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.