The true leaders in society are like the snow-capped heights of a mountain range: they are the first that the new light of a breaking dawn, of a coming period, is wont to strike with its rays, to be then reflected on the silent and sleeping valleys. The men who hold to-day the pen or draughting pencil in the university are the men who will handle the levers of the world's intricate machinery. There they grapple with the various problems of the scientifical, economic and political world and their views, later on, will gradually influence the whole mental attitude of the masses, who, in their daily life, are confronted with these same problems.

This leadership of thought and action is no more the privilege of a few; in our democratic country every one can aspire to it. The days when primary education was for the masses, secondary or college education for the middle classes and university training for "the quality," have passed away and gradually the benefits of higher education are being extended to all. The equality of opportunity, not that of wealth and position, is the test of true democracy. This condition has created the aristocracy of brains and character before which the aristocracy of wealth, of blood and lineage fade into insignificance.

The predominance of the "vocational feature" over the "cultural" in the scope of our modern universities, the vast "extension work" [3] carried on in the various fields, the multiplicity of "free scholarships" open to the competition of the brainy and ambitious boy, are other proofs of this democratic trait of our modern higher education.

* * * * * *

Since higher education is the stepping stone to leadership, the question most vital to Catholics in this particular and most momentous period of our history is: "What share have we in the college and university life of the country?" "The progress of the Church in any country is attributable to the indwelling Spirit which guides the Church.—Next, to the piety, zeal and education of its priesthood,—and lastly, though in no mean degree, to the devotion, activity and education of the laity. Where these three features combine, then the Church is writing the brightest pages of Her history." (Archbishop Glennon.)

I will not repeat here what "Catholic" in the Antigonish Casket, and Henry Somerville in his pamphlet, "Higher education and Catholic Leadership in Canada"—have been writing on for the past year or so. With them we conclude that outside of the Province of Quebec, the Catholics of the Dominion have not the influence they should wield. Naturally there are many reasons to explain this fact. But we will say with the Editor of the North West Review, "facts cannot be ignored with impunity, the sooner they are admitted and faced with courage the more readily shall difficulties be overcome. And the necessity for an awakening to the demand for higher education is very real."

In the firing line of the world's gigantic struggle we shall never hold the strategic points to which our number gives us a right in our Canadian Democracy, unless our leaders are strong in number, and in power. Catholic leadership will give us the occasion to present, explain and promote "our solution" to various problems confronting the world. During this period of universal upheaval and momentous crisis, when all the ingredients, we would say of the social and economic fabric are in a state of flux,—like bronze in fusion,—Catholic leaders should be to the front to supply the casts of Christian civilization. If in the public press, the legislative assemblies, the labor meetings, public gatherings, where mind meets mind, ideal clashes with ideal, knowledge with knowledge, where facts are being examined and weighed, where ideas are thrown into the melting pot of public debate, if then and there, there is no one to stand for Catholic views in the various matters under discussion, can we be astonished that we are absolutely ignored, and our views not considered? "We believe that an attitude of merely destructive criticism, of aloofness, scepticism, pessimism, is a deplorable mistake. It is not by standing aloof from the movements of our day, but by going fearlessly into them with the message of truth entrusted to our charge, shall we best fulfil our high mission towards our fellow countrymen. We must seize these opportunities in the spirit of high confidence and dauntless zeal which befits those who have the Truth, know they have the Truth, and are assured that the Truth is great and shall prevail." (Universe—June 13, 1919.)

Never has a greater opportunity challenged the Church and her leaders than at this great turning of the tide in the history of the world. Canada itself is on the threshold of the most eventful and decisive period of her national life. "The war has brought our country into the broad stream of internationalism . . . and a new national consciousness is being born and is sweeping over the land." In the future, as in the past, our Dominion will remain divided by race and creed. But let us not forget that the various religious and ethnical groups will have only the influence that gives true leadership. The value and the measure of higher education among Catholics will therefore give the value and the measure of their participation in the remodelling of their great country.

If such is the case of Catholics throughout Canada, what would we not say of Catholics in our Western Provinces. In this reconstruction of our Dominion the prairie Provinces are without doubt to play a preponderant part. One has only to open his eyes to see the trend of our national policies, and immediately grasp the growing importance of our Western Provinces. The West is gradually passing from the pioneer conditions and becoming conscious of its importance. With the beautiful qualities and unlimited resources of youth, it has also its dangerous shortcomings. Daring, venturous, over confident, the western mind is easily and frequently hasty and radical in its conclusions. Intoxicated with wealth and success, inspired and aroused by the great possibilities of his new home, the Westerner is ever tempted to experiment in legislation, make extreme views prevail and believe the newest is always the best. He will boast of broadmindedness, of love of freedom and at the same time will, under the deceiving tyranny of number, suppress the most sacred rights. Nowhere we claim in our Dominion, is Catholic leadership and therefore higher education, more needed at the present hour than in the West. Our Catholics there need indeed higher education, for, at this hour particularly, the nation's business is our business; they cannot remain an isolated factor in presence of the tremendous issues that stare the world and our country in the face. But if we wish to make our influence as Catholics felt, let our leadership come from "Higher Catholic Education" as from its fountain head.

Higher Catholic Education for Catholics in Western Canada.

There is a decided distinction between higher education for Catholics and higher Catholic education. This leads us to place before the reader the principles upon which rests the catholic ideal in matters of higher education and to suggest means of its speedy realization in Western Canada. A friendly exchange of ideas on this most important and very interesting topic will be profitable to all at this juncture, and help, we hope, to clear up hazy notions and cloudy conceptions which some may entertain on the subject.

* * * * * *

In matters of Catholic education, the most weighty argument is that of the authority of the Church. Her views and practices, particularly on questions of education, should be the views and practices of every good Catholic. In the New Canon-Law, in the Councils and Letters of the Popes, is to be found the only authoritative direction in this momentous problem. The Church is most emphatic and most precise in its pronouncements on the matter of higher education. The Canon 1379, paragraph 2, of the new Canon-Law, is very explicit on the subject. "If the public universities are not imbued with Catholic doctrine and surrounded with a Catholic atmosphere, it is most desirable to found in that country or region a Catholic University." The Plenary Councils of Baltimore and of Quebec (Tit, VI-C, VII) command in the most pressing manner the Catholic youth to frequent only Catholic universities. When circumstances necessitate attendance at non-Catholic universities, safeguards are exacted to minimize the danger. These recent dispositions of the Church's legislation reflect the stand the Church has always taken on this ground of higher education. Is She not "Mater universitatum?" Modern civilization owes its universities to the Catholic Church, as the very stones of Cambridge and Oxford still proclaim . . . lapides clamabunt! And in these days of religious indifference, after heroic efforts and great sacrifices, in spite of the allurement of our wealthy state and independent institutions, the Church counts in every country seats of higher learning, where her children may receive the benefit of university training without danger for their conscience or their faith.

This stand of the Church in primary, secondary and higher education is the logical conclusion of her doctrine. "The theory of life," said Father Little, S.J., "and the theory of education go hand in hand." As the Church has a definite teaching on life, its value and its purpose, She has necessarily fundamental principles upon which education must rest if it wishes to be in harmony with Christian life and Catholic belief. In her eyes education, in all its degrees, must be primarily and profoundly religious. "If indeed, the Catholic Faith which makes such tremendous and such confident statements about God and His ways with men, is true, then obviously it takes the central place in human knowledge, and all other knowledge groups itself round and is coloured by Faith." Therefore, the principle, "every Catholic boy and girl in a Catholic college or university" should be to us as sacred as is "every Catholic child in a Catholic school." One is the consequence of the other; both are the practical conclusions of our faith. This close connection between theories of education and the attitude towards problem of life is evident in history.

The Pope, Benedict XV, in his recent letter to the American Hierarchy (March, 1919), writes: "The future of the Church and State absolutely depends on the condition and organization of the schools; there will be no other Christians than those whom you will have formed by instruction and education. . . . We have followed with joy," he adds, "the marvellous progress of the Catholic University at Washington, progress so closely united to the highest hopes of your churches. We have no doubt that henceforth you will continue even more actively, to support an institution of such great usefulness and promise as is the University."

The Most Reverend Dr. O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, in 1904, vindicated for the Irish people not the privilege, but the right to a Catholic University. "For us Catholics," he wrote, "the Gospel as taught by our Holy Church, is our philosophy of life and we hold that any attempt to educate a youth in what we call secularism is a retrogression to a lower level than that of pre-Christian culture. For this reason we have withstood every attempt to force secularism on this country and we shall resist it to the last. We have equally withstood mixed education, which, false as it is in itself and pernicious, is in this country a specious pretext for Protestant educational ascendancy." (University education in Ireland.)

