Treasure Chest carried the Comics Code for a number of years, which raises an interesting question. As we all know, the Comics Code was formed in 1954 because their comic books were under attack from various groups that wanted to ban them or institute government-controlled censorship or something of the sort. So DC and Marvel and Archie and most of the other major publishers and their printers and distributors got together and formed this self-censorship board and henceforth, all their comics displayed the Comics Code symbol. It was there to assure parents and watchdog groups that the comic had been properly scrutinized and laundered. The smaller publishers had to go along with it or no one would carry their product.
There were two exceptions. Dell Comics, which published in partnership with Western Publishing, refused to have any part of it. They had their own distribution and, more important perhaps, they had Mickey Mouse in their line. They felt the crusaders wouldn't come after them and that their spotless reputation shoudn't be used to repair the blemished name of the folks who'd published horror and crime comics. Later on, when Dell and Western split off (as explained here), Western also refused to have anything to do with the Comics Magazine Association of America and their Code. An editor at Western once told me that in some magazine somewhere, a representative of the C.M.A.A. was asked why Western hadn't joined and was quoted as saying something like, "Well, they have their reasons but believe me, they got copies of our guidelines and they told me they apply its principles to their books." According to this editor — it was Chase Craig, by the way — Western's lawyers immediately dispatched a letter that said, in effect, "That's a lie. We've never looked at your stupid Code and we'll sue you if you ever say that again."
The other company that didn't subscribe to the Code was Gilberton, the people who put out Classics Illustrated. Presumably, they felt that the reputation of the works they were adapting — books that were in most school libraries — made it unnecessary to join the Code. Besides, they had only limited distribution via conventional channels. They sold most of their product through educational outlets.
Okay, so why did Treasure Chest join the Code, which it seems to have done almost from the start? If the folks publishing Walt Disney's Comics and Stories didn't think they had anything to fear, why did the people putting out adaptations of The Holy Bible think they did? I mean, Treasure Chest was the comic that nuns encouraged kids to buy…and even if the occasional Biblical scene could get a little bloody, was anyone going to object to the content? So why did George A. Pflaum, the publisher of Treasure Chest, join up, which not only meant submitting his books to the Code's censor board but also financially supporting the organization? I'd think he'd have been happy to see the mainstream publishers sink. Why did he lend his squeaky-clean image to an organization designed to rehabilitate the reps of the people who brought you Chamber of Chills?
I don't know a lot about Mr. Pflaum other than that in addition to Treasure Chest, he published non-comic religious publications like Young Catholic Messenger, Junior Catholic Messenger and Our Little Messenger. That doesn't sound to me like someone who would have cared a lot if Atlas Comics, publishers of Adventures Into Terror, couldn't get their product on newsstands.
My first thought is that perhaps Pflaum's printer wouldn't print his comics if he didn't have the Code symbol on them. Some printers, like World Color Press, were motivators of the Code and might have insisted on it for all their clients. But there were certainly printers who would have welcomed that business. There were distributors who wouldn't carry books that did not bear the Code seal but Treasure Chest didn't go through newsstand distributors.
Or did it? It's possible that Pflaum thought he was just supporting a cause that would improve comics for all children and that this was of primary importance to him. It's also possible — and this is just me speculating aloud — that Treasure Chest did have some newsstand distribution in some areas. And since he wasn't going to set up his own distributor for that purpose, he had to go through the existing ones, some of whom might have insisted on Code approval.
I don't know if anyone can answer this or even if anyone cares. But one of the accusations against the Comics Code was that it was an alliance of publishers and distributors making a move that stank of anti-trust, telling all their competitors, "You join our group, pay in money and make your product conform or we'll see that you never get on a newsstand." Wouldn't it be interesting if even a guy printing Bible stories felt he had no choice but to go along with this?