Viltis (newspaper)

Eventually, the clergy grew dissatisfied with the secular and moderate tone and Smetona left in 1913 to establish a separate newspaper Vairas.

The intellectuals around Viltis became known as viltininkai and formed an early embryo of the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, the ruling party in Lithuania in 1926–1940.

It filed the void of Lithuanian-language newspapers in Vilnius as Vilniaus žinios was discontinued due to financial difficulties in March 1907.

[5] In November 1910, Tumas-Vaižgantas published an article listing known churches were Lithuanian-language services were removed by orders of Kazimierz Nicholas Michalkiewicz [pl], administrator of the Diocese of Vilnius while Bishop Eduard von der Ropp was in exile.

[6] This caused much controversy and Bishop Gaspar Felicjan Cyrtowt [pl] assigned Tumas-Vaižgantas to Laižuva in northern Lithuania.

[6] During the September 1913 shareholders' meeting, the clergy insisted that Pranas Dovydaitis, member of the Catholic Ateitis federation, would become Smetona's deputy.

[6] Smetona, with financial support from Martynas Yčas, went on to establish another newspaper, Vairas, where he continued to advocate the middle road between the clergy and the intelligentsia.

[6] Viltis published little of news reports, but paid particular attention to the Lithuanian language and folk culture as well as issues in art, science, education, and morals.

Viltis understood that increasing peasants' material wealth was instrumental in achieving cultural goals and, therefore, advocated mutual aid societies, credit unions, and trade while opposing emigration (mostly to the United States), but provided little in terms of practical advice or guidance.

[2] Linguistic matters were discussed by Antanas Smetona, Jonas Jablonskis, Juozas Balčikonis, Jurgis Šlapelis, music by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, theater by Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, general cultural topics by Jonas Basanavičius, Tadeusz Dowgird, Adomas Dambrauskas, Augustinas Voldemaras, literature by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Šatrijos Ragana, Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė.