THE PROPOSED CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION 357 



The American public saw that there was another side to the 

 story ; that the facts and figures they had received needed essen- 

 tial additions, corrections and alterations, and that some were 

 misstated altogether; many of the best-equipped American 

 writers warmly espoused the Catholic view, and even those who 

 were strongly biased moderated in a marked degree their ad- 

 verse opinions. 



It was in preparing for this meeting, in searching out and 

 obtaining the data and necessary information for the subjects 

 dwelt upon, in disseminating the news of the meeting and the 

 results accomplished by it, that the need of such an organiza- 

 tion as the present proposed association was most strongly felt. 

 In other words, we realized the need of some sort of a well- 

 equipped and permanent society, which might present to our 

 fellow-Americans the true facts and history of any movement, 

 past or present, with which the Church is or has been identified. 

 The Church and her doctrines have their defenders, able and 

 conscientious men, everywhere, but the great American public 

 outside of the Church is either biased or indififerent to what 

 manner of constitution or teaching she may have, and seldom 

 awakens to it except when some sudden occasion arises. If 

 then a statement in favor of the Church or her activities comes 

 from a professedly Catholic source it is taken as special plead- 

 ing, and therefore loses much of its force. Oftentimes a posi- 

 tive misstatement of the truth and the facts involved is the 

 only notice the average American receives of Catholic events, 

 and the matter has passed from his mind before the truth has 

 been ascertained and the proper statement presented. Yet the 

 American public, used as it is to political and business discus- 

 sions, will recognize the value and correctness of a statement, 

 if it is placed purely and simply upon a basis of justice and 

 fair play. While it might be indififerent to a special plea, pro- 

 fessedly Catholic, and therefore fail unintentionally to do jus- 

 tice, it will respond to an appeal or a statement made upon the 

 sole ground that it contains the actual facts involved, irrespec- 

 tive of whether the statement itself is in favor of the Catholic 

 view or not. In other words, it is the primary standpoint of 

 the article or statement which arrests the attention of the pub- 

 lic. If it professes to be something Catholic and to be written 

 because it is Catholic, the probability is that it will be ignored ; 

 but if it profess to contain the facts of the case and to give the 



