asanovas Heimfahrt
box 4/11
30. g af .
POINT I.
This book is not pornographie and has
none of the earmarks of that kind of
dirty literature which is sold under the
counter. The name of the author stands
high as a creator of literature. The
leading educational institution of Amer¬
ica, Columbia University, in one of its
outstanding extension courses, not only
refers to Dr. Schnitzler as one of the six
great German writers of our age, but
comments with approval on this very
volume. To condemn this volume is to
indict the community.
In St. Hubert Guild v. Quinn, 64 Misc. 336, the
Court insisted that “contemporaneous literature
must, of course, be judged by current opinion.“
Community morality, then, may be summed up
as follows: That ichich society uccepts is moral;
that ichich it rejects is immoral. Perhaps no one
has expressed this philosophy as tersely as Justice
Holmes of the U. S. Supreme Court:
The first requirement of a sound body of law
is, that it should correspond with the actual
feelings and demands of the community,
whether right or wrong.? (Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jr., The Common Loi, p. 41.)
As a result, that which society approves gains
immunitg and cireulates openly; that which society
condemns is driven to cover, and compelled to flow
through devions, subterranenn channels. Witness
the customary course of pornography. Salacious
pictures and literature fravel the paths of secrecy.
They are sold in alleys, behind closed doors, under
counters, by sneaky individuals.