If such is the case with Catholic Ireland, what should we not conclude as regards our Western Provinces? Here, more than anywhere else in Canada, does the Church need staunch, genuine, Catholic leadership. In it the future of Catholicity beyond the Great Lakes is involved. Reason and experience prove that the training which makes for genuine Catholic influence is plainly out of question unless it be received in a college and university whose atmosphere, teachings, aspirations and ideals are thoroughly Catholic. The recent foundations of a Catholic University in Milan and in Nimeguen, Holland, justify this claim.

* * * * * *

Conditions existing in our modern neutral universities vindicate our stand and strengthen our position. The tendency in these universities is, without doubt, towards infidelity or to say the least, towards diluted Christianity.—"The transformation from the old denominational education to the new undenominational education was in point of fact due to an antitheological—and even in some of its manifestations—anti-religious movement. If it included a sense of the justice of equal treatment for all creeds and a sense of the liberty necessary for science, it also included some of the anti-Christian spirit of Continental liberalism. The undenominational movement was the practical expression of the liberal and scientific movement." (Life of Newman—L 306.)

A few years ago there appeared in the "Cosmopolitan Review," under the glaring title "Blasting at the Rock of Ages," an article which startled the intellectual world. It was a crude and biting exposure of the intellectual license and unhealthy moral atmosphere of the great American universities. To follow the author of this powerful indictment in the proof of his facts and statements would be beyond the scope of this paper. Only we would advise some of our near-sighted Catholics who through that snobbishness which money often gives them, have a sort of worship for non-Catholic universities, to read this indictment. In giving them a glance of the "inside of the cup" it may change their opinion.

Dr. James Henry Leuba, professor of psychology at the Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, gave out to the public the answers he received from sociologists, biologists, psychologists and teachers of universities and other institutions in the United States, as regards their belief in the existence of God. More than fifty per cent. admitted that they had no belief whatever in the existence of God; forty per cent. denied the immortality of the soul. The great majority, said Dr. Leuba, were university teachers and none could compare with them in influence over the rising generation. (Cfr. Archeological Report 1917—published by Ontario Government.)

When subversive theories based on an absolute materialistic conception of life, and from which God, Divine Providence, Christ, Christianity are systematically excluded and ridiculed as myths of by-gone days; when, we say, such theories are rampant in the halls of our modern universities, should we be astonished to see outright infidelity, political socialism, religious anarchy, stalk the length and breadth of the land? "Impurity, obscenity, moral corruption in many forms, with the ever consequent cynicism and pessimism, forerunners of moral decadence, destruction of the original, creative, shaping, joyous, confident energies of society, come daily more boldly to the front of the stage and defy criticism or mock at the archaic sanctions of yesterday. One does not need to peruse the great modern historians of Roman morals to foresee the results of such an educational debauch, when allowed time enough and the working of its own, unholy but intimate and inexorable logic." (Mgr. Shahan—at the Catholic Educational Convention, U.S., 1919.) Sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.

Should not such atmosphere of infidelity or diluted Christianity in non-Catholic universities be for Catholic students a source of danger to the vigour and even to the integrity of their faith, to their constancy, in the full and faithful observance of their practical religious duties? Familiarity with error, at the age of youth principally, breeds contempt of truth and jeopardizes faith. The suppression of truth in its various forms, the concealment of religious profession and observance, necessarily lead to religious indifference. How many sad examples could we not give to back this statement? This danger which Catholic youth meets with in the very atmosphere of our neutral universities is still greater when we consider the method of teaching now in honour in these schools of higher learning. The tutorial method, still in vogue at Oxford, has given place to the professorial. The systematic lecture has replaced the exposition of texts. The professor, with his frame of mind, his views on facts and ideas, is the living book from which our youth read their daily lesson. His personality dominates the mind of the pupil. We all know what fascination the science, reputation and eloquence of a professor have on the unarmed and impressionable minds of youth. The "Magister dixit" is very often the supreme law, the last criterion of truth. President Garfield's ideal of a college, "Mark Hopkins on the other end of the log," recognizes the educative value of the contact with a master-mind.

Authority and reason militate in favor of higher Catholic education for Catholics in Western Canada, this is the logical conclusion of our statements.

* * * * * *

Yes, nice theories, some may say; but we are facing facts. How are we to contend with these well equipped, richly endowed, neutral institutions of higher education? Where shall we find the resources to pay efficient teachers, to establish the various faculties that go to form a university worthy of its name? Have we not a state-university marvellously well equipped and for which our Provinces are yearly spending fabulous sums? Why not take advantage of our own money that goes in taxes for the support of these institutions?

To argue along these lines is to concede to our enemies our position on the Separate School question. All these objections have been met with in other countries and other provinces, and the answer to them was the creation of Catholic colleges and universities.

The great fallacy of the age, and particularly in this part of the country, is State Monopoly in educational matters. This is looked upon as the great triumph of modern democracy and the palladium of liberty. The monopoly over the human mind by this monopoly of education is the most dangerous of all state-monopolies. It is the resurrection of the pagan ideal, the magnification of the state to the detriment and absorption of the individual and the family. Germany has given us an example of where "the standardization of thought and outlook" by the State education leads to. The Prussian ideal, in its last analysis, is nothing else but the pagan ideal.

But no country in the British Empire has pushed the policy of monopolisation of education so far as our Western Provinces. Under the specious plea of efficiency and absurd reason of uniformity, they will not even grant charters to independent institutions of higher learning. This policy surely does not reflect true statesmanship and makes British liberty a misnomer on the lips of many of our ultra-loyal Westerners. We would ask our Western Governments to take lessons in this matter from England. When some few years ago the question of converting the university colleges into Universities was before the English public there was much talk of the danger of Lilliputian universities and of low standards of teaching and examination. But this question was brought to trial by the State before a high tribunal and a firm decision was given in favour of the principle. A special committee of the Privy Council conducted a semi-judicial enquiry and gave sentence on Febr., 1903. The result of this decision was that the colleges of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, blossomed out into teaching universities. This is the real British way of doing things.

The United States[4] have granted university charters to the various Catholic institutions of higher learning which dot that land of Liberty from coast to coast. And let us not forget,—facts and figures will bear us out,—the independent universities in the United States, in England and in Belgium, only to mention some, have been in many Faculties more efficient and more successful than the state institutions. The remarkable record of St. Louis University, a Jesuit institution, is illustrative of this point. A comparison of the respective medical and dental records of this institution with perhaps two of the greatest professional schools of the United States, John Hopkins and Harvard, gives proof of higher efficiency to St. Louis University. The official bulletins of the Medical Dental Associations give the statistics.

The right of Catholics to their own schools—primary, secondary, university, is a birthright we must always fight for. It is the elementary right of a civilized people to educate her sons as she sees fit. In the battle for this right the best strategy is to offer the accomplished fact of a college and a university which by their efficiency, their intellectual and moral value, impose themselves upon the community and win their way to acceptance. Let us blaze the trail and to-morrow, it will be the great highway of Catholic education for the coming generation in Western Canada.

But instead of this policy of "isolation" which in school matters is the ordinary policy of the Church, some Catholics, in view of circumstances, rather advocate that of "permeation." The presence of Catholics in State Universities will, they claim, create a better atmosphere, abate or soften prejudice, beget a better feeling among the future leaders of the community. In England, it is true, Catholics are allowed to attend Oxford and Cambridge; in Germany, they attend State Universities. The Catholics of Australia have since 1916 also a College in conjunction with the Melbourne State University. Student societies have been formed, Catholic halls opened, courses of apologetics are given to help the Catholic youth in the "steady daily pressure working against them in a non-Catholic university," and to influence religious thought in those centres of higher learning.

Has this "modus vivendi" brought about by various circumstances which it would be too long to analyze here, produced the desired results? In Germany it has not created a Catholic atmosphere in one single university. Have not, on the contrary, the German universities been the hot-beds of Modernism and many a young cleric has come from their halls inoculated with this virus.

As for Oxford and Cambridge, we all know the controversy which divided the Catholics for so many years. As Catholics have been allowed to follow the courses there for only a few decades, we are not yet, we believe, in a position to judge of the influence of these universities on the Catholic body of England as a whole. Time only will tell. But one thing is certain, no comparison can be established between our state universities and these colleges. Although in the halls of Oxford, Christianity "is often attuned to the outlook and temper of the age" as the book "Foundations" (a statement of Christian belief in terms of modern thought, by seven Oxford men) sadly reveals it, nevertheless, there is not to be found in the English Colleges that atmosphere which the absence of religion has created in our state universities. The presence of various denominational colleges on the grounds of our Provincial Universities only gives them a tint of Christianity. The teaching of history and philosophy will tell the tale. "It must be remembered that an Oxford scheme was never Newman's ideal. It was a concession to necessities of the hour. His ideal scheme, alike for education of the young and for the necessary intellectual defence of Christianity, had consistently been the erection of a large Catholic University like Louvain. This he had tried to set up in Ireland. In such an institution, research and discussion of the questions of the day would be combined as in the middle ages with a Catholic atmosphere, the personal ascendancy of able Christian professors and directly religious influence for the young men." (Life of Newman)—by Ward.

