Catholic Problems in Western Canada

by George Thomas Daly

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.