Mr. STAPENHORST. I am aware that at times, day after day or evening after evening, Roy J. Ross and Louis Tager would deposit for dispatch 30,000, 40,000, and 50.000 letters a day. There is a statement somewhere in the record that on 1 day 100,000 first-class letters were mailed to prospective clients.

I have also seen large quantities of the outgoing parcels mailed by Roy J. Ross and Louis Tager at the Van Nuys post office.

Mr. BOBO. From the complaints that the Post Office Department received in Los Angeles and of the complaints with which you have knowledge, what is the extent of the business?

Mr. STAPENHORST. You mean in

Mr. BOBO. In relation to juveniles or in relation to any other person, people complaining that this material was sent to them from the Los Angeles area.

Mr. STAPENHORST. The business seems to maintain more or less of a level. I would doubt that at the present time all the dealers in obscene matter are mailing thirty to fifty thousand letters a day as Roy J. Ross was doing himself at one time. Other than that, I know there are scores of operators in this area, as revealed by the ads in the so-called girlie magazines.

Mr. BOBO. We have received a number of complaints in our office in Washington of the Male Merchandise Mart. Have you done any investigation on that particular case?

Mr. STAPENHORST. Yes, I have.

Oh, do you wish some details on the extent of the operation?

Mr. Вово. Yes.

Mr. STAPENHORST. In February 1954, the Postmaster General received hundreds of complaints concerning the Male Merchandise Mart. On March 1, 1954, the Postmaster General

Mr. BOBO. Where is this Male Merchandise Mart?

Mr. STAPENHORST. Male Merchandise Mart has an office and packing room at 8627 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles 46, Calif.

The records of the county clerk of Los Angeles County reveal that the owner of the firm is V. E. Stanard. V. E. Stanard is known to me as Violet Evelyn Alberts, the wife of David Stephen Alberts, a man who has been convicted in both the State and Federal courts on charges of dealing in or mailing obscene matter.

Mr. BOBO. What type of obscene matter has that operation, the Alberts operation, been, Mr. Stapenhorst?

Mr. STAPENHORST. In March 1954 the mail was impounded upon order of the Federal judge. In August 1954 it was released to the plaintiff after a civil action had been filed and heard, because the evidence before the court consisted only of the advertising.

Before me I have a recently mailed circular of Male Merchandise Mart, and the circular starts out at the top:

"BANNED BY BIGOTS WHO CAN'T STAND THE MEANING OF THE Word 'Sex,' BUT AVAILABLE TO YOU IF YOU HURRY

"The Male Merchandise Mart firmly believes that mature men of clean minds are entitled to choose their own literature. We have waged a relentless war against prudes and self-appointed censors who would keep these fascinating and enlightening books from you.

NOTE. We make every possible effort to prevent these books from reaching young people or persons who would use them for the fulfillment of indecent desires.

At this point I would like to make an observation. Some years ago I made approximately 25 test purchases from David S. Alberts and from some of the firm names he was using at that time. I say under oath, and I could produce the records to prove it, that on every single one of the orders I sent to David S. Alberts I did not put anything in the space which called for the customer's age.

Inside the circular are described 26 books on every angle of sex. Some of the titles are:

"Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs: Subtle, unusual methods of stimulating sex interest in yourself and your mate.

"The History of Flagellation: Strange, lurid cases of men and women submitting to lash and fang for sex gratification. McCabe. $1.

"Bestiality and the Law: The shocking prevalence of sexual relations between humans and animals. Niemoeller. 55 cents.

"Bestiality in Ancient and Modern Times.: Shameful revelation of why some women must have male animals under their roofs. Niemoeller. 55 cents.

"What Is a Hermaphrodite?

"Why Males Wear Female Attire.

"Magical Secrets of Love: Sexual witchcraft.

"William Heirens, Notorious Sex Maniac: Case histories of lust-crimes and their perpetrators. Cauldwell.

55 cents.

"Petting as an Erotic Exercise: Precoital techniques among the unmarried and wedded discussed.

"Revelations of a Sexologist.

"Private Letters From Homosexuals to a Doctor.

"The Intimate Embrace: Scientific discourse on the various positions of embrace. A recommended study for husband and wife. Cauldwell. 55 cents."

So much for the books on every angle of sex.

