Letters

Circular letters explaining the advantages of a home for unmarried mothers are lewd, lascivious, obscene; and hence are improper matter for the U. S. mails. So said two Federal courts in Texas, while sentencing Dr. John C. Dysart, proprietor of the Queen Anne Private Home at El Paso, Tex., to five years in the Leavenworth Penitentiary and fining him $2,500. Proprietor Dysart, it seems, had sent out some form letters, intended for physicians; but several of the letters fell into the feminine hands of El Paso schoolteachers. Irate, they called in the law. Proprietor Dysart was found guilty.

Last week, however, the U. S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the two lower courts, vindicated Proprietor Dysart, vexed the schoolteachers. Its decision said that the language of the letters could not be considered improper for the mails unless it was "calculated to corrupt the minds and morals of those into whose hands it might fall." Forthwith, the Supreme Court adjourned for the Christmas recess--to meet again on Jan. 3.