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The coffins were not Kaufman's first idea. He had another, but it was so horrible he prefers not to talk about it. Western Union refused to deliver the coffins and books; they said they were afraid the Nazis might stop their German cable service. So Author Kaufman used the mails, first running down to Washington to make sure the Post Office had no objections. "I am a great believer in our Government," he says, "and I certainly did not want to do anything against the law." Kaufman did all the mailing himself, lugged bundles, licked labels, cut his hands with twine.
How much all this cost him is Kaufman's secret. He did not offer the book to a regular publisher because he did not want to be edited, and "I would not write a book like that for any amount of money." Financially he thinks he may break even. He feels that "in a lesser degree, of course," he is signing away his life in the way that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence signed away theirs. But Sterilizer Kaufman is not afraid. He has thought deeply about sterilizing the Germans, believes that it is practical and easy to organize. "It would be just like registering for social security," says he.