The New Propaganda
are "neither good nor bad but custom makes them so." I find the word defined in Funk and Wagnalls' Dictionary in four ways:
"1. A society of cardinals, the overseers of foreign missions; also the College of the Propaganda at Rome founded by Pope Urban VIII in 1627 for the education of missionary priests; Sacred College de Propaganda Fide.
"2. Hence, any institution or scheme for propagating a doctrine or system.
"3. Effort directed systematically toward the gaining of public support for an opinion or a course of action.
"4. The principles advanced by a propaganda."
The Scientific American, in a recent issue, pleads for the restoration to respectable usage of that "fine old word 'propaganda.'"
"There is no word in the English language," it says, "whose meaning has been so sadly distorted as the word 'propaganda.' The change took place mainly during the late war when the term took on a decidedly sinister complexion.
"If you turn to the Standard Dictionary, you will find that the word was applied to a congregation or society of cardinals for the care and oversight of foreign missions which was instituted at Rome in the year 1627. It was applied also to the College of the Propaganda at Rome that was founded by Pope Urban VIII, for the education of the missionary
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