Friedman's Express v. Mirror Transp. Co., Civ. A. No. 10136.
| Decision Date | 12 June 1947 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 10136. |
| Parties | FRIEDMAN'S EXPRESS, Inc., et al. v. MIRROR TRANSP. CO., Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Edmond J. Dwyer, of Newark, N. J., and Charles E. Cotterill, of New York City, for plaintiffs.
August W. Heckman, of Jersey City, N. J., and McCauley & Henry and John B. Siefken, all of New York City, for defendant.
Application has been made to this Court for a temporary injunction, restraining the defendant company from transporting certain commodities known as "Comic Supplements". Nothing would be involved upon a final hearing that may not now be determined, and the whole matter may be disposed of by a finding as to the simple question at issue in the present application.
Reduced to its simplest form, the court is called upon to determine whether or not the commodity being transported, is at the time of such transportation, a newspaper within the meaning of Congress in 49 U.S.C.A. § 303(b)(7).
Indubitably the original concept of what constituted a newspaper was confined to a publication containing a recital of current events, with comments and opinions on them and other matters of public import. Whether the term has such a limited application at the present time is another matter.
The present-day newspaper, in addition to carrying "items of general news interest", contains enormous quantities of advertising, political comment, chess problems, cross word puzzles, what are called (and very often with lamentable inaccuracy) comics, and special features of un-ending variety. The sum total is known as a newspaper, and generally regarded as such. The proportion of news items to advertisements and special features varies with different papers; and in the Sunday issues of Metropolitan journals which are imposing in bulk, if not always in contents, the proportion of news to the rest of the printed and pictured matter is but small. News of world-shattering import will be conveyed to readers in far less space than is occupied in calling attention to contraptions for shapely confinement of the female figure, or for perfumes guaranteed to slay the most recalcitrant misogynist, or for conveying the reminder that even your best friends won't tell you. Reports of discussions at the United Nations Organization or Ecclesiastical synods yield in amount of line-space to paid recital of the ultimate in boudoir furnishings or kitchen equipment. The greater part of the matter furnished for the edification of the Sunday newspaper reader is concerned with salesmanship, fiction and mental titillators rather than the exposition of news. Enormous amounts of advertising are the main source of revenue of dailies,...
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