Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/169

Rh that you are trying to deal with today, and in the beginning when I worked with them, I also helped thei work out their first code,

Whenever they have asked far my advice I have always made an immediate study as carefully as J can, have given my advice and, to my knowledge, it has always been followerl.

Mr. . How often does the board meet?

Dr. . It meets very irregularly and in the last 6 months I think we have not met. As a matter of fact, we don't function as a board usually. Now and then we do. We have, sometimes in the past, been called together, as a board, to take up certain questions.

The. Are the members polled?

Tor example, you have a problem come before you, submitted to you. Do they pol! all the members on that. problem?

Dr. . I gather they do, because Mr, Dybwad, just ahead of me, told you about a letter which the Child Study Association got and the advice that they had given in regard to this copyrighted article from one of the comics, and 1 am sure it is the same letter I got and I rave the same advice and I thought they were foltowing my advice, ut, obviously, they were following aJ] our advices,

The. Are the board members compensated?

Dr. . Yes. I received $150 a month.

Mr. . I suppose each one of the members received the same compensation?

Dr. . No. I understand some of them get more because they are expected to give more service than I do. It is understood I am a very busy person. It is understood that the amount of time that I can give to it should be minimal, but in terms of my professional experience.

So I understand that some get more.

I understand, on the other hand, some get less because they have come in more recently than I have. Asa matter of fact, when I went on this advisory board, it was when the Superman and National Comics were separated into two parts, and Mr. Gaines, Sr., the father of tho gentleman who testified yesterday, had his series of comics including Wonder Woman, and the Biblical ones and historical ones and what not. He paid me $50 and the Superman series paid me $100.

Later on, the group was united, so I have been paid $150 by the one publication.

The. Doctor, could you give the subcommittee a typical case of the sort of problem which comes to the board members?

Dr. . Yes; very easily. As a matter of fact, I don't see any reason for not being more specific about this last inquiry.

This was a question that there were concerns who wanted to produce u Superman uniform for children, realistic, and copyrighte|l. The National Publishing Co. said they had this request comme through for many, many years, and they had always turned it down because they were afraid that children would be hurt under the circumstances; bnt again, it had come up so persistently that they now wanted my advice about it.

So I advised them that in my experience chttdren throughout the ages, Jong before Superman existed, tried to fly, ancl also it has been my specific experience, since I have been at Bellevue Hospital, that certam children with certain emotional problems are particularly pre-