Belloc in Arms

Declaring that newspapers abroad are in the hands of a few men " of a peculiarly base and odious type," and that the press has become an engine of political action more to be feared than any other organism in the community, Helaire Belloc nevertheless stated that the power of the foreign press is waning. He was addressing the Calvert Association on the 289th anniversary of the landing of Catholic pilgrims in Maryland.

He said that the British antidote or " prophylactic" for the sensational newspaper was the independent paper, usually a weekly.

" There came a great change in the early nineties, when it was suddenly discovered that the owners of the newspapers were the masters, that the editor was only a man who was hired and that the owner of a great newspaper was in a position to exert influence over government affairs. The old function of the editor disappeared. He became the servant of the owner, paid far more, writing far worse and not writing what he sincerely believed."