"Are ordinary novels too tame for you? Here's exciting, intimate reading that gives you that thrill!

"POCKET-SIZE EDITIONS, 15 CENTS EACH. MInimum Order, $1

"Curious and Unusual Love Affairs.
"Confessions of a Minister's Daughter.

"Amorous Tales of the Monks.

"The Love Affairs of a Priest and a Nun.

"The Prostitute and Her Lover.

"Art of Intimacy in Marriage.' All for 15 cents, mind you.

Minimum order $1.

Then they have Sex in Prison, Wild French Cartoons, The Filmsey Report, and French Love Stories.

"Rare specials.-These are full-length unabridged hardcover books, that have been ordered out of print in this edition. Each one is a "must" for your very private collection. $2 each:

"Naughty Bedtime Books.

"Bedroom With a View."

There are 2 for $1, 5 for $2, or all 9 books for only $3:

"Bed Time Girl.

"Brutal Kisses.

"Come Night, Come Desire.

"Everybody Loves Irene.

"Four Dames Named Sin. ***"

Mr. STAPENHORST. On the circular which accompanies the one printed in black on yellow paper is an announcement:

"MEN *** LET'S FACE IT!

"There's a lot of 'sock' that can be gotten from adult items dealing with our favorite subject * * * sex. But you've got to play by the rules, and that is restrict these items for adult use only. We can bring you these hard-to-get, genuine private stag items if you keep your pledge."

Among the items sold are:

"Wow! Wolf Deck!! Sold to adults only!

"$3.50 deck, 2 for $6.

"A pack of beauty.

"Art slides in natural color.

"Body in art.

"Peep show.

"Real old-time cartoon booklets. A whole flock of 'em for $2-and a flock of 'rare enjoyment' in every one!

"Just the kind that dad used to carry around in his vest pocket and show the gang at the Saturday night poker session. They are rich!

"All new and good-a big assortment, $2.

"Beauty in Bondage: Whose heart would not thrill in pity at the poor, helpless, cruelly gagged and bound young creatures, completely at the mercy of their brutal captors?

"Marilyn Monroe playing cards, $3 per deck. "Banned before now available for first time! "Banned from the mails as lewd *** now, a great nude available to you for the first time. judge! ***

Special: Both decks, $5.50.

special court ruling makes this Her nude, not lewd, says the

Chairman KEFAUVER. Well, Mr. Stapenhorst, I was interested in one picture here that we have had a lot of testimony about. That is this bondage testimony,

Tina's Torture. We have had testimony of psychiatrists that these bondage pictures have a very deleterious effect upon young people. You didn't mention that one. That is one of the ones up here [indicating]. What does that say? Mr. STAPENHORST (reading):

"Tina's Torture is advertised:

""Best bondage serial ever made.'

"Read what happens when a beautiful female spy captures Tina, innocent young daughter of a brilliant scientist, and attempts to force a secret formula from her sweet lips.

"What terrors await Tina in the secret dungeons?

"Tina couldn't understand why she was bound so strangely until her evil tormentor called in the assistant. How could Tina know why the French maid trembled eagerly as Tina's body heaved with pain?

"Does Tina reveal her father's secret? We couldn't blame Tina it she did when one bondage and torture device after another subjected her to humiliation and pain.

"You'll find all the answers graphically illustrated and fired with imagination in this amazing new series.

"Episodes Nos. 1 and 2 are now ready. $3 per episode; $5 special.

"Both episodes Nos. 1 and 2 (6 sensational scenes), each episode on 8 by 10 glossy photo.

"Final 18 chapters of Tina's Torture are now ready. Special price for all 20 chapters is only $18 if bought at one time; 10 chapters for $12, 3 chapters for $5." Mr. BOBO. I would like to interject just a moment, if I might, Mr. Stapenhorst, that the subcommittee answered a number of ads that appeared in magazines on stationery in a very scrawled hand; the stationery being headed "Eastern High School, Washington, D. C." We signed these with the names of "Claude Marvin" and "Peter Nicholas," represent the first names of two staff members of the subcommittee. We received an answer from the Male Merchandise Mart containing exactly the material which you have described there. ***

Chairman KEFAUVER. You mean that it was written on the letterhead of Eastern High School'

Mr. BOBO. Yes, sir; on student stationery with "Eastern High School" on the head of it.

