The Irish standard., 1919-03-29
A. 0. H. Irish History Propaganda

astounding lie is the newborn satyr of
that horde of Knockers and mouthers
which has ever hung on the TANKS
of Irish progress and jibed and jeered
at Irish achievement. This is the cue
for the scrihblers of the enemy. This
the lie that will be colored in ten
thousand lights, to flare and flicker in
type before the readers of the nations,
just as other lies have been printed
for centuries to poison the opinion of
the world against us.
This lie cannot be answered by the
millions of Irish soldiers-or by the
silence of the Irish dead. 1t must be
refuted by a record of the facts put
down in errefutable form for the in
formation of every man, woman and
child who can read the news of to-
day and who shall be here in other
days to read the history of our sacri-
flee in the cause of the principles for
which we have fought longest and suf-
fered most.
The situation is today as it has been
in other days. There is process of
observation and mis-statement The
deeds of the Irish race in every land
will be obscured and the attitude of
our race mis-stated Calumny has
been the most evil of all the weapons
used against us, and it has been ever
'alied with a malevolent hiatus by anti
Irish writer's on Irish achievement
Thus, had not Irish researchers and
historians retold the story of the
American Revolution and of the Civil
War we would today be ignorant of
the loyalty and the heroism of our own
ancestors.
Sustain the Irish and Catholic Press.
To win the mind of the world we
must first know our own mind. The
mind of the Irish race is visible most
glowtngly in the Irish and Catholic
press. To sustain that press is high
duty. To shun it's support is to invite
shame. To refuse encouragement
to it is to encourage our enemies. it
is useless folly to contend that the
secular press is sufficient for the in
formation of any reader of our race.
It is surely time that all discerning
readers should detect the hostility of
those who would embrace us openly
that they may stab us secretly.
The Irish and Catholic press only
can interpret Irish and Catholic truth,
it only can disseminate our sentiments
faithfully and expand those sympa.
thies and aspirations which we share
as a common heritage. Without a
Catholic and Irish press our faculties
would be starved, and our growth as
a separate people be stunted. Without
this press we would be assimilated
within a single generation into those
alien elements which have ever been
encroaching upon the very heartburn
daries and intellectual domains of the
Irish people in every land where they
dwell.
We are in a situation of peculiar
difficulty, and must contend with cir
cumstances which have never con-
fronted any other race or nation. We
are united mainly by our own press,
and to sever the tie which each of us
should have with this press is to cut
the memories of thousand years, to
lose knowledge and patriotism, and
to stand abashed and silent among
those who not only sheer at our polit:
ical and social ideas, but scoff at our
very religion.
There have been crises when our
ancient history would have been lost
had not some few earnest spirits hid
the musty volumes from the ravager.
or some curious antiquary carried
away to cloister in far country the
hoary chronicles. There were ages
when the fires of our Catholic faith
were fed by the labors of heroic
priests, who stole in the night over
UO6 duu VIII uOuuIdAA " AAAAASSOA
to the hunted people in some glen OF
cave under the rocks. There were
times when but single voice was
heard repeating the demand for jus
tice, and that voice has more than
once caught the words of some martyr
on the scaffold, who thus sent forward
his message through other lips to 9th
er ages before his voice was silent
forever.
The Irish and Catholic press stands
today in the place Of the historian
the priest and the patriot. 1t bears
the standard which we must follow
For, like the standard of all the ages
of Irish effort, it is emblazoned will
the battle-cry of our race: For God
for country and for home!"
Those who wander before the row.
of books in our public Libraries mus