p. 11 | Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 2, 1914

Note and Comment

Romanizing the American Press

Is the American press becoming Romanized? Are our great news agencies so under the dominance of the Roman power that they fear to report news derogatory to the Catholic hierarchy? This is the conviction which is entering many minds at the present time. Regarding this the Western Recorder (Baptist) of June 4, 1914, says:—

We feel assured that few of our people realize the degree of subserviency of a large number of our daily papers to papal opinion.

It is a fact, and the rank and file may as well know it first as last, that the columns of many of our secular papers are no longer open to anti-Catholic views. During the last few months a number of Protestant speakers have been beaten and wounded by Catholic mobs, yet but little or no notice has appeared in the press dispatches of these outrages. Surely it should be a matter of news and comment when, in this land of supposedly free speech, a speaker is knocked down while delivering a patriotic address, or left naked and wounded to die by the roadside.

It is also true that the doings of Catholic dignitaries are heralded far and near by the Associated Press, while Protestant performances receive comparatively scant attention. Why should this be? Is it because Catholics constitute a majority of our population, or control the wealth and industries of our people? As a matter of fact, there are approximately five Protestants to every Roman Catholic in our country.

We shall not have to seek far for an explanation of this condition of affairs. Catholics have been cradled in the idea of unquestioning obedience, and hence can be counted on to act in concert when commanded by the priest. Therefore a threatened boycott upon the part of Catholics is taken quite seriously by the secular press. Protestants, and especially Baptists, are more independent in both their thinking and acting, and hence no one has the right to speak for them on questions of policy or expediency.

In our judgment, the time is at hand for the subscribers of many of our papers to ascertain why there has not appeared in their columns some account of recent outrages perpetrated on Protestant speakers. If the Associated Press is responsible for the suppression of this character of news, let us know it.

The editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, in the issue of that paper for June 17, 1914, expresses the same conviction. He says:—

We make the assertion without fear of successful contradiction that the press of America is in large measure controlled by Rome. There is not a newspaper in any great center that would dare print the news facts about Rome. The scandals of Protestantism are seized with avidity, while the shortcomings of Rome never see the light.

And the Advocate goes further and charges that Rome controls not only the American press, but that in nearly every American city she holds the balance of political power:—

There is hardly a city in the country where the Roman Catholics do not hold the balance of political power. Seventy-five per cent of the school-teachers of Chicago are Roman Catholics; these Catholic school-teachers are thoroughly organized to guard and forward their interests; the administration is honey-combed with Roman Catholics, and so fearful is the school board of their wrath that in more than one case of the locating of a public school, the local priest's orders have been obeyed in the face of overwhelming protest. And what is true of Chicago is more or less true of every community.

The editor of the Advocate looks for an uprising against Rome which will soon assume large proportions, and feels that the Roman Church has given just ground for this popular demonstration:—

We can account for an occasional distrust of some institutions, but when everywhere and at all times society looks askance at the Roman Catholic Church, one is forced to conclude that there is ground for this fear. So long as that church teaches that there is salvation through the channel of that stream only; so long as they declare allegiance to the Pope above any earthly power; so long as the “princes” of the church are given precedence over governors; so long as they make certain demands that, to the body of our citizenship, infringe upon the prerogatives of the state, such as demanding a division of the public school fund, or placing such restrictions about the entrance into the marriage state that a civil contract is not binding unless it pleases Romanism; and above all, so long as that church persists in maintaining an aggressive political policy, reaching out into every department of public life with an unalterable determination to grip the situation for that church,—we say, so long as Romanism persists in the aforementioned program, may she expect to see the tide of opposition rise higher and higher. It is needless for her to attempt to disclaim this attitude. All who know aught of her claims or have studied her methods, will admit that we have not overstated the case. Evidence is not lacking to show just such activities.

That the controversy is deepening between the forces of truth and error, and that the prophecy of Revelation 13 is rapidly meeting its fulfillment before our very eyes, must be evident to every Seventh-day Adventist. God's Word provides a remedy against these evil influences which are so rapidly reaching flood tide. That remedy is found in the third angel's message and the warning against the beast and his image and the mark of his name. To this people that message has been committed. Recreant shall we be to our duty if we do not send forth the warning cry. Others may recognize from a human standpoint the dangers threatening American liberties from the machinations of Rome. To us God has given to see it in the light of his inspired Word. The only true basis of opposition to Romanism today is in the giving of the message of that Word. Let us give it fearlessly but meekly, plainly but kindly, with no spirit to unnecessarily wound any individual, whether Protestant or Catholic, realizing that there are honest hearts in both classes whom God would have recognize his truth today. The great multitude will go on to destruction, but among earth's millions we may find many sincere and honest-hearted men and women who will rejoice in the liberty to be found in the truths of the gospel.