1f a man is absolutely uncontrollable as a news dealer and vefuses to exercise decent, fair judgement, there shonld be some measure of retaliation by his customers and he will lose business thereby.

J touched on the Kinsey book before I went into this thonght on the New Jersey News Dealers Association. 1 was amazed to find out that in Formosa there was a news item only appearing 10 days ago— J am not concerned whether T’ermosa is In the Nationalist camp or otherwise; they banned the Kinsey report because it exerted an nndue psychological infiuence on students. Those are the words.