Were there question only of postgraduate work, of some special course in agriculture, domestic science, there would be no difficulty, we believe, to see Catholic students take advantage of the marvellous facilities our state universities offer. The matter, the short term of these courses or the advanced age of the pupil would be in themselves sufficient guarantee. But what we strongly object to is the Arts Course, and particularly undergraduate work, even were the contentious subjects, such as philosophy and history, be given by Catholic teachers to Catholic students separately. The Arts Course, we must remember, is the real dominating factor in higher education. For we maintain with Cardinal Newman that a University is a place of teaching universal knowledge and that its object is primarily intellectual. It has in view the diffusion and extension of knowledge, rather than its advancement, which is reserved to Academies. It is the Arts Course of a University, particularly its Philosophy, that gives this general knowledge and enlargement of the mind. Its influence is most telling in the various Faculties where students specialize for their future career. For Philosophy plays such a large part in human life, the movement of opinions and the direction of minds. The Catholic student in those most plastic years, in that critical period of receptivity, wherein ideas are analyzed and synthesized for life time, cannot help but imbibe ideas and doctrines opposed to his belief. The elite alone, we believe, can resist in the long run the influence of that indefinable quality called atmosphere, and maintain among so many cross-currents, the right course. The ordinary and inexperienced mind will be, if not contaminated, at least weakened and this alone is disastrous in a leader. Many changes, many transformations, we know, take place in the mind of youth as it emerges "from collegiate visions into the rough path of real life." As Morley wrote, "We know after the event, the tremendous changes of thought . . . of conception of life, that coming years and new historic forces were waiting to unfold before the undergraduate when he had once floated out beyond the college bar." Yet, the solid teachings of Catholic Philosophy will remain to him as the charter and compass when his ship has taken to the high sea. This is the principal reason why we vindicate the right to our own higher education. To push the argument further, we would ask why should we be obliged to pay taxes to have doctrines opposed to our conscience propounded from the professorial chairs of our State University? The granting of a Charter by the State is but the minimum of our rights.

Dream or Reality?

A Catholic University for Western Canada! Is this but the dream of a far off future or can it be a reality within a few years?—There is the problem which now faces the Catholic Church of our Western Provinces and upon which, in our estimation, rests the influence the Church is to have in the formation of the new and most promising part of our Dominion beyond the Great Lakes. A high conception of the duty of the present hour and the whole-hearted co-operation of every Catholic unit in the West, will without doubt bring its happy solution and make our dream a reality. To act on ideal principles with little or no attempt to forecast accurately what is practicable would be to court failure. We are gradually passing the mile-stone of pioneer life in the West, and the Church is slowly but surely being organized and entering into full possession of her normal life. The duties which Catholic solidarity imposes upon us as regards the Church and the community at large are growing apace with the status of the Church in these new Provinces. Among these duties none, we believe, are more important than that we owe to the cause of Catholic education. Naturally, the burden of the responsibility falls here upon parents whose bounden duty it is to see that the school, college, university, be, as much as possible but the extension of their Catholic home. The rising generation in the West has a right to the benefits of a higher education; to this right corresponds in the community a duty imposed upon its members by Catholic solidarity. For in the growing youth we see the Country and the Church, with whose future welfare it is necessarily united. A true Catholic must have his vision of what the Church ought to be in his Country and must work to make that vision come true.

Through a Catholic University, and through it only, will the Church give its full contribution to the national life of Western Canada by creating as we said, Catholic leadership. We have as Catholics, ideas to give to the nation, to its up-building, and to its prosperity. The sun of Canadian liberty is shining for our doctrines as it does for other ideals. And, strange to say, the most subversive theories seem to take the greatest and most frequent advantage of this freedom. We have no apology to make for our ideas. They stand on their own merit and have been vindicated by the acid-test of time. To bring our message to the country, to spread its beneficial influence is the mission of our Catholic leaders. Only a large number of truly educated Catholic men are able to make their influence felt on the life and thought of a country.

This identification of a Catholic university with our Western Provinces will be an asset to our public life and beneficial to the people at large, notwithstanding their aloofness and unreasoned opposition to our principles and methods. The evils of the times are the direct result of the secularization of education. Catholic higher education is the only antidote and remedy to this evil. Its principles are a vigorous protest against materialistic philosophy. We believe in the mastery of ideas and in the final victory of truth.

The Church also for her own benefit needs true Catholic leaders. Leaders in a Catholic Community, who are not thoroughly Catholic in their training, who have false notions, warped views, biassed conceptions of vital questions, are most detrimental to the cause of Catholicity. Distorted and confused ideas, in religious matters particularly, always lead to a compromise. After school days they fail to find their Catholic faith correlated with the problems and experiences which never troubled them before, and which now, lack of higher education will not allow them to solve and to face. Have we not indeed in Western Canada to guard ourselves against latitudinarianism in our Catholic life? Material prosperity, success in business or in farming, associations with men and women who have practically no belief whatever, erroneous conceptions of broadmindedness in religious matters, absence of traditions, lack of Catholic education, all these causes and many others have created especially in our cities, where such a large floating population is to be found, and in our country places where there is no resident priest, a compromising Catholicism, apologetic Catholics. How many Catholics in the West are always ready to cringe in presence of those who are not of our belief and to apologize for their faith. To react against this abiding danger we need all through the country well instructed and thoroughly educated Catholic leaders who will be in our world of agnosticism and irreligion, the protagonists and apologists of Catholicism. The fearless proclamation of the truth combined with a good moral public life is in itself a tremendous power. Indeed, we need in all the avenues of life men whose university training will give them influence in public life. But let it never be forgotten those captains of industry, those brilliant and successful professional men, those progressive farmers—valuable as they all may be—must count more as leaders of Catholic thought than as money-makers. If not, they will be found wanting when the Church needs them the most. We emphasize this point, for in the plea for higher education very often our attention seems to be more on the successful business man than on the Catholic thinker.

Love of Church and country will therefore inspire us with a high sense of duty in relation to the establishment of a seat of higher education in this promising part of our great Dominion. And this duty, let us not forget it, is urgent. Every decade means a new generation that should have passed from the halls of our university to the commanding heights of the country's leadership. Our hesitancy means a further postponement of the triumph of the Catholic Cause.

This high conception of an urgent duty gives the vision. From the clearness, breadth and depth of that vision will spring the conquering spirit of co-operation. Co-operation to be efficient and persevering demands a united plan of action and an authoritative leadership.

The Catholic population of Western Canada is yet very limited. We cannot afford to scatter our forces and multiply our institutions. One university for all Western Canada would be sufficient to meet the present requirements. The multiplication of inefficient universities is a calamity for genuine higher education. This has been the contention of "Catholic" in a recent series of brilliant articles in the "Casket." The policy would therefore be for all to agree on one college as the non-Catholics have done in the different Western Provinces. This naturally requires the sacrifice of parochialism and provincialism. But if the Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists have each agreed on the establishment of one educational centre for their students, surely the Catholics can also sacrifice local interests to the welfare of the cause. How many efforts our bigoted provincialism has neutralized in the past!

Authoritative leadership only can unite our efforts on this unity of plan of action. Nothing in this matter can be done without the direction and support of the Hierarchy of the West. The division among Bishops was, according to Newman, one of the main causes that made the Dublin Catholic University scheme a failure. Naturally this problem of higher education is one that overflows diocesan boundaries and remains common to all. "Boundaries of jurisdiction, as wrote so advisedly, Archbishop McNeil, of Toronto, are conveniences and means to an end." Beyond the responsibilities of each separate diocese there are other responsibilities which affect the Church of Canada as a whole. Let one man with vision, judgment, energy, and action, make the creation of the Catholic University in the West the work and ambition of his life, let him have the sincere approbation and efficient co-operation of all the Hierarchy . . . that man, we claim, will rally the Catholic forces around him and will give to the West and its rising generation the blessing so much needed of Catholic university training. Newman was fond of repeating that it is only individuals who do great things.

