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Fantasy Amateur, v. 9, issue 2, Winter 1945-1946
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THE FANTASY AMATEUR Volume IX Winter 1945 Number 2 official organ FANTASY AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION President: Norman F Stanley Vice-President: Bob Tucker Secretary-Treasurer: Al Ashley Official Editor: Jack Speer FAPA PRESIDENT'S MESS. February 1946 Be it known that the next mailing is to go out on 15 April, like the constitution says it should. Members intending to have publications in that mailing are requested to plan accordingly. We've been horsing around with the mailing dates for more than a year now; it's time we got things back on schedule. Walter Dunkelberger has registered a vigourous protest at the statements made by the Official Editor, in the Fall 1945 Fantasy Amateur, in reference to the Bok litho published by Dunkelberger and included in the accompanying mailing. In regard to Dunk's complaint, I find that OE Speer has made somewhat of a personal issue out of this censorship affair, inasmuch as he stated that he handled the matter differently than he would ordinarily, because of its being known that he and Dunkelberger were not on friendly terms. Accordingly I have admonished Speer to be more circumspect about personalities in his official capacity, and he has agreed to do so, admitting that "it was a mistake of judgment to include the item while preserving an objection to it." As for the question of whether the Bok litho actually was obscene, or on the borderline of mailability, I find that there is some degree of justification for Speer's remarks to this effect. The phallic symbols in the drawing may readily be percieved upon observant inspection, even though they may not attract attention upon cursory examination. St least one of the items depicted is such that in association with the concerted symbolism of the drawing it renders the item doubtful as to its mailability under the Postal Laws and Regulations. Therefore, in accordance with the PO ruling Speer quotes, he would have been justified in excluding the publication containing the item from the mailing. Obviously the FAPA cannot authorize or compel its Official Editor to commit an act which is criminal under the PL&R. Since the OE would be the one to bear the brunt of any action should a dubious item be apprehended and deemed unmailable by the Post Office, it is also quite unjust to expect him to undergo the worry and mental anguish involved in taking a chance on it. Nor is it the purpose or desire of the members of the FAPA to see how closely we can skirt the fringe of legality. We have been all through this before in FAPA, and I'm sure it's not necessary to rehash the altogether obvious reasons for this stand here. In this respect Speer erred in admitting this item to the mailing. If he is not obligated to risk his own neck, then neither is he authorized to risk the Association's neck. (Though only the OE and the publisher would be subject to criminal action, any such affair would nevertheless still mean much embarrassment and loss of prestige to the FAPA as a body.) Hence I am upholding the Official Editor's announced policy in regard to the exclusion of such doubtful items from the mailings. His censorshipower shall be defined by the Postal ruling he has obtained and shall not go beyond the reasonable interpretation of that ruling. The conflict of this policy with the previous decision of Chauvenet has been resolved by a vice-presidential ruling which is given elsewhere in this issue. I am confident though, that the Official Editor will not have need to exercise this authority, in that hencforth all "censoring" necessary will be done where it should be - at the source and by the publisher, who loyalty to the FAPA will deter
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THE FANTASY AMATEUR Volume IX Winter 1945 Number 2 official organ FANTASY AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION President: Norman F Stanley Vice-President: Bob Tucker Secretary-Treasurer: Al Ashley Official Editor: Jack Speer FAPA PRESIDENT'S MESS. February 1946 Be it known that the next mailing is to go out on 15 April, like the constitution says it should. Members intending to have publications in that mailing are requested to plan accordingly. We've been horsing around with the mailing dates for more than a year now; it's time we got things back on schedule. Walter Dunkelberger has registered a vigourous protest at the statements made by the Official Editor, in the Fall 1945 Fantasy Amateur, in reference to the Bok litho published by Dunkelberger and included in the accompanying mailing. In regard to Dunk's complaint, I find that OE Speer has made somewhat of a personal issue out of this censorship affair, inasmuch as he stated that he handled the matter differently than he would ordinarily, because of its being known that he and Dunkelberger were not on friendly terms. Accordingly I have admonished Speer to be more circumspect about personalities in his official capacity, and he has agreed to do so, admitting that "it was a mistake of judgment to include the item while preserving an objection to it." As for the question of whether the Bok litho actually was obscene, or on the borderline of mailability, I find that there is some degree of justification for Speer's remarks to this effect. The phallic symbols in the drawing may readily be percieved upon observant inspection, even though they may not attract attention upon cursory examination. St least one of the items depicted is such that in association with the concerted symbolism of the drawing it renders the item doubtful as to its mailability under the Postal Laws and Regulations. Therefore, in accordance with the PO ruling Speer quotes, he would have been justified in excluding the publication containing the item from the mailing. Obviously the FAPA cannot authorize or compel its Official Editor to commit an act which is criminal under the PL&R. Since the OE would be the one to bear the brunt of any action should a dubious item be apprehended and deemed unmailable by the Post Office, it is also quite unjust to expect him to undergo the worry and mental anguish involved in taking a chance on it. Nor is it the purpose or desire of the members of the FAPA to see how closely we can skirt the fringe of legality. We have been all through this before in FAPA, and I'm sure it's not necessary to rehash the altogether obvious reasons for this stand here. In this respect Speer erred in admitting this item to the mailing. If he is not obligated to risk his own neck, then neither is he authorized to risk the Association's neck. (Though only the OE and the publisher would be subject to criminal action, any such affair would nevertheless still mean much embarrassment and loss of prestige to the FAPA as a body.) Hence I am upholding the Official Editor's announced policy in regard to the exclusion of such doubtful items from the mailings. His censorshipower shall be defined by the Postal ruling he has obtained and shall not go beyond the reasonable interpretation of that ruling. The conflict of this policy with the previous decision of Chauvenet has been resolved by a vice-presidential ruling which is given elsewhere in this issue. I am confident though, that the Official Editor will not have need to exercise this authority, in that hencforth all "censoring" necessary will be done where it should be - at the source and by the publisher, who loyalty to the FAPA will deter
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