nt school laws (we do not discuss
here their wisdom)[2], the anti-foreign feeling that has held the
country in its grip during the war, the violent campaign of a certain
element, the general drift of the various annual conventions, the
studied plan of action of Provincial Governments, the eagerness of the
Ruthenian rising generation to know English[3], and above all the
unbounded zeal of non-Catholic denominations who make the learning of
English the trump card of their game, these are facts, and have to be
reckoned with. The sooner our Ruthenians are made to grasp these
conditions, the better will they be equipped for the struggle of
Canadian life and for the preservation of their Catholic faith. Is it
not time, therefore, for some English-speaking priests to go out among
the Ruthenians and share the work with those valiant missionaries who,
the great majority at least, are strangers to our country, and who have
learned the language, embraced the rite and for the last twenty years
have been doing our work for us? Their presence is a stimulating
lesson and an abiding reproach. A dozen or so of young
English-speaking priests would be a great boon to the Ruthenian
mission, particularly in the West with its present mentality.

The _School_ is the great melting pot. One has to read "The New
Canadian," by Dr. Anderson, to understand the full meaning of this
statement in its relation to the Ruthenian problem. The schools among
the Ruthenians in the Western Provinces are practically all public
schools. The number of Catholic teachers is exceedingly small and yet,
were they available, the Ruthenian trustees would be at liberty and
glad to give them the preference. Only those who know the influence
the teacher wields in a Ruthenian settlement will fully appreciate the
presence of a Catholic teacher. Were a good Catholic teacher to give
to this cause a year or two of her teaching life she would be doing a
great missionary work. If the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists
can get girls and young men to go, surely we could also, were we to
organize and try it. This is the reason why the foundation, in
Yorkton, of the English speaking Brothers of Toronto, is one of the
wisest moves in the right direction. The idea is to prepare teachers
for the Ruthenian settlements by giving them the benefit of a higher
education under Catholic influences. The Governments of the various
Western Provinces made several attempts to equi