Bad Books.--Another potent enemy of virtue is the obscene literature
which has flooded the land for many years. Circulated by secret agencies,
these books have found their way into the most secluded districts.
Nearly every large school contains one of these emissaries of evil men
and their Satanic master. Some idea of the enormity and extent of this
evil may be gained from the following quotations from a published letter
of Mr. Anthony Comstock, who has been for some time employed by the
Young Men's Christian Association in suppressing the traffic by
arresting the publishers and destroying their goods:--
"I have succeeded in unearthing this hydra-headed monster in part, as
you will see by the following statement, which, in many respects, might
be truthfully increased in quantity. These I have seized and
destroyed:--
"Obscene photographs, stereoscopic and other pictures, more than one
hundred and eighty-two thousand; obscene books and pamphlets, more than
five tons; obscene letter-press in sheets, more than two tons; sheets
of impure songs, catalogues, handbills, etc., more than twenty-one
thousand; obscene microscopic watch and knife charms, and finger-rings,
more than five thousand; obscene negative plates for printing
photographs and stereoscopic views, about six hundred and twenty-five;
obscene engraved steel and copper plates, three hundred and fifty;
obscene lithographic stones destroyed, twenty; obscene wood-cut
engravings, more than five hundred; stereotype plates for printing
obscene books, more than five tons; obscene transparent playing-cards,
nearly six thousand; obscene and immoral rubber articles, over thirty
thousand; lead molds for manufacturing rubber goods, twelve sets, or
more than seven hundred pounds; newspapers seized, about four thousand
six hundred; letters from all parts of the country ordering these goods,
about fifteen thousand; names of dealers in account-books seized, about
six thousand; lists of names in the hands of dealers, that are sold
as merchandise to forward circulars or catalogues to, independent of
letters and account-books seized, more than seven thousand; arrest of
dealers since Oct. 9, 1871, more than fifty."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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