Ecclesiastical institutions often serve as habituators of nationalistic spirit. The rise of nationalism in Spain affords an interesting example, for religious motives were at the height of their strength in those days. Ferdinand and Isabella got control of the hierarchical religious organizations in their dominions by taking from the Pope and to themselves the power to name the prelates of the Catholic church in Spain. The Crusading Orders had great vogue in the country, and Ferdinand got himself elected to the office of Grand Master in the most important of them. These measures accomplished, they were made to tell by the rulers of Spain in the process of furthering their dynastic and nationalistic ambitions. In Japan, Bushido, a mixture of Confucian and Shinto elements, is a spirit of patriotism which is at the disposal of the state. In Germany, the pastors of the established churches are state officials; they are state-appointed and state-paid, and they reflect the state’s purposes. In all Christian countries, including our own, the churches observe the national patriotic holidays both in time of war and peace, and in time of war preach patriotism from the pulpits, sometimes at the solicitation of the state, sometimes of their own volition. The newspapers are of cardinal importance as agencies of the inculcation of patriotism. It is natural that the newspapers should be insurgently patriotic. They are dependent upon the public for their subsistence. And the mass of the public is conservative. Consequently, the newspapers are as a rule conservative also. Now patriotism is a venerable virtue easy for the public to believe in, and it is almost inevitable that journalism should play up that virtue. It is also almost as inevitable that the patriotism of the press should be of the militant kind. To take that character is simply to follow the line of least resistance. Public opinion reacts upon the press and circumscribes its initiative. And when a people becomes inflamed against another people, the newspapers as a rule (there are, of course, some that are independent in their thought and leadership) have to fall in line; the sheet that opposed the trend of public emotion would have to pay for its folly. The newspapers, moreover, on the whole represent the gentlemanly business class, and wars promise most to the interests of that class. Conflict is quite apt to grow out of economic rivalry, whence it naturally follows that those who are most nearly concerned in that rivalry (and the newspapers are controlled by such as are of that class) will be most interested in the prosecution of a war which bids fair to enlarge the economic opportunities of their own country.