St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1914-03-07

one of the greatest and most
comprehensive free public lecture
movements ever undertaken in
this country in sending out dis
Itinguished speakers to discuss
from the Catholic viewpoint So.
cialism and kindred subjects now
claiming such a large share oi
public attention. The services
of Mr.. Peter w. Collins of Chel.
]sea, Mass, an eminent authority
on Socialism, have been secured,
and in view Of the fact that he
will include Opelousas in his
itinerary and will lecture here on
Sunday March Is, at Z p. m. un.
der the auspices of the local
Council of the Knights Of Colum-
bus, his subject being The Com
ing Conflict or the Menace Of
Socialism, = makes the movement
Of special local interest.
Ambitious plans are now being
made for the lecture, which from
present indications. promises to
be one Of the most notable and
important events of its kind that
has ever taken place here. It
will be absolutely free to the
public. That it will be well at
tended is guaranteed by the emf
nence Of the lecturer and the i'm
portance of and universal inter-
est in the subject under discus
sion.
The Knights Of Columbus,
which is conducting this nation
wide educational campaign,
through the medium Of free
public lectures. is an organiza-
ton of over 80, 600 Catholic
gentlemen, with 1850 subordinate
branches or Councils throughout
the United States, Canada, Mexi-
co. Cuba, Porto Rico, Panama.
Newfoundland and the Philip
pines. The headquarters is in
New Haven, Conn.,, where the
Order was organized about thir-
ty years ago, and where it owns
a beautiful building. A large
number Of the subordinate Coun-
ellis also own their own homes or
clubhouses, many of these build
ings costing from 500, 600 to.
$500, oGO.
The Order has taken a most
active and practicle interest in.
education, it's accomplishments
j n that direction including the
establishment of a Chair of
American History in the Catholic
University at Washington. at a.
cost Of $50, 600. and the more re-
cent presentation to the Univer-
sity Of an endowment fund of
half a million dollars, for which
the Order receives fifty perpetual
scholarships.
The lecture field has also claim
ed a large share of the Orders
efforts and some notable lecture
courses have been conducted un-
der its auspices. In this con-
nection might be mentioned the
remarkable State lecture course
recently conducted by the
Knights of Columbus Of Mime
sofa, with Peter w. Collins as
the speaker and Socialism the
subject. Mr.. Collins spoke un-
der the auspices Of every Council
in the state and scored one Of the
greatest tru1imphs Of his career.
Describing this great lecture
course in The Columbad, official
journal of the Knights Of Colunl-
bus, the correspondent says;
Mr.. Collins proved himself to
be the man for the work. He
speaks with the authority Of one
who has made a study of Social
ism in ali its bearings, and he
speaks a language which the peo-
/ pie understand. He showed not
only q mastery of his subject,
but aIsoa rare gift in a lee
turera readiness in repartee
that never forsook him. and q
quickness and sureness in finding
the weak points in his opponent i
armor which his adVersaries soon
lnn,.a n faa,.