The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-15
THE WORLDS CATHOLIC
NEWSPAPERS

WEW1rArEn1
Among the most interesting art
icles of the Catholic Encyclopedia is
that which deals. with the Catholic
newspapers of the world. 1t would
be difficult to conceive of anything
more comprehensive, and one would
be justified in taking, on the safest
possible index of progress, the growth
of the Catholic press within the last
decade.
Here in the United States, for ex
ample, there are, according to the
latest official figures, some three hun
dred and twenty-one Catholic papers.
Of these, two hundred and one are
printed in English, fifty-one in Ger
man, twenty-four in Polish, seven in
Bohemian, five in Italian, two in Sla-
vonic, two in Magyar, two in Dutch,
one in Croatian, one in Spanish, and
one in an Indian dialect. The total
makes up thirteen dailies, one hun
dred and fifty weeklies, one hundred
and twenty-eight monthlies, twenty
nine quarterlies, nine bi-monthlies and
sixteen ANIMALS. Of the dailies seven
are French, four Polish, two German,
one Bohemian, but none, as. yet, in
| English.
The French Canadians of Maine,
Massachusetts and Rhode Island sup
port seven Catholic dailies, eleven
weeklies and several monthlies pub
| lished in French. From 1909 to 1911
| (our authority tells us), some five
hundred and fifty Catholic periodicals
were started in the United States, but
only five of these published between
1909 and 1850 now survive. Alabama
has two Catholic papers, Arizona one,
Arkansas one, California nine, Colora-
do two, Connecticut five, Delaware
four, District of Columbia seven, Illi-
nois thirty, New Jersey two, Louisiana
two, Maine two, Maryland ten, Mas
sachusetts fifteen, Michigan eleven,
Minnesota seven, Missouri fifteen,
Montana one, Nebraska two, New
Hampshire one, New Mexico one, New
York sixty-one, North Carolina two,
Ohio twenty-three, Oregon seven,
Pennsylvania twenty-nine, Rhode Is
land one, South Carolina two, Tennes-
see two, Texas six, Utah one, Wash
ington two, West Virginia one and
Wisconsin twenty-one.
In Austria the Catholic press is
represented by one hundred and forty
newspapers and one hundred and fifty
two other periodicals published in a
score of different languages. The con-
dition of the newspapers suffers badly
from the lack of wealthy middle
class to support them (says the En-
cyclopedia), and consequently fails to
attract business men into that partic-
ular field of speculation. Apart from
this, many of the newspapers are in
the hands of men who generally lack
journalistic training. The learned
periodicals display, however, work of
high quality. In Belgium the work OF
the press is, on the other hand, ex.
tremely, satisfactory.
At least thirty-eight of the eighty.
six political daily papers are Cath.
olic, foremost among them being the
famous National" which was mainly
responsible in 1884 for the triumph
of the Catholic party at the polls. OF
twelve hundred Belgian weeklies more
than half are Catholic, and the same
may be said of the remaining thou
sand reviews and magazines. The
, neighboring country, Holland, has al
present some fifteen Catholic dailies
with several weeklies and monthlies
For the million and a half Catholics
in Switzerland there are (says oul
authority only sixty-four Catholic
political daily papers to counterbal
ance three hundred and ninety-nine
non-C Catholic, and only fifty-three Cath
Ole weeklies. The total circulation Of
!. all the sixty-four Catholic Swis:
papers is 207, 900 copies, which is not
; half of the total circulation of the
, non Catholic dailies. Financially the
Catholics of Switzerland are in a pool
position.
f In Great Britain, until comparative
) ly recent times, the penal laws for
: babe the spread of Catholic literature
and it is only within recent year!
that there existed public to supper
l. a Catholic press. Wiseman and O'Con
r nell may be said to be the modern
q Catholic newspaper in Britain will
7 the establishment of the Dublin Re
= view," now the property of WilfreC
+ Ward, its editor, and second sol
t of one of its editors, DIR. w. G
+ Ward of the Oxford movement. Whel
e we have noticed the Lamp" tn,
/ Tablet" the Catholic Times" ant
/ the popular Catholics press directe,
Y by Mr.. Diamond, we have noticed tn,
e principal papers which cater for Eng
|, lands Catholics.
In 1893 only, Ireland was free t,
; start her Catholic press, doing so a
that stage. by sporadoic pamphlet
r only. In 1884 the Catholic Penn
d Magazine" had a short tenure of life
, then came the Dublin Review" tn
i. Catholic Magazine" the Harp,