The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Paul Blanshard On Censorship Ever since human beings have existed, some fellows have been trying to run the affairs of other fellows--telling them what to think,...
...It is a review of all sorts of attempts to control the printing, publication and distribution of books, pamphlets, newspapers--even leaflets and posters...
...It deals sharply and interestingly with the whole business of producing, printing, distributing, selling and reading all sorts of printed matter...
...He is conscious of the earnestness and good intentions of many of the advocates of stricter control...
...In fact, the book from beginning to end is full of facts and good sense...
...The stiffest limitations on writing and reading are not imposed by laws...
...He discusses their proposals with seriousness and careful attention...
...many more have failed of passage...
...Any harm which can be done by pictures or words is as nothing in comparison with the evil results of legal chains clamped on the creative mind...
...So far as legal restrictions on freedom are concerned...
...And when the first caveman artist in Southern France admired the picture of a bear or a wolf which he had smeared on his wall with brutal truthfulness, his neighbor, who was already coddling under his slanted brow the first germs of censorship, no doubt grunted ill-naturedly: "Why must you have sex sticking out all over the ugly thing...
...This book is not limited to censorship...
...As a lawyer, he is inclined to look at every side of the various problems ho tackles...
...Blanshard is convinced that we have made notable progress...
...But other shackles demand vigorous attention...
...Everything that interferes with the flow of printed words and pictures is grist for the author's mill...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Paul Blanshard On Censorship Ever since human beings have existed, some fellows have been trying to run the affairs of other fellows--telling them what to think, what to say, how to act...
...He recognizes that control of certain sorts of printed matter is necessary...
...It is highly recommended as homework for lawyers, lawmakers and would-be reformers...
...But the definitions of these commonly used terms present some tough knots to the courts...
...The author does not babble foolishly about abolishing it before breakfast by passing some laws or abolishing others...
...The members honestly think that they can improve the world by cutting down the discussion of sex or of leftist political opinions...
...In the fight against legal restrictions on the flow of print we have the Constitution, the law and most of the judges on our side...
...And there is a steadily increasing lack of competition in the newspaper and periodical world...
...But he will generally cast his vote for greater freedom...
...Everyone seems to agree that slander, libel and pornography should be cut down to the minimum...
...Author Blanshard tries with a good deal of success to maintain an attitude of impartiality...
...Any reader of this book will note with pleasure and profit how the meanings have changed as time has marched on...
...A series of court decisions has perceptibly reduced the authority of the postal pooh-bahs and customs officers...
...Practically anything which restricts the writer, whether journalist or artist, is to the had...
...I'll bet that when the very first journalist chiseled out the very first line of print on a good, stout block of granite, a critic, looking over his shoulder, sputtered: "Easy there, old fellow, or your supply of stone and chisels will be cut off...
...Because the discussion is fair and because it covers such a great stretch of history, it will put the average reader in a position to estimate the progress which we have made during these 400 years...
...Let the winds of doctrine and information blow free...
...From the 17th century down to now, there has been a constant widening of the permissible in both the literary and the graphic arts...
...History shows that societies in which governments have exercised rigid controls have tended to slump into stupidity and sterility...
...No one can tell us now that it is illegal to print, transport, sell or read Boccaccio's Decameron or James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan...
...One thing I like about this book by Paul Blanshard (The Right to Read, Beacon, $3.50) is that it recognizes censorship as something old, important and deeply rooted...
...A good many censorship laws have been repealed...
...It covers a wide range of activities from the time of Gutenberg on down...
...They result from the activities of well-meaning organizations--many of them religious...
...He will agree with the writer that some things, especially the uncomical "comics" intended for children, should be as strictly regulated as possible...
...This is not just an argument against legal limitations on the printing and publishing business...
...With regard to this and other unpleasant developments, the author makes some practical suggestions...
...In such countries--Tsarist Russia, for example--the only good has been produced by the enemies of control in their efforts to throw off or evade the legal tyranny...
...After comparing the situation in America with that in other countries and sizing up the present in contrast to the past, our author concludes that the friends of freedom have a right to be "cautiously cheerful...
...The reader, however, is under no such obligation...
Vol. 39 • March 1956 • No. 10
