Earlier Smut Legislation - by Senator Jim Exon's Mentor-in-Mind

[recently forwarded by an award-winning, now-retired major metro reporter]

In 1926, seven years before the National Socialists achieved absolute
power, a bill similar to Exon amendment was passed in the German Reichstag.
I quote the following passage from page 266 of _Purity in Print_
(Scribner's: 1968) by Paul S. Boyer:

  The purity crusade now found a focus in the "Act for the
  Protection of Youth Against Trashy and Smutty Literature,"
  a national censorship bill proposed to the Reichstag late
  in 1926.  This _Schmutz und Schund_ (Smut and Trash) bill,
  as it was dubbed, aroused fears in German literary and
  intellectual circles, but the Minister of the Interior
  soothed the apprehensive with assurances that it
  "threatens in no way the freedom of literature, [the]
  arts, or [the] sciences," having been designed solely for
  the "protection of the younger generations."

  It was aimed only at works which "undermine culture" and
  purvey "moral dirt," he added, and had been devised "not by
  reactionaries, but by men holding liberal views..."  On
  December 18, 1926, after a bitter debate, the _Schmutz und
  Schund_ bill passed the Reichstag by a large majority.

  The Catholic Center and the Nationalist parties were
  strong in it support, the Socialists divided.  In
  accordance with the provisions of the new law, the
  Interior Minister appointed boards of censorship for each
  of the Federal states.  These eight-member panels,
  including representatives from publishers', authors', and
  booksellers' groups as well as from youth, welfare, and
  educational organizations, were empowered to prohibit the
  advertising, display, or sale to minors of any book deemed
  morally objectionable.

Presented for your information by, David Dubin@notes.pw.com