And what will, this Catholic university mean to Catholic life in Western Canada? Well established upon the highest academic level by its success in the competitive field of learning, it will stand out as the embodiment of Catholic intellectual life and the centre of Catholic activities. It will be the counter-ideal to the ideal of agnosticism and materialism so fostered and so prevalent in our neutral universities. Just as the cathedrals are the expression of the Catholic faith in Christ's abiding presence in the Sacrament of His love, so is a Catholic university the embodiment and accomplishment of the Church's ideal in education. By its extension work, summer courses, circulating libraries, correspondence courses, lectures, etc., the university would unite our activities, eliminate waste of energy and direct our combined efforts. Cardinal Newman believed that a Catholic university was essential for thorough health and efficiency in the Catholic body at large. To realize all that a Catholic university would mean one has only to know what Washington stands for in the life of the Church in the United States. In his beautiful letter to the American Hierarchy, Benedict XV said of it: "The University, we trust, will be the attractive centre about which will gather all who love the teachings of Catholicism."

What is the Conclusion?

We may summarize our argumentation in favour of our contention in the following statements:

1.—THE INTERESTS OF CHURCH AND COUNTRY, PARTICULARLY IN THE WEST, DEMAND CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP;

2.—NO GENUINE LEADERSHIP WITHOUT UNIVERSITY TRAINING;

3.—FOR CATHOLICS HIGHER EDUCATION MEANS HIGHER CATHOLIC EDUCATION.

Now, Patient reader, allow us to conclude these already too lengthy pages, by this pointed question: "Is a Catholic university for Western Canada within the possibilities of the near future?"

Our answer will be simple, direct, conclusive, and, we hope, convincing. If all Catholics in the Western Provinces, under the direction and with the continued support of the Hierarchy, unite in one sublime and persistent effort, we have the utmost confidence in its immediate realization. Some Catholics, we know, will distrust its expediency, despair of its success or even feel an obligation to oppose it. Difficulties, most undoubtedly, we will have numerous and great. With time, patience, perseverance and self-sacrifice we will overcome them. Nothing succeeds like success. The establishment of a work of that kind is the work of years and even of centuries. There must be some day a start, a foundation to build on. The policy of nihilism leads nowhere. The frequentation of our State universities would indefinitely postpone all efforts for the Catholic ideal, and be a surrender of the whole situation. But let us not be carried away with the modern fallacy of materialistic grandeur. Spacious and beautiful buildings, nice grounds and attractive surroundings are not to be despised when the finances are good. But all these things are secondary; they do not give the intrinsic value to a university, they are not "the pulse of the machine." The great business of a university is to teach; the highest academic level should be its worthy ambition. The teachers are the real makers of a seat of higher learning, they pitch high or low the standard of learning.

This great work will demand from every Catholic a continued effort of loyal and generous support. The Canon-law, the Councils, the exhortations of the Pope insists on this support of Catholic universities. Particularly those who are blessed with the goods of this world and to whom Providence has been generous, should remember that "their wealth has a fiduciary character; a character that entails duties towards the Catholic community at large, none less obligatory because they are rooted in the virtue of charity, instead of the virtue of justice."

But experience tells us that our Catholic institutions are founded and supported more by the "widow's mite" than by the millionaires' donations. The support will come from the Catholic communities of Western Canada; it will indeed come with most gratifying results if the appeal is lofty in its motive and proposal, concerted and systematic in its action.

We are not to go to the Catholics of the West with an appeal in one hand and an apology in the other. A straightforward, self-respecting presentation of our cause will bring a no less straightforward and self-respecting response. To make this appeal an unqualified success there must be also concerted action. Intensive efforts alone bring results. This means the canvass of the West for this single purpose, at a stated time. But any canvass of this kind, to be effective, must be prepared by an educational campaign. Give the Catholics, we maintain, the vision of their duty, sound the call . . . and they will respond. For indifference, profound and widespread,—fruit of ignorance more than of ill-will,—would be the greatest obstacle to overcome. Arousing interest will be the initial task. In Australia, Archbishop Mannix organized a campaign, in co-operation with his suffragan bishops, for the purpose of the Catholic College of Melbourne and from June to December, 1916, half a million of dollars was collected. The Catholics of Western Canada are just as ready, we claim, to furnish such annual payment as would be wanted: if only they are properly called upon. But this proper calling involves first a systematic and periodical recommendation of its claims by the clergy and influential laymen.

System will avoid a conflict of claims for other great causes equally worthy of our generous support. The war has in this matter taught us at home a great lesson. There were appeals for the Patriotic Fund, the Red Cross, the Belgium Relief, the French Aid, etc., etc. They all came to us in rotation. No apology was made, every one felt in duty and honor bound, and the money was always there with an extraordinary readiness. Organization is the first element of success.

* * * * * *

Who will be the promoters of this great work? Naturally the Hierarchy of the West will be its inspiring and moving spirit. But, should not the Knights of Columbus, that body-guard of Catholic laity, be called to the honour of "seeing it through." This great undertaking would be a most appropriate background for all the activities of our valiant Knights in Western Canada.

A society, Catholic in principle and membership, must, to last, and be an asset to the Church, have a definite programme of action in harmony with its aim and constitution. If it keeps its energies pent up behind the walls of the council-chambers and only finds them an outlet in social functions and friendly gatherings, it will soon go to seed or die of dry rot. When on the contrary an organization, such as the Knights of Columbus, throws the full weight of its energies in the forwarding of a great cause, the possibilities of its influence are limitless. The war activities of the Knights and their splendid results for the Church and the nation are a tangible proof of it.

Could there be a work more in harmony with the aims of the great Catholic organization than that of higher education. At the national convention of 1912, held at Colorado Springs, the committee on Catholic Higher Education ends its report by saying: "In the newer impetus that will come to Catholic education as the result of better understanding (its necessity and value), the Knights of Columbus must make themselves an important factor. We owe it to ourselves and to that special loyalty to both Church and State which we pride to claim as the special note of the order. It is often asked what are the Knights of Columbus doing that they should be so proud of their organization, and the best possible answer would be for all of us to be able to point to benefits that were conferred by Knights individually and in bodies upon our Catholic education. There can be no mistake about the benefit to be conferred on Church and State by progress in Catholic education."

The active and persevering co-operation of the Knights in the forwarding of the great cause of a Catholic University for Western Canada, would be their contribution to the great period of reconstruction which the world is now facing.

* * * * * *

On one of those beautiful mellow autumn evenings, of which the Prairie alone has the secret, the traveller, as his train steams into one of our Western Cities, will behold a stately cupola tipped with a golden cross.—"What is that new building, yonder on the outskirts of the city?" will he inquire. The answer will be: "That is the Catholic University of Western Canada."



[1] This chapter appeared as a series of articles, in the North West Review of Winnipeg,—under the signature of "Miles Christi."

[2] "Less than one per cent. of American men are college graduates Yet this one per cent. of college graduates has furnished: 55% of our Presidents, 36% of our Members of Congress, 47% of the Speakers of the House, 54% of our Vice-Presidents, 62% of our Secretaries of State, 50% of the Secretaries of the Treasury, 67% of the Attorney Generals, 69% of the Justices of the Supreme Court."—Dr. Jones, of the University of Missouri.

[3] Lord Haldane addressing the Co-operative Educational Association (May, 1920) made this statement: "The universities of England must be made able, as national institutions, with a larger range of activity than at present, to undertake extra-mural work on a scale so great that it will be of general application throughout the land, and they must be put in a position to be fitted to bring this about."

[4] Speaking of Publicly and privately supported institutions of learning in the U.S., Dr. Cappen, assistant commissioner of the United States Bureau of Education stated that there are 93 of the former in the U.S. and 477 of the latter. About 62 per cent. of the college students in the country attend voluntarily supported colleges, and the private schools have about 68 per cent. of the educational funds of the country at their disposal. This includes of course such very wealthy endowed institutions as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Stanford.



PART III

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

"The political and economic struggles of society are in the last analysis religious struggles; their sole solution, the teaching of Jesus Christ."—(John Stuart Mill.)



CHAPTER XII.

BEYOND BERLIN[1]

After-War Problems from a Catholic View-Point—Reconstruction, the Duty of the Hour.

The heavy clouds of war and the bloody mist of battles are lifting; once more the sun of peace bursts forth triumphant over a sad and weary world. The storm has wasted its fury. The landscape is washed clear and bright, the atmosphere is glowing and transparent; destruction and ruins everywhere stand out in sharp and ghastly relief. On the distant horizon, beyond the Rhine, the dark clouds drag their tattered shreds; the angry lightning still flashes and thunder yet rumbles yonder—on German and Russian soil.

The war is over. The muddy trench, the deadly shrapnel, the perfidious gas, the roaring cannon, the forced marches on the slimy roads of Flanders, the heroic dashes and agonizing retreats of struggling armies, the lurking submarines, the treacherous, owlish zeppelins, the long-protracted vigil on the deep—all these grim realities of four, long, endless years have melted away in the blaze of a glorious victory. Now the German Armada rides at anchor, prisoner, in British waters, the armies of the Allies bivouac on the banks of the Rhine, and our Canadian boys, flushed with victory, come marching home.