Chairman KEFAUVER. And you got back the same material?

Mr. BOBO. Exactly the same.

Chairman KEFAUVER. The same material that Mr. Stapenhorst has been describing. All right.

Mr. BOBO. Mr. Stapenhorst, have you done any survey or received any data relative to the volume of business that was done by the Alberts operation

Mr. STAPENHORST. In March and April of this year a count was kept of the number of pieces of mail which were delivered to Mrs. V. E. Standard and her husband, David S. Alberts, at the west branch of the Los Angeles post office. This count did not include in the totals the number of letters which were returned to the sender, which sometimes ranged up to two or three hundred pieces a day. The volume ran from 497 to 1,033 letters a day addressed to Male Merchandise Mart, Stag Shop; various other enterprises operated by David S. Alberts and his wife; for an average of 696 letters per day over a 7-day period.

I have no information concerning the volume at the present time, but I would assume that is it about the same, possibly a little greater, a little less.

VI. IMPORTATION OF PORNOGRAPHY AND THE UNITED STATES BUREAU

OF CUSTOMS

Mr. Irving Fishman, deputy collector of customs, New York City, N. Y., has appeared before several congressional hearings on various subjects within the jurisdiction of the collector of customs office under provisions of the Tariff Act of 1942. He has appeared concerning section 305 of the Tariff Act which deals with the prohibition against importation of materials considered obscene or immoral.

Mr. Fishman stated that in 1953, for example, the Post Office Department submitted to the customs service, nationwide, approximately 28 million mailed parcels for examination. With the man

'Stapenhorst, Ralph E., see testimony, op. cit., pp. 355–374.

71890-56-5

power available the customs service could examine only approximately 5 percent of the total. The other 95 percent went unexamined which greatly aided the importation of obscene and lewd material. This average applies at most of the major ports of the United States. Excerpts from Mr. Fishman's testimony are quoted:

Mr. CHUMBRIS. Do you have any exhibits there of seizures you have made through your various offices?

Mr. FISHMAN. We have some samples of some of the things that we have been doing a little discussion with. Some of these things have been found objectionable and some have not. I brought along a few samples of the type of imported art study publications that we are constantly battling with. These are printed abroad. There are plenty of them printed in this country. This type of thing is alleged to be used by photographers and students of art.

Then we have the group of sunbathing type magazines, which give us a lot of difficulty. And then, of course, we have the type of foreign publications which we found objectionable, as being pornographic.

I have also brought along for examination by the committee some of the situations that we have been able to correct. For example, it was a popular thing, and still is from time to time, a piece of business to advertise in college publications, that you can send away and buy various types of photographs, and a sample of the type of photograph you can buy is sent along. You can order by number.

If you order and your money happens to get through to the foreign country, they will send you these photographs. Whenever we find a concerted move to buy this type of thing, we notify the Post Office Department, which issues a fraud order, and we stop the money from leaving the United States to these foreign countries.

One of the things we are alert to and try to keep under control is the importation of negatives. The importation of one negative can result in the production of a couple of thousand copies in this country.

Mr. CHUMBRIS. Do you have many negatives that you have been ableChairman KEFAUVER. They will be filed as exhibits; also the negatives. We will return them later, if you would like to have them.

Mr. FISHMAN. Some of them we would like to have back for our evidence. We have recently made some large seizures.

Chairman KEFAUVER. What do you call a large seizure?

Mr. FISHMAN. A couple of thousand negatives and prints, and so on, and so forth-various assortments. For example, this sort of thing. These are negatives and they are in series-complete series of photographs which are subsequently printed and made into a book. One set of these negatives can result in the production of a heck of a lot of books.

These, of course, are from a current seizure and we would like to get them back. Chairman KEFAUVER. Are they mainly pornographic?

Mr. FISHMAN. Yes. Some of them are not only pornographic but they are filthy. I don't think we would have any difficulty proving these are obscene. I put these aside separately and I would like to get them back, if we could.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Where do most of these things come from, Mr. Fishman? Mr. FISHMAN. Oh, the nudist-type magazine; they are generally shipped from France and Sweden. We get some from Finland, some from Germany. It is pretty difficult to pinpoint them; they come from all over.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Where do the films come from?

