THE CATHOLIC PRESS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 25, 8 April 1892, Page 31

THE CATHOLIC PRESS.

Mb Lathbop, in a paper read at the meeting of the Apoßtolate of the Press in New York, said a very true thing among other hopeful things. He declared in substance that the efforts of a Catholic reporter on a great daily newspaper were ineffective so far as the proper presentment of the troth was concerned, if the people in control of that journal were either bigoted, ignorant, or indifferent to the presentment of truth. And nothing can be more true.

It has always seemed to me to be an insidious and dangerous opinion that the energy of Catholics should not go into their own Press, but into the secular Press. The cleverest reporters on many of the great " dailies " are Catholics ; but they are no more free to say what they will, or what their cjnvictions urge them to say, than a lawyer is free to declare that be is advocating a bad cause. A reporter whose zeal has not been tempered by experience soon learns that 11 space " is limited oa questions of religion ; and that, while unlimited space may be given to the most insignificant function of other denominations — according to the proprietor's views or affiliations— his will be carefully reduced. As to the editorial writer, toe bookreviewer, or the assistant editor, the position is much the same ; he must obey the policy of his paper. At one time it suited the New York Times to be amiable to Catholics. What sweetness filled tte air ! The remotest parish was searched for news, and tha Pope was referred to in respectful terms previously applied only to Martin Luther. Allasions to Fox's " Book of Martyrs " and the Inquisition were laboriously cut out ; and it was beautiful to see how the Times played the lion and the lamb act until after the election. But all this passed with tbe election. What influence, for instance, have Catholics on the Chicago Tribune ? This paper does not want to be well informed on Catholic matters ; and since John Hazzard died, tha opinions on Catholic matters that creep into the New York Tribune are sometimes very bigoted.

The proprietors of the great daily papers know very well that if they want any important news, they can get it for the asking from Catholics. They are not dependent on the Catholic journals for news of an important event. As a rule, the Catholic journal is dependent on them ; it copies, a few days after, the news wDich the people most concerned gave eagerly to its secular rival at first hand. Wkile this continues, the Catholic Press must nej^arily lack some of the intownee it ought to have. There is no remedy at present, the expert Sjd&tbes us, except the establishment of a Catholic daiiy.

With the secular daily paper, as a rub, attention to Catholic affairs is guaged by the condition of politics. True, there are ercep. tions— the New York Sun, the Philadelphia Ledger, the Baltimore Sun, and a few others. But there is no newspaper in Chicago which canb« thoroughly trusted to give the Catholic point of view on any subject. Take educational subjects, for instance. To lake the Daily News, as an example, one would get the opinion that there is not a Catholic institution in the Bust or West capable of teaching the Latin declensions. Bnt its columns actually teem with accounts of the minutest «atablifhm«Qt, co-educational or otherwise, which the eye of the

managing director can detect. And yet, there are, no doubt, excellent Oatholio reporters on the Daily News.

When we adopt the theory— tacitly advocated by the supercilious creature in New York who never reada a Catholic paper " because bis confessor does not oblige him to " that our interests are sufficiently looked after by the daily Press, and that the Catholic Press is superfluous, we deliberately deprive ourselves of staunch defences, which, even if destroyed, must be built up again: But, after all, the New York man and bis sneer must not be taken seriously. His speech was, no doubt, one of those perfunctory bits of persiflage which the habitual after-dinner speaker emits and regrets— long after. dinner. There ought to be among thoughtful men bat one opinion on the Catholic Press— it mast be supported. After the parish school coma, as means of education, not instruction only, the Catholic paper acd the parish library. Heaven help the religion of toe young person brought up in the public school, assisted by the daily paper and the current novel, or " hand-book." If our people realist this, there will come a time when the daily itself may look on the Catholic paper as a dangerous competitor in the matter of special news. Then, and only then, will certain great dailies discover that self-interest forces them to a less arrogant policy in Oathohc matters. Oar duty at present is to strengthen onr own Pros*, not to say : " Oh, I'll send this bit of news to the Berald, and the Catholic rags will have to copy it ! "— Mauriob Frahcis Eg AN in the Ave-Bf%ria.