The day of the German surrender, Clemenceau, Premier of France, made this significant statement: "Great have been the problems of the war, but greater will be the problems of peace." Nations, indeed, now face one of the most momentous periods of history. The world has struck its tents and is once more on the march. Never, we believe, have such tremendous responsibilities weighed upon a passing generation. The future will be greatly imperilled if at this critical juncture great questions are fought out between ignorant desire for change and ignorant opposition to change. The handwriting is on the wall, and our economic and social life, foreign to Christian morality, has been found wanting. Will a new and better social order rise from the ashes of this world-conflagration? There is the searching problem which presses itself upon the mind of every thinking man. "On every side," writes Father Plater, S.J., "there is talk of reconstruction, economic, political, social, educational. Government departments are hard at work gathering information, elaborating schemes. Numerous organized bodies, such as the Labor party, are putting forward their programmes. Conferences and lectures on reconstruction are multiplied and literature on the subject pours from the press."

"Great ideas," said Wilson, "at last have captured the hearts of the common people and directed into positive channels and constructive programmes the very energies which otherwise may have spent themselves in the acts of retributive destruction." Reconstruction! This is now the world's watch-word. It sums up the various problems with which nations will have to grapple in every realm of human activity. It speaks of conditions that are no more and suggests new outlines of the social order. Our present and pressing duty then is to weigh the anchor, to swing out into the middle stream and take our course on the permanent principles of Catholic Truth. These principles stand on the shores of History as the great revolving lights that sweep the high seas in the darkness of night.

Canada, after having bravely and generously solved the problems of war, is now also facing "the greater problems of peace." This period of reconstruction, more than that of the war, will test our national fibre. The strain will be greater for the conflict is being lifted to a higher plane, that of ideas. But nowhere in Canada will this vast work of readjustment be more tangible than in our Great West. The youth of that part of the country, and the dominating factors of the national problem will, we believe, make the West the classical land of reconstruction. A gradual evolution will bring our Eastern Provinces to readjust themselves to the changing conditions of political and economic life. The West, on the contrary, has in such matters the beautiful qualities, the unlimited resources of youth, but also its dangerous shortcomings. Daring, venturous, over-confident in democracy, the Western mind is frequently most hasty and radical in its conclusions. It has not been matured by time, that great teacher of patience and moderation; experience has not, as yet, tempered that feverish and progressive youthfulness, so prone to speedy and often drastic legislation. The heat of fever is often mistaken for the glow of health. And as legislation is in the minds of the Western people the panacea of all evils in society, will not the common tendency be to carry on the work of reconstruction by parliament bills and orders-in-council? Is there not here a great danger? "The danger of premature commitment is much greater than that of more cautious policy, proving a stumbling block in the way of future progress."

Moreover, the most vital factors of reconstruction in Canada will affect more particularly the Prairie Provinces. The back-to-the-land movement, demobilization, settlement of returned soldiers on the farm, intensive immigration policy, extensive agricultural production are indeed Western problems.

The choice of the Hon. J. A. Calder of Saskatchewan, as chairman of the Reconstruction Committee in the Federal Cabinet; the prominent part given to him and to the Hon. Mr. Meighen of Manitoba, in the formation and discussion of plans at the recent meeting of the Premiers of the Provinces; these are in themselves striking illustrations of our contention in the matter.

Although the West will, in the period of reconstruction command the attention of the country at large, there are, nevertheless, problems, particularly those affecting our social and economic life, which will weigh heavily on our Eastern Provinces. So reconstruction will be a nation-wide work.

The Duty of Catholics

What is, therefore, the duty of Catholics, at the present hour? Are we to fold our arms and let others rebuild the very framework of society according to plans which our faith, reason, and history disapprove of, and very often condemn? Our ideas in the matter may not prevail, but how would we be justified in deploring the consequences of a legislation which we did not even try, by our influence, to suppress or modify? To abstain as Catholics from this great work of reconstruction is profoundly un-Catholic. It is the act of a traitor to the Church and country. As Burke so gloriously said: he was aware that the age is not all we wish, but he was sure that the only means to check its degeneracy was heartily to concur in whatever is best in our time.

The Church depends upon her children to spread the beneficial influence of her social doctrines. "The great work of the Catholics, after the war, will be," said Father McNabb, O.P., "to bring the vision of the Bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, before the millions of our countrymen." "These countrymen of ours are blind and often bigoted," adds Henry Somerville.

There are Catholics who make this blindness and consequent bigotry an excuse for their own narrowness and selfishness, for their neglect to share in the nation's work, for their refusal to co-operate in patriotic, civic and social undertakings as if they were none of our business. The nation's business is our business. If we serve the nation efficiently, we serve the Church. We take then the best means to open the eyes of our fellow-countrymen to the fact that Catholicism is not uncivic. If we make ourselves valued, anti-Catholic prejudice will be dispelled.

Cardinal Bourne in his letter on "Social Reform" speaks very pointedly of the duty of every Catholic in this matter. His pronouncement and that of the American Hierarchy are the most notable declarations from Catholic sources on "Social Re-construction." "It is admitted on all hands," says the English Primate, "that a new order of things, new social conditions between the different sections in which Society is divided will arise as a consequence of the destruction of the formerly existing conditions.

"The very foundations of political and social life, of our economic system, of morals, of religion are being sharply scrutinized, and this, not only by a few writers and speakers, but by a very large number of people in every class of life, especially among the workers."

The nation's business is our business. The true love of country demands from Catholics at this critical stage of our history to throw all their energies into the various social activities. Society throughout the world is shaken in its very foundations. This universal unrest in the political, social and economic spheres is a decided mark of the birth-throes of a new social order. Therefore, we will conclude with Cardinal Gibbons; "The Church cannot remain an isolated factor in the nation. The Catholic Church possesses spiritual and moral resources which are at the command of the nation in every crisis."

The reform or remodelling of the social fabric, if it is to be effective and abiding, must ultimately rest on the definite and unchanging principles of morality. These principles constitute the moral law, as physical principles are the basis of the physical law. Ernest Fayle, in a very instructive article on "Reconstruction," in the October number of the "London Quarterly Review," makes a statement very pertinent to this matter; "The economic, political and social factors in human life are so inextricably entangled that if we accept quality of life and not mere power or wealth as the touchstone of national success we dare not, even in the consideration of economic or political questions, lose sight of the moral issues."

The Catholic Church has always been the teacher and guardian of that natural moral law which stands as the foundation and buttress of the social edifice. Her plans of Reconstruction rest on the eternal principles of equity which God has engraved on the human conscience and which the teachings of Christ have sanctioned and perfected. In the light of Catholic doctrine moral laws are definite and unchanging, for they are the deliberate expression of the necessary and fundamental relations upon which rests human nature. They are the living, free expression of man's place in creation. The most elaborate schemes and powerful organizations are soulless without these basic principles of morality and have but an ephemeral existence.

Is it not, therefore, a great act of patriotism to try to throw into the scales of the nation's destinies the mighty weight of indestructible and tried principles? A growing respect is to be found for the soundness, the wisdom and the justice of Catholic social principles, even in circles where our beliefs have not yet found acceptance. True statesmen have always recognized the influence of the Catholic Church's doctrine in social matters, although they may not believe in the truth of her teachings. They always looked upon her principles of social life as the ballast that steadies the ship on heaving seas. To make the Church a spiritual ally, to recognize her moral power and her far-reaching influence has always been considered good diplomacy and clear-sighted statesmanship.

Catholic's Patriotism in Public Life

Reconstruction is the great work of the hour; co-operation is a duty every Catholic owes to Church and country. What definite and concrete form of co-operation will that responsibility assume? There is the problem. Our first duty, in the matter, lies, we believe, in a greater participation in public life. Too long have we stood aloof from movements that aim at the social welfare of the community. A false timidity and an erroneous conception of our responsibilities have estranged us, to a great extent, from the various activities of national life. This isolation has been most prejudicial to our Catholic laity, for it has fostered in their ranks disinterestedness and often apathy. "With regard to the necessity of Catholics to obtain positions on public bodies, Cardinal Bourne stated that very often Catholics were urged to take part in public affairs, by becoming elected to public bodies in order that they might safeguard Catholic principles. That was a great good—a very laudable object—but it was not the highest object. The great object was that out of the fulness of their Faith they might give to their fellow-countrymen the principles that flowed from that Faith, so that little by little there might be built up in the consciousness of the nation that belief in and use of those sound principles of the Catholic Faith which contained the only solution of the difficulties with which they were faced."