Mr. FISHMAN. We have difficulty with the commercial type of motion-picture film, but that is generally not as hard to handle. The real obscene type of film, we pick that sort of thing up infrequently. We have a little difficulty with that. We had 1 seizure some time ago of about 3,000 feet of film on 1 reel, and about half of it was made up of Mickey Mouse movies, and if our inspector hadn't been persistent enough to run the entire thing about halfway into the reel, he would never have found any of the objectionable material. Obviously, that was prepared with a view of getting it by us. Our surveillance is pretty tight and they very seldom attempt to smuggle commercial obscene motion-picture film into the United States.

Chairman KEFAUVER. AS I understand it, on letters and things of that sort you have a staff that can only look at about 5 percent; is that right?

Mr. FISHMAN. That is correct. We make a segregation of it. Our people are pretty expert in determining from the size of the package and the shipper what it contains. They try to segregate anything which looks like it might be ques

tionable, so that we do have a look at it. The fact remains that we can only reach about 5 percent of all of this imported mail.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Is there an effort made to send a great deal of this stuff into the United States?

Mr. FISHMAN. It ebbs and flows, depending on the situation in the country. Every time the courts are apt to become liberal in their interpretation of what is objectionable, there is an increase in this type of thing.

Chairman KEFAUVER. When the courts crack down, then there isn't much of it that comes in?

Mr. FISHMAN. That is right. As a result of some of the recent rulings on motion-picture film, there was an increase of foreign motion-picture film into the United States, which we ordinarily would hold up, which we did still hold up. Chairman KEFAUVER. As a result of the Supreme Court decision, has there been an increase?

Mr. FISHMAN. That didn't help us very much, although we haven't changed our views as a result of the ruling.

Chairman KEVAUVER. You were not ruling out "just art," anyway, were you? Mr. FISHMAN. No.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Whom are these consigned to when they come over here? Mr. FISHMAN. There are a number of dealers in this area, and also in areas throughout the United States, who receive commercial lots of this type of magazine. They will continue to bring in the type that we will pass, and periodically will attempt to increase the number of new magazines that they will produce. Some of them have been held as strictly obscene, and those they stopped.

It is a constant cat and mouse situation. As we hold them up, they go on to new publications and new titles.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Do you have a list available of the most frequent consignees?

Mr. FISHMAN. We can make up such a list.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Make it up and we will make it an official part of the record. Also, describe the kind of material that is being consigned to them. Where is it paid for? Is it paid for upon delivery-that is, the freight?

Mr. FISHMAN. It is usually shipped pursuant to a letter of credit so that the funds are turned over to the shipper as soon as the shipment leaves the foreign country.

Chairman KEFAUVER. After it reaches the port of New York and the port of Boston, and the port of New Orleans, then it is shipped on, or is it usually received in the port?

Mr. FISHMAN. I would assume, judging by the quantities, that it is distributed throughout the United States.

Chairman KEFAUVER. And then shipped further by truck or automobile?

Mr. FISHMAN. By truck or automobile-anything to avoid the Post Office Department.

Chairman KEFAUVER. They don't send this through the mails?

Mr. FISHMAN. Not so far as we know.

Chairman KEFAUVER, I take it if the same ruler were applied to material shipped in as is applied to what is sent through the mails, a lot of this wouldn't get by?

Mr. FISHMAN. That is right.

Chairman KEFAUVER. If you had the same definition under the customs statute that you have in the postal statute, you would be relieved of a whole lot of headaches?

Mr. FISHMAN. That is right.

Chairman KEFAUVER. Do you recommend that be done?

Mr. FISHMAN. I do.

Chairman KEFAUVER. I can't see the logic prohibiting something from going through the mail, and at the same time letting it come in.

Mr. FISHMAN. It has been a loophole for a long time, but while it has been called to the attention of many groups and committees up until now nothing has been done about it. We testified to much the same problem before another committee, and I think the Post Office Department and the Postmaster General will have lots to say on the same subject.

Chairman KEFAUVER. That would be legislation that would stop a lot of it, and help you with your troubles?

Mr. FISHMAN. That is correct.

Chairman KEFAUVER. I am looking here at some of the big seizures that you have made of 6,000 cases, or books, or what.