The Post's reporter, of course, did not compose what we call that "head" and "banks." Some equally nameless desk-man for the Post took care of-that, after scanning what must have been a last-edition report from the reporter.
The newsman may have been a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, agnostic or atheist, for all we know. There is no record, of course. But he wrote about the coming of a new way of life for countless Catholic men of the Nation's Capital "down the middle," as we say in our newspaper profession. "Down the Middle" makes no special plea in behalf of any cause. It leaves it up to the reader to decide whether any effort is worth the giving of his time, heart and soul.
The nameless newsman wrote, with commendable understatement:
"Washington Council, Knights of Columbus, was instituted last night with seventy-two members. The organization of the local council brought nearly a thousand visiting Knights from the East, over 600 coming from the State of New York and about 200 from Massachusetts. The initiatory ceremonies were conducted at the Washington Light Infantry Armory, the degree work being in charge of Tremont Council, of Boston. Past State Deputy John J. Delaney, of New York, conferred the third degree. The first degree was conferred by John Wogan, assisted by Chancellor M. T. Callahan, of Boston. Edward F. Ford, of Robert Fulton Council, Boston, conferred the second degree."The exemplification of the work as given last night is said by members to have been the best ever given. The local council will name its officers later, and starts off auspiciously."
The Post and other papers would now tone down such a word as "auspiciously," for fear of showing bias in favor of even an organization, Washington Council, which for the past three quarters of a century has done an incalculable amount of good for inestimable causes and peoples.
Still, in retrospect, that was an admirable reporting job. Its honesty stands out after all these years that have passed since the administration of President William McKinley, a conservative, and Methodist who abhorred violence, tried to open the Asian countries to the U.S., who was shot by a terrorist named Leon Czolgosz and said, as he died, "It is God's way, His will, not ours, be done."
The Post reporter observed, "It was expected that three United States Senators and other prominent officials would take the degree, but they were not present." But he added, swiftly, "Some of New York's and Massachusetts' distinguished citizens were present. A feature of the evening was music by the chorus of fourteen voices from Boston, under the direction of Thomas McLaughlin.'l Well, God bless the soul of the "distinguished citizens" and the larynxes of 14 Boston voices that were lifted that night. There must be a special place for them in Heaven.
It must have been quite a launching. The Post reporter wrote: "The cities represented by Knights are New York, Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Glens Falls, Cohoes, all of New York State, and the following Massachusetts cities: Boston, Fall River, Brockton and suburban towns of Boston, together with Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; Manchester, New York; Wilmington, Delaware; Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The last-named city sent over a good- sized delegation."
It is a mark of the durability of the Knights of Columbus, and the Faith they represent more ably than any other division of the Roman Catholic laity, that Washington Council still has those allies.
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