The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-08-03
IS RELIGIOUS arm
A Noted Catholic Triest De-
clares That Printers Ink
And Organization Are Rudders
of Christianity.

mas beaten 'SOckleSS' Simpson all nol-
low declared the Rev. j. T. Roche of
Nebraska City, Neb., at a mass meet
ing of the American Federation of
Catholic Societies at Tomlinson hall
last night. says the indianapolis Star
of July II.
Both Father Roche and Bishop Jas
A. McFaul of Trenton, N. j.. the othel
speaker of the evening, entered freely
into discussions of political and social
questions. In addition two full blooded
Sioux Indians occupied the platform
and addressed the assembly in thuil
native tongue.
"A few ideas have come out Of the
West that have begun to sprout and
take root in the East" pursued Father
Roche, who expressed himself as be-
ing proud Of the fact that he had come
from the "untroubled and unterrified
West"
Fourteen years ago the Legislature
" A>So4 ooh1 poSSSu d ildAlIiulA Ae1lS
law controlling railroads. All over the
country the cry of Socialism, Social
isn! went up. Last year Congress
passed a maximum rate law. The Pop
ulist platform of a dozen years ago has
been more than absorbed by the Re-
publican platform of today"
From a lively discussion Of politics.
preliminary to his main address, Father
Roche entered into a discussion of the
agencies that have made history, Civ
ing particular attention to the power
of the press.
There are two things that have
made history in the last few hundred
years and will continue to make it in
the few hundred years to come" said
Father Roche. "They are organiza-
ton and printers ink. And these are
the agencies that should be employed
in pushing religious work.
Some people imagine that reliance
should not be placed on human
agencies when divine work is to be
done. These people belong to class
that friend Of mine has defined for
me. He said that il God had made
the world, and had provided us with
clothing, food. electric lights and other
necessities and conveniences. there
would still be a large number of people
who would wonder why in the name Ut
heaven he hadn't provided US with
electric fans, too.
These people believe that God will
take care of the church and shelter US
dangers. They believe that we will
all be blessed martyrs by and by
and sit down and asked to be hit. And
generally some one comes along and
takes them at their word The church in
France got her gizard full of that some
little time ago.
Where we are weakest today In
America is in our press. We publish
29O periodicals, twelve Of which are
dailies and seventy eight weeklies. OF
the twelve dailies not one is published
in the English language. The seventy
eight weeklies have not a combined
circulation equal to that Of little So
cialist paper, the Appeal to Reason,
published in Girard, Kas., which boasts
100000 subscribers.
"a little band Of Socialists publishes
daily paper in Chicago. We, 20,000.-
900 strong-imagine we can not pub
fish daily paper OF our own. In Cor
many there are 11s Catholic dailies
published and even little Belgium has
a Catholic daily press.
There are three things that prevent
paper from being successful; weak
ness of brains in the editorial depart
ment, weakness in the subscription list
and weakness in the advertising de-
partment. When the three are found
in the same paper, then 'Requiescat in
pace!'
"Our Catholic papers are weak in the
matter of subscriptions. Not Catho-
lie family out of four is taking Catho-
lie paper. and where they do sub
scribe for 1t there are a number that
do not pay for their subscriptions. But
| we are weaker still in the advertising
department. There is silent boycott
Of the advertising public against the
religious press. and the Catholic press
in particular. When we approach
business men they give us the stony
stare and the marble heart. and say
to us: You Catholics do not patron
ize your advertisers
There is remedy for all this, a
remedy that in two or three months
could cure all the ills of the Catholic
press and put it on a paying and even
prosperous basis. The business done
by the priests alone of the country runs