And while I am not here discussing prohibition, yet as one of its
original champions, I would be false to the truth if I did not, at
least in discussing this new kind of prohibition of the thoughts of the
human mind, refer to all the evils that have followed our efforts thus
to curb by law the appetite of bodies. But even the case of the movies
is different. Booze was believed to be poison for the body and the
remedy was supposed to be complete outlawry. Well, at least we are not
prepared to say what the final result is going to be, even though there
may be justification there where none is here. What is poison for the
body is much easier of ascertainment than what is poison for the mind.
Acknowledged poisons of the mind are all met by laws against obscenity
with their penalties and punishments. They are accepted as fair and
just to everybody.
=But human thought, which is back of all human progress and of all
change in the customs, morals, habits, traditions and affairs of
mankind, is an entirely different matter. It is in no way justly
comparable to any other form of arbitrary, forcible censorship
regulations that any state has ever undertaken. It seems to me that
this is so true that unprejudiced minds cannot justly question it.=