"Too long have Catholics lived in isolation, allowing others to think and act for them. It is indeed, high time that they felt the pulse of life that beats in the real statesman, as distinct from mere politician. Duty demands that Catholics add their power of intellect and will to the similar power of other citizens anxious to help the commonwealth. We are not aliens in this land, not aliens by birth or principle. As to the latter, I may say with all truth, that no one has given clearer expression to the basic principles of democracy than the Catholic theologians, Suarez and Bellarmine." [2]

This attitude of aloofness, during the coming period of reconstruction especially, would be profoundly un-Catholic. Our active participation in public life will give us occasion to dispel prejudice, to offset subversive doctrines, to advocate in spite of failures and bigotry the principles of Christian sociology. We are firm believers in the prevailing strength of ideas. They are indestructible; they rule sooner or later. They may take time to crystalize into convictions, but the force of mental gravitation must ultimately prevail. And after all, Reconstruction, as Dr. J. J. Walsh stated, is more a question of remaking the map of man's mind than that of remodelling the map of Europe.

The Catholics of England give us, in this matter as in many others, a beautiful example to follow. During the war they formed a "British Catholic Information Society," having at its service "the Catholic War News Office." The result of their aggressive policy is the public recognition of the value of the Catholic Church by the English people in the national work of Reconstruction. We would here refer the reader to Father Plater's letter on "Catholics and Reconstruction" for further details in this interesting matter. Like our Catholic brothers of England, let us also take our place boldly in the broad daylight of public life. We have ideas to give to the Nation, let us give them. Canadian liberty, without doubt, exists for our doctrines as it does for the subversive theories of State-Socialism. We have no apology to make for our ideas. They stand on their own merits and have been vindicated by the great acid test of time. Yes, we possess the great curative and creative forces for social Reconstruction; We have only to call them into play.

The Catholic Solution

In season and out of season, in the press and on the platform, in private gatherings and public meetings, through every medium of social control, let the people hear the Catholic solution of the problems now facing the nations of the world. We have a message to deliver. That message, if it comes to the people shining like a steel blade, sounding like the blare of a trumpet, if it wells up from a fiery heart and drops from burning lips—that message will be heard. In this period of strain and suffering the public mind is keyed to its highest pitch, ready to snap at any moment. Strong feeling has generated in many minds intellectual hysteria. "In war time," says E. H. Griggs, "there is a curious paradox of widening radicalism of thought, with constantly decreasing freedom of action and expression. When the discrepancy becomes too great, you have the explosion,—a revolution." Therefore in this time of intellectual ferment, the continued affirmation of truth, and the persistent statement of principles are in themselves a highly valuable service, which we are bound to give to the world. The thought of the human mind, like rays of sun-light, focused on one point, acquires the burning power of conviction.

Participation in public life develops conviction; conviction repeatedly asserts itself; continued assertion creates opinion; and public opinion is without doubt one of the most universal powers at work in the world. In every sphere of life you can feel the constant pressure of this tremendous influence. It may well be named the "current" of public opinion. Draining to its profit the latent and loitering powers of the individual thinker, silently, irresistibly it moves on; checked, it becomes an angry whirlpool of confused and gyrating waters; harnessed to the wheels of national life, it will transform its energies into light, heat and power.

The creation and the spreading of Catholic opinion in social matters should be in our mind, the ultimate goal of our activities, for it is the greatest asset we can contribute to the vast work of Reconstruction. As Lord Morley said, "great economic and social forces flow with tidal sweep over communities half conscious of that which is befalling them. Wise statesmen are those who foresee what time is bringing and try to shape institutions and to mould men's thought and purpose in accordance with the change that is silently surrounding them."

Time, you readily understand, will not allow us to dwell upon the various problems which Reconstruction will bring before the country. Our aim, now, is rather to awaken the sense of responsibility, stir the sleeping conscience into watchfulness, and give to our Catholic men and women the stimulating thought of co-operation. Our country is being re-created in its political, social and economic life; to be a living factor in that "re-creation" is the duty of the hour.

Before bringing these remarks of a rather general character to a close allow us to mark for your attention the leading problems. They will be as landmarks planted to guide you on the way. In the international order, the problem of resetting nations on a new basis by a "just and durable peace" now faces the world. Racial and language problems command our attention in the national order. In the political world ideas are to be readjusted as to the nature, powers and obligations of the State. Of late, the monopoly of the State has been asserting itself so strongly that one is led to believe the old pagan principle of the supremacy of the State will once more reign supreme. When nations have ceased to give to God what belongs to God, they give to Caesar alone what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.

The social order will witness demobilization and immigration. Who cannot grasp the importance of these great problems with their various and intricate issues? The greatest transformations are, perhaps, reserved for the economic order; capital and labor, efficient and greater production of industry and agriculture, the living wage, and uplifting of the workman's status, etc. In the educational order the battle will be greater, for there is a great tendency to centralize, to federalize education, under the plea of "national schools."

The religious order will see tremendous efforts for union among the various non-Catholic denominations; "social service" will be their center of unity, the common field of action.

Various and important, as you see, are the problems that confront us in the realms of human activity. Now, bear in mind, the Catholic doctrine has a solution for each problem and it is your duty to give it. Knights of Columbus, as you helped the Church to solve the problems of the war, so will you also help to solve the greater problems of peace. If you wish to be the body-guard of the Church, your mission is to lend your noble and generous efforts to your spiritual leaders in this great work of reconstruction. For, of this reconstructive period and its great opportunities for militant and active Catholics, we may say what Carlysle said of the period that followed the French Revolution; "Joy was it, in that age, to be living—and to be young, was very heaven." The task indeed is enormous, but the incentive most inspiring.

We are bound to meet with the fluctuations and uncertainties of the human mind, particularly in such times of readjustment and intellectual unrest. Let us then never forget that since the coming of Christ and the establishment of His Church on earth the principles of His teaching are for all nations. The sun of truth has its meridian in Rome, on the rock of Peter. There it stands at its zenith, in the permanent blaze of a perennial mid-day; there it sets the time for the Catholic world amid the ever-changing and conflicting problems of human history. Stat Crux dum volvitur orbis.



[1] A speech delivered in the Assembly Hall of the Knights of Columbus, St. John, N.B., December 22, 1918. "The Catholic Mind" of New York reproduced it in one of its issues.

[2] R. H. Tierney, S.J., Editor of America, at the Catholic Federation meeting, Brooklyn, September 15, 1918.



CHAPTER XIII.

WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS? (MATH. XVI.-13.)—PUBLIC OPINION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

What is Public Opinion—Its Power—How is it Formed—Public Opinion and the Catholic Church—Our Duties to Public Opinion.

Numerous and strong are the influences at play in human life. Acting and reacting on the free will of man they are ever at work moulding his character and shaping his destiny. Like the waves of an incoming tide they are beating the shores of our heart; their triumph is to carry away our liberty on their receding waters.

Surrounding influences for good or for evil are indeed, to a great extent, the determining factors of our moral life. Day by day they write our history and with it the history of the world; for, the life of every man is but a line on the great page of his nation's history and the history of a nation, but a chapter in that of humanity.

Of all the influences underlying human activities in the moral, social, economic, and political world, one of the most universal and most effective is beyond doubt, nowadays, Public Opinion. We may well name it the "current" of Public Opinion. In every sphere of life one can indeed feel the constant pressure of its tremendous power. Like the waters of a mill-race constantly and irresistibly the stream of Public Opinion sweeps on. It is very difficult to determine exactly where lies its strength; it is nowhere and everywhere. Unconscious of its swollen powers it spends its energies for the welfare of the community, or, unfortunately too often, loses itself in an angry torrent of destruction.

You thwart its onward march: it will bury your barrier under its laughing waters or . . . sweep it away. You ride with it: it will gladly carry you. You check it: its troubled waves will rise angry around you and engulf you.

Such is the "current" of Public Opinion. To direct this great power, to harness its tremendous forces, to convert them into light, heat, and energy and set the wheels of moral, social, and political life running with greater smoothness, rapidity, and strength, should be the noble effort and the great task of every serious-minded man.

By no idle whim or sheer literary piquancy have we coupled Public Opinion and the Catholic Church. The inevitable relations that exist between Public Opinion and the various predominating factors of a nation should necessarily interest every true Canadian. Among these factors the Catholic Church stands pre-eminent. Her beneficial influences and her ready solutions to the various social and moral problems that confront the world, cannot, even to the most prejudiced, be passed unnoticed. So no matter what our spiritual allegiance may be, the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church should be of the greatest interest to any one who has at heart the common welfare. In Western Canada particularly, where Public Opinion has such a sway, this subject, we presume, must be of service both to those of the Catholic Faith and to those of a different persuasion.

