Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/89

Rh Mr. . Yes; we are now merely a reporting ageney. We get up that little letter that comes ont about once a month in which we collect all the clippings all over the Nation eriticizing comies and pass that on te the industry. We call an oceasional industry meeting to talk about censorship, some of their problems, taxes, and things of that kind, but to all intents aud purposes we are out of business on our major objective, which was self-regulation.

Senator. As the regulator, or the Landis of the comic- book industry, if you were permnitted to be, you certainly would not permit a lot of these things you see here this morning?

Mr. . I not only wouldn't, but I didn't and unfortunately they have left the association.

Senator. Refusal to go along with your ideas about it is the reason the association has only a few members left?

Mr. . That is not entirely true. The reason it has not suc- ceeded, I think, is the failure or refusal of some of the larger and better publishers who, while they themselves do not publish comic books which might be in this eategory, did not recognize their responsi- bility to the total industry by sti wing with the organization in its inception and formnlating practices and rules which would have become a bible for the industry.

Senator. Mr. Schultz, it would seem that in the beginning the publishers had pretty good judgment because this was started back in 1947, just as the time the horror and crime comics got underway; was if not?

Mr. . I don't believe the horror comics came in, Senator Kefauver, until about 3 or 4 years ago. That is my guess. I don't think the horror comics were at all in the picture; nobody knew any- thing about them when this code was formulated 7 years ago.

The crime comics were in existence at that time.

Senator. The code seems to have reference to horror comics at that time. "No sense of sadistic torture should be shown," "and vulgar and obscene language should never be used."

Jn any event, Mr. SchuJtz, it would seem to be setontnna ts that this effort that started off so good was not carried on.

Mr. . Yes.

Senator. Thank you.

The. Senator Hennings.

Senator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

You have a seal of approval, have you, Mr. Schultz?

Mr. . We did have. As I explained before, originally the concept was that the seal would only be permitted on publications which had gone through this self-regulatory process. It got to the point. where we went ont of business on that concept, and now the seul, I presume, means that the person who uses it is a member of the association and is conforming in his judgment to the code which was adopted,

Senator. In other words, he would regulate himself and censor his own material and put the seal on?

Mr. . That is right.

Senator. Mr. Hannoch, our counsel, has suggested that there is a seal on one of the exhibits.

Mr. . It is that star, is it. not, Mr. Schultz?

Mr. . Yes.