Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/81

Rh The. This subeommittes wishes to thank you very much for your appearance this morning. You have made a real contribution.

Dr. . It has been a privilege to appear.

Mr. . Mr. Henry Schuliz.

The. Will you be sworn, please?

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give to this sub- committee of the Comimitiee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate, wil] be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. . I do.

Mr. . Will you state your name, address, and occupation, for the record?

Mr. . Henry Edward Schultz. I am an attorney, counsel for the Association of Comic Book Publishers. Iam at 205 East 42d Street here in New York.

Mr. . Will you tell us a bit about the association, its past and present membership; how it got started, and what its purposes are?

Mr. . I must be a little vague about the precise date becanse Thad no contact with it at the time, but my recollection is that it was abaut 6 or 7 years age thet the comic book publishers, almost 90 per- cent of them, gathered together in the face of tightening storms of criticism and sought to band together to do something about it.

They organized themselves inte a—EL wonld presume you would call it—trade association of one kind or another, and under the jead- erehip ot a committee, formulated a code.

Again I had no hand in that formulation. It was headed as I re- eall it, by George Hecht, one of the finer, better publishers in the m- dustry, whe publishes Parents magazine.

T think as we look back, it was a sincere effort to bring some begin- ning of order ont of chaos. Unfortunately, early in the operation of that association, some af the larger publishers left it and when I was approached.

Mr. . When you first started was it in 1948, 6 or 7 years ago?

Mr. . I suspect it is 1948 or 1947.

Mr. . Were all the publishers members? Did they all join?

Mr. . I think almost without exception, there may have been 1 or 2 people who didn't attend those meetings, but as I under- stand it, and this is hearsay, 90 percent of the industry were members of that original organization that was formed.

Mr. . Then the association adopted a code and it was after the adoption of the code that some members left; is that it?

Mr. . That is true, but I hasten to add if there is any inference in that that they left because of the code, that wonld be un- fair to them.

The people who left, some of them, are the finest publishers of comics in the industry; some of the largest ones. They left for a