* * * * * *

What is Public Opinion—Its Power—How is it Formed?

1. What is Public Opinion?

Ideas rule the world, but various are the effects ideas have on the minds of men. On some minds they exercise only a passing influence; they are then what we call "Impressions"; variable as lights and shadows over a summer lake they come and go. Impressions are indeed only on the surface of the mind, like foot-prints on the sand washed away by the next tide.

When ideas take a stronger footing in our intelligence and are accepted with a certain confidence, on their face-value or on the authority of some leader, they become "Opinions." Loosely entertained and readily exchanged, opinions are the ordinary mental pabulum of the masses.

Few minds see their ideas crystallized into "Convictions." Convictions are permanent, unchangeable ideas: based on facts and supported by satisfactory evidence, they rest on the bed-rock of truth. Few minds indeed, particularly on the larger and fundamental issues, can claim the right to convictions. For, convictions demand a breadth of vision and grasp of detail which are given but to few souls. These minds, few in number, are the minds of leaders. Their noble duty and great responsibility is to Awaken, Stimulate, and Organize the thinking of the people. Their thoughts, their ideas, are on the unchartered sea of truth as the tossing buoy or lighted beacon from which the unthinking masses take their course. Rather than go to the pains of thinking for themselves the crowds leave this task to a few and content themselves with ready-made opinions, as these float by with the tide of the hour. Few make up their minds; they are made up for them.

The common opinion which reflects the mind of the great majority, embodies the prevailing idea, the universal sentiment, and directs the common action is called. . . Public Opinion.

2. Power of Public Opinion.

You readily see, by its very nature, the tremendous power of Public Opinion. It is the "reason why," the basis of appreciation, the norm of conduct of the great mass of the people. As we stated before, Public Opinion is like the stream that drains to its profit the loitering energies of the individual mind, and makes them tributaries that swell its volume and compress its course. Who can analyze the powers of this "Organized Thinking" of the people in a democracy? Who can measure the force of these sweeping currents, of these tidal waves of Public Opinion?

In fact, Public Opinion may be considered in our modern societies as the greatest driving power. For, Public Opinion is the vision of the unthinking multitude, and vision is the first and foremost of constructive or destructive forces. It lights the way and invites action accordingly. Marvellous indeed is the sweep of the tide of Public Opinion in various realms of human activities. Its ebb and flow—although frequently beyond analysis, are felt on every shore.

In the world of finance,—and this is the lowest in the scale of real values,—is not that fragile but mighty factor we call credit based on Public Opinion? For, credit is but the general opinion of the community on the possibilities of the industry or undertaking in which its capital is involved, and on the honesty and ability of the management.

What has weakened the moral fibre of our modern society so much that at times one wonders if we are living in the Christian era? If the home is now so often desecrated by theories of free love and trial marriages, if the cradles are empty, if the very sense of shame is a thing of the past, if the most elementary principles of morality are questioned, is it not because the public conscience is being warped, chloroformed, deadened by a frenzied propaganda of a corrupted Public Opinion?

Has not the politician and the legislator the ear to the wind, the eye on the running tides and cross currents of thought, to know and sound Public Opinion? Like the skilful and watchful pilot, he counts with the set of the tide and catches it at its crest. He knows the exact height of the rising tide that will float him and his cargo over the bar . . . of a coming election—. This tide of public feeling has carried some to the high seas of success but left many stranded on the desert shores. Many public men indeed have set out on its angry waters to brave its fury . . . and have never returned. "In our times of Democracy when the "competitive" principle has replaced the "hereditary," not the kings, princes and nobles, but bankers, merchants, railroad magnates, capitalists, politicians, editors, educators, writers and artists occupy the high seats, hold the baton and beat the time for the great social orchestra." (Ross-Social Psychology.) "Power and influence," said Morley, "no longer reside in the Crown but in the strong, subtle forces called Public Opinion: and that Public Opinion is apt to involve fatal contentment with simple answers to complex questions."

In the great international life of nations Public Opinion also holds the reins. This power manifests itself particularly at the great turning points of History, such as we are now witnessing. There is always then resistance between conflicting forces; and resistance, we know, strengthens the current. What power was at work for the last fifty years and marshalled, on that fatal August day of 1914, the formidable army that swept over Belgium, France and Russia? Public Opinion created by the military caste in Germany! What secret and growing force made of the Allies' contemptible army of yesterday the crushing victorious army of to-day?—The invincible power of Public Opinion!—It leaped from the very depths of the wounded heart and outraged conscience of nations, and created in a few months that unconquerable army of inexhaustible reserves upon which the Allies relied until their final triumph. It fired the morale of our armies and smashed the way to victory. For those who could not go to the battle-field, it kept the homefires burning and fringed with the silver lining of radiant hope the dark clouds that hung over our horizon for four long, dragging, weary years.

3. How Public Opinion is Formed.

You may ask how are the thoughts of the multitude so marshalled as to make the unit of Public Opinion. As we already remarked, the thinking power of the ordinary man does not go far, wide, nor deep. His facility of absorbing ideas is far greater than his power of valuating them. He generally accepts as real value any thing that bears the stamp of current opinion. His belief in the value and weight of number is without recall; his absolute trust in what Bryce calls "the fatalism of multitude" is beyond appeal. He lives and thrives on the surrounding mental atmosphere.

How is this atmosphere created? By the continued, persevering repetition of the same ideas; by the vesting of these same ideas in the attractive garb of self-interest, passion, fancy and vogue. On this process, we all know by experience, is based the ever youthful power of Advertisement . . . and of Fashion.

Advertisement! Modern business is built to a great extent on the mysterious allurement, the attractive invitation and innocent camouflage of the advertisement that you find sparkling everywhere, on the flashy poster, in the show-window, in the magazine, in the daily paper. Without willingness to admit our weakness, we fall victims to this wizard that we despised yesterday and court to-day, and line up at the counter . . . for a Special Sale, an Astonishing Bargain. "We are so thoroughly accustomed to the exploits of the advertiser that we take them as a matter of course, rarely pausing to appreciate the art, or at least, the artfulness with which we have been lured into the acceptance of his ideas."

Fashion! Who can analyze this power so great, so universal? Who can explain the psychology of this fact? Every spring and fall of the year Dame Fashion has an opening-ball—Paris plays the tune, New York wields the baton, the ladies of the world . . . keep time . . . and the gentlemen pay the piper.

We mention these facts of every day life to illustrate the permeating and driving force of an idea, when constantly kept before the mind. And what advertisement and fashion are in the commercial and social life, Propaganda and Publicity are in the world of thought. The policy of propaganda is to enlist the active co-operation of every vehicle of thought for the furtherance of an idea and to keep that idea ever before the public. One readily sees the tremendous responsibilities, and understands the flagrant abuses of those called to create and direct Public Opinion. "The supremacy of ideas," it was stated, "gives the greatest places of opportunity to those who awaken, stimulate and organize the thinking of the people and especially the thinking of a people in a democracy. The teacher's desk, the preacher's pulpit, the orator's platform, the writer and editor's sanctum—these are the places of true leadership, the thrones of real power."

This analysis of Public Opinion, of its power, of its formation will now make us better understand its relations with the Catholic Church.

Public Opinion and the Catholic Church.

Nowadays the relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church is, generally speaking, one of suspicion, frequently of silent contempt and very often of open hostility. This statement of fact may appear to many too sweeping; its broadness may trouble the peaceful faith of others. Yet, history and every day experience prove the truth of our assertion. We go further and claim that for the Church this condition will, and must exist. The Church, like Christ, her Founder and Master, is to be a "Sign of Contradiction." Her very name "Catholic" is a perennial witness to her sublime and admirable Catholicity, and thereby an abiding proof of her Divinity. A Church that modifies her tenets and adjusts her moral standards to accommodate herself to the conveniences and fancies of the world is not, and cannot be the Church of Christ. Now, as in the times of the Apostles, the Church "Is a Sect that is everywhere spoken against"—"If ye were of the world?" said the Saviour, "the world would love his own; but ye are not of this world, therefore the world hateth you." Yes, suspicion, contempt and hostility are the hall-marks of historic Christianity, for they are the realization of Christ's promises to His Church, the fulfilment of His prophesies. This fact for a Christian who has eyes to see, and ears to hear, is particularly noticeable when periodically a tidal wave of bigotry or open persecution strikes the Catholic Church, lashes itself into fury, washes the Rock of Peter with ugly foam . . . and dies away, ashamed of its own powerlessness and unfairness.

