The Irish standard., 1918-05-04

There are 17,416,303 Catholics in the
United States (not including our ISL
and possessions), according to ad-
vance sheets of the 1918 edition of
The Official Catholic Directory" pub
lished and copyrighted by P. ]. Ken
nedy & Sons, of Barclay street, New
York. According to the tables of the
1918 edition, which is now in the hands
of the binder, the net increase in the
number of Catholics for the year 1917
amounts to 393,424. Fifty-nine do
ceses and archdioceses reported in
creases, four showed decreases and
.thirty-eight made no changes in the
population figure. This does not mean
that the thirty eight dioceses in 1ues-
ton are at standstill, but simply in
dicates that no new diocesan census
was possible last year.
The 1918 edition appears later than
did the volume for 1917, 1916 or 1915,
but many new and almost insurmount-
able obstacles were encountered. Diff
ficulties unheard of in former years
were responsible for the holding up
Of the 1918 publication.
Comparing the figures of the 1918
issue with those of the 1908 volume, it
is found that the increase in the num-
Der Of Catholics during the past ten
years has been 3,538,S77.
Probably Underestimated.
According to Joseph H. Meier, who
has compiled the Directory for more
than decade, the figure 17,416,3O3 is
not at all exaggerated; in fact, the fig
ure is low, as no records can be kept
of the floating" Catholic population
and as nearly all of the thirty-eight
dioceses making no change have sure
ly increased in population during the
past few years. If it were possible to
show the increases for the thirty-eight
dioceses, among which are some of the
important archdioceses in the country,
and if it were possible to gather data
on the floating" Catholic population
of the United States. Mr.. Meier feels
that he would be absolutely safe in
saying that the actual Catholic popu-
lation of this country would be shown
to be over 100000. Special care was
taken so that the young men in the
military service would not be counted
twice; that is, once in the diocese in
which the camp or cantonment was
located and again in their home did,
ceses. Arrangements were made to
include only the Catholic soldiers and
sailors in their home dioceses.
Protestant statisticians invariably
deduct certain percentage for chill
dren and infants when quoting Catho-
lie population figures, but this does
not seem to be fair, particularly as
the Catholic population has never been
overestimated. When the 1906 Gov
eminent Religious census was pub
lished, fifteen per cent was deducted
for children and infants, but when the
recent 1916 Religious census was an
nounced Mr.. Meier took the matter up
with the census officials and was in
formed that for the 1916 census the
government authorities would not de-
duct the fifteen per cent The census
officials advised that it had been de-
cided to present the full 1916 men,
bership reported by each religious
body or denomination
Rank Of States.
According to the pages of the new
Official Catholic Directory twenty
seven states of the union have Cath.
Ollie population of 100000 or over and
during the year Louisiana has forged
ahead of Wisconsin, beating the
Badger state by over 1000 in the race
for eighth place. California, also, has
taken a step forward, crowding Mis-
souri, out of tenth place, and Indiana
has passed Iowa, the Hoosier state
now being in seventeenth place and
Iowa in eighteenth place. The Cath
Ollie population of the twenty-seven
HRonnor Cfo%ocv 60 fo110vyc.