"Witch-Hunt in the Book Shops."

Arguing against censorship of "obscene" literature, Bates cites a recent statement signed by Bertrand Russell, Somerset Maugham, and others (including himself, which he chooses not to mention) and praises the position taken by Justice Stable in a recent trial — that definitions of obscenity vary markedly between countries and time periods.

He argues that recent prosecutions are "the beginning of a censorship that would be folly and disaster," and then notes that passages in Romeo and Juliet, Canterbury Tales, and Boswell's Journal are "franker than the frankest novel of this century."

As reported in the Daily Express (February 3, 1955, p. 5) a Society of Authors committee (on which Bates served) submitted to the Home Secretary the draft of an Obscene Publications Bill to address the concerns raised in his essay.

In the Evening News (London, November 19, 1954, attached).