This is the situation which a publisher or book seller would be up against, if he were to consider such a thing practically. He might think first of importing a stock of books from England, for instance the well-known little volume by —— (the law prohibits naming it) which is so popular over there that it is now in its ninth edition. But the Federal law would prevent that at the very start. For the statute reads, “Whoever shall bring or cause to be brought into the United States from any foreign country any ... book ... giving information directly or indirectly,” etc. He could be fined $5000 or jailed for five years for even trying it. Well then, how about printing a special edition for, say Illinois, to be sold only in that State? It sounds hopeful. But just as soon as he got the book printed the trouble would begin. For he could not mail any announcement of the book to anyone anywhere. He could not put a single advertisement in any newspaper or magazine, because they are mailed to subscribers, and the Federal law prohibits all mailing. He might put the books on sale in the larger book shops, say in Chicago, but if he did so without having them announced or advertised, they would not sell enough to pay for publishing. However if they were also on sale in the shops of other cities and towns of the State the aggregate sale might be worth while from the point of view of human welfare if not from that of the publishers’ purse. But even that would be impracticable because the books could not be shipped from the bindery to any other town either by mail or by express or freight, or by any sort of common carrier. The Federal law prohibits all that. So there would be no way to get those books into circulation, except for one person to tell another that they could be bought, and for them to be transported from city to city by private vehicle or messenger; or to advertise them by posters and handbills distributed personally to individuals, which of course is an exorbitantly expensive method. The conclusion is inevitable that the only practical thing to do is to repeal the Federal prohibition, which is the root difficulty that lies in the way of any adequate circulation of the knowledge, anywhere in the United States. For a digest of the provisions of the State laws, see Appendix No. 1. For the effect of Federal law upon State laws, see Chart Appendix No. 2. CHAPTER II HOW IT HAPPENED