To the same effect see Acts of 1897 forbidding interstate trade in articles intended for an immoral purpose and the circulation of improper literature.

Power to Declare What Are Subjects of Commerce.—The power to regulate commerce includes the power to declare what property or things may be the subject of commerce.

The penal code of 94 "For more than thirty years, not only has the transmission of obscene matter been prohibited, but it has been made a crime, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a person to deposit such matter in the mails. The constitutionality of this law, we believe, has never been attacked."

The Act of Congress of February 8, 1897, making it "unlawful for any person to deposit with any express company or other common carrier, for carriage from one state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia to any other state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia,** any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of …

—case has been regarded as correct, the theory upon which the court relied in reaching that result has been tacitly if not openly discredited.

"To the court, barring obscene materials, specifically an item designed to prevent conception, was within Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce and did not encroach on the states' police powers

—act extended to letters and circulars connected with lotteries and gift enterprises, the constitutionality of which was upheld by this court

—involved an 1897 statute prohibiting the "carrying of obscene literature and articles designed for indecent and immoral use from one State to another."

—affirming Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause to prohibit the interstate carriage of contraceptive devices

[BOOK] The American state from the Civil War to the New Deal: The twilight of …

[CITATION] Constitutional Law I

[BOOK] Emanuel Law Outlines for Constitutional Law