Viewing this relation of Public Opinion to the Catholic Church—not as an evidence of that spiritual conflict, often unconscious but ever real—but as a fact, a historic reality, some may ask the proof of our rather bold statement. Even those who are not of our Faith, and yet always wish to be fair and broad in their dealings with the Catholic Church, may question it.

The proof is very simple to give. Public Opinion is against the Catholic Church, because the powers that create and maintain Public Opinion are against the Catholic Church. Facts here speak for themselves.

The Press—the Novel—the Periodical Literature—the Cinema—the Stage—the Public School—the Academy and University Halls—the Legislative Assemblies . . . are without doubt the high voltage-wires that receive, carry and distribute the current of Public Opinion. Or rather, like the wireless stations they gather those invisible and imponderable waves of thought and feeling that are ever flashing through the intellectual and moral atmosphere of nations, and translate their message to the masses. Between these powers and Public Opinion there is a continuous action and reaction. They are at the same time the moulders and mirrors of Public Opinion. They are its masters, but with the condition of being first its servants.

Of all these creative forces none is greater and more universal than the Press. If Public Opinion is the king and master of the modern world, the Press is assuredly his faithful and most active Prime Minister. This chief executive has extended the kingdom of his master to the very confines of the civilized world. Nothing has contributed more to the rule of Public Opinion than the Press. With it ideas and opinions run through the public mind as rapidly as the dispatches that carry them. "Mental touch is no longer bound up with physical proximity. With the telegraph to collect and transmit the expressions and signs of the ruling mood, and the fast mail to hurry to the eager clutch of waiting thousands the still damp sheets of the morning daily, remote people are brought as it were into one another's presence." (Ross-Social Psychology.)

The ordinary man now sees the world through his newspaper. He absorbs facts and principles with the shades and variations the daily paper gives them. Reports of events and announcements of policies are colored to suit the aims and opinions of the editors and proprietors. Windy platitudes—at least for those who know facts and have studied principles—become gospel truth for the unthinking mass. Public Opinion is thus conscripted by an "irresponsible power." This irresponsibility of the Press is without doubt the greatest menace of the day. For, the opinions,—we mean to say—the propelling forces of the silent millions are at its mercy. . . . And these silent millions make and unmake the world.

This great power of the Press is inimical to the Catholic Church. By press, you will readily understand, we do not mean any particular paper, or a certain group of papers, but rather that formidable ensemble of tremendous financial backing, of world-wide information-services, of chains of papers that encircle the globe, of these various agencies that tap the telegraphic wires of every country and keep the cables hot. The Hearst papers alone reach simultaneously four or five million readers daily. From New York to San Francisco one man is leading the minds of these millions "to conclusions that he wants them to arrive at"—What Hearst is for the United States, Lord Northcliffe is for England.

This great press is against the Catholic Church. The total suppression of truths and of facts; the conspiracy of silence—often more dangerous than an open attack; the coloring of news with shades of thought suited to a definite purpose; the partial admission of truth and the maimed relation of facts; the bold assertion of deliberate falsehoods; the deceptive headlines—and the people live on headlines; the insinuating title which is often in flagrant contradiction to the dispatch it underlines:—these are a few of its various strategies of attack. "The Pope and the War," "Quebec and the War," "The Guelph Novitiate Incident," are recent instances of what we refer to.

Some may object that the Catholics are of a rather susceptible nature and always expect "privileges"—No, we only want the privileges of truth, we mean fair play, equality, and justice.

What we say of the Press can also be said of periodical literature and modern fiction. "The very nature of periodical literature," says Cardinal Newman, "broken into small wholes and demanded punctually to an hour involves the habit of extempore philosophy . . . and that philosophy, we know is not Christian philosophy. The writers can give no better guarantee for the philosophical truth of their principles than their popularity at the moment and their happy conformity in ethical character to the age which admires them."

Any one who has kept in touch with the stream of modern fiction is well aware to what extent its waters are polluted and have contaminated the mind and heart of our present generation. When the world has been slaking its literary thirst at sources such as H. G. Wells, Galsworthy, Ibanez—only to mention a few—should we be astonished that public opinion is drifting to paganism? If theories of "Free Love" and Divorce are rampant in our society, the responsibility to a great extent lies with our modern novel. The novels that are written and read, indicate the mind and morals of a people.

What could we not write of the Moving-Picture and the Stage? Suffice it to state with Rev. R. A. Knox—then an anglican minister, and now a catholic priest: "When a nation has lost its hold of first truths and its love for clear issues, which has had its morality sapped by sentiment, thinks of Christian marriage in the light of the problem-play . . . the moral fibre of that nation is gone." For, the vision of life and the interpretation of its pleasures and sorrows, that come from the glare of the foot-lights, or the dimness of the Movie-Screen, are surely not that given by the Catholic Church. Over the screen of the movies and the proscenium of the stage could we not very often write what the author of the play "Enjoy Life," Max Hermann Neisse, said lately to a Berlin sensation-seeking audience that was underlying with frantic applause the unsavory remarks and filthy inuendos of the closing act: "Pardon me, I did not write this act.—You dictated it to me."

In pandering to the morbid curiosity and lustful passions of a pleasure-mad world, the stage, the moving-picture, the novel, the illustrated weekly are leading Public Opinion to depths before unknown. The abyss calls to the abyss. Ways of living always follow ways of thinking. Should we then be astonished that crime-wave after crime-wave is sweeping the shores of every country.

Existing conditions in our universities, public academies and schools are not of a nature to conciliate Public Opinion with the Catholic Church. We know perfectly well that in our seats of higher-learning the Church is looked upon as an effete Institution, as something of the past that has kept a certain air of respectability. Her teachings and her history are there viewed in the light of the "evolution theory." Who has not read, a few years ago, that terrible indictment against the antichristian education of the American Universities, as it appeared in a celebrated article, under the title: "Blasting at the Rock of Ages?"

In our legislative assemblies, here and abroad, do we not find the educational problem the burning problem for Church and State? Over the head of the child swords clash, for the child of to-day is the man of to-morrow. The stand the Catholic Church takes on the educational problem—from which She never deviates—has always stirred Public Opinion against her in political and social circles. We have only to mention "separate schools" to awaken the memories of a long and bitter struggle.

The same inimical relations dominate the International Order. Rome and its world-wide moral influence have been deliberately ostracized in the recent and unhappy attempt to form a League of Nations.

So the tide of Public Opinion sweeps upon tide. Everywhere its heavy waves break into a foamy froth on the Rock of Peter. We conclude: Public Opinion is against the Catholic Church.

Our Duties to Public Opinion.

The antagonism against the Catholic Church is an overt fact. What are the causes? A distorted vision, born of misrepresentation of facts and misrepresentation of doctrine and practice; the blind prejudice against which our refutation of facts and explanation of principles are of little avail: these are the two main causes to which can be traced this universal opposition. And indeed no one will tax us with exaggeration were we to repeat here what Tertullian wrote in his "Defence of the Church," a hundred years after St. John's death: "They think the Catholics to be the cause of every public calamity, of every national ill." Have we not in our own country, organizations that live and thrive only on enmity to the Church of Rome? They cannot meet without passing resolutions of condemnation of the Church, of the Pope, of separate schools, etc. We all know how often Public Opinion, in our country, has been inflamed by prejudiced appeals to racial and religious feelings. Racial antagonism itself is only a cover for anti-Catholic fanaticism.

Let us, by clear and sound thinking, by definite and bold expression enlighten Public Opinion. To-day Public Opinion is shifting as the winds, swinging like a boat with the ebb and flow of the tide. These are days of loose thought, wild words, catchy phrases, especially in social and religious matters. Words and phrases are passed off as ideas, and fragments of an idea as the whole idea. Let ideas always be clear-cut, with a sharp, definite relief. Hazy notions are of no constructive value, and always full of danger, particularly in times of intellectual ferment, such as we are now going through. They are on the great sea of Truth as the smoke-screens, behind which lurk the destroyers of error.

Cardinal Newman concludes one of his letters on "The Position of Catholics"—which bears on the subject of Catholics making themselves known: "Protestantism is fierce because it does not know you; ignorance is its strength; error is its life; therefore bring yourselves before it, press yourselves upon it, force yourselves into notice against its will. Oblige men to know you. Politicians and philosophers would be against you, but not the people, if they knew you."

Create Public Opinion by individual and concerted action, that is our next duty. Truth spreads, not like the devastating torrent, but like the tide. From individual to individual as from pebble to pebble it slowly creeps in and spreads the silent power of its rising waters. "No one ever talks freely about anything without contributing something, let it be ever so little, to the unseen forces which carry the race on to its final destiny. Even if he does not make a positive impression he counteracts or modifies some other impression, or sets in motion some train of ideas in some one else, which helps to change the face of the world." Godkin "Problems of Modern Democracy." 221-224.