85 for Coughlin

To the White House and to President Roosevelt's desk last week went an extraordinary petition. Eighty-five Congressmen--nearly one sixth of the national legislature--asked that Detroit's Rev. Charles Edward Coughlin, spellbinding Roman Catholic radiorator, be sent as a U. S. adviser to the London Economic Conference. Circulated in all sincerity by Oklahoma's Senator Thomas and Michigan's Representative Weideman, the petition was signed by ten Senators and 75 Representatives, of whom a majority were Protestants. Said they of Father Coughlin (pronounced Cofflin) : "He is a student of world affairs, economics and finance, and has the confidence of millions of American citizens. We believe that his presence at the Conference would instill confidence in the hearts of the average citizen. . . ."

President Roosevelt did not commission Father Coughlin to go to London because the U. S. Delegation is complete and already on the scene. Perhaps it was just as well for last week this voluble priest revealed his low regard for those with whom he would otherwise have had to work. To the Manhattan hotel bedroom in which he had been sitting up late discussing religion with Actors Frank Fay and Barbara Stanwyck, he summoned newshawks, startled them by exclaiming between cigaret puffs:

"The delegates in London . . . are high class office boys, maybe not even high class. President Roosevelt holds all the reins and what they do doesn't count. . . . No London conference can ever fix the value of money. The superstition of British financial domination can no longer endure. . . . President Roosevelt's statement over Secretary Woodin's signature assures us that no matter what transpires at London, the negotiations are only exploratory. The President is the boss. The Conference delegates are just clerks. . . . Nothing but toy balloons who are exploring beyond the clouds of international intrigue. Perhaps they will be punctured. Nevertheless they will serve their purpose by indicating to President Roosevelt where lies the storm center of the world's troubles. Rest assured that within the next 60 days official statements and decisions will be made by the Chief Executive of the U. S. which will have the effect of introducing to America and the World one of the greatest eras of prosperity which was ever experienced. Gabriel is over the White House, not Lucifer."

To many who consider Father Coughlin an irresponsible demagog on the fringe of his church, the Congressional petition in his behalf came as something of a shock. But those familiar with the priest's secular contacts and his grip on the confidence and imagination of a large slice of the U. S. public were not surprised. They realized that the 85 Congressmen, Catholic or Protestant, had executed a smart political gesture in recommending this intense nationalist to the President.

Father Coughlin was born in Canada 41 years ago. He addresses countless millions in a throbbing baritone dialect on his Sunday broadcasts from his Shrine of the Little Flower near Detroit. The Roman Catholic Church, famed for discipline, has not muzzled him. Though crusty old William Henry Cardinal O'Connell has criticized him on occasions, he stands in well with his local bishop. Fortnight ago he was second in importance only to Alfred Emanuel Smith as a commencement speaker at Notre Dame.

When Columbia Broadcasting System banished Father Coughlin from its programs as a controversialist two years ago, it gave him the kind of publicity on which he thrives. Last March he got more publicity when his bungalow was bombed following his attacks on Detroit bankers. Father Coughlin gets 100,000 fan letters per week, has countless volunteer informants. His favorite subjects for attack are Communism. Prohibition, mass production, banking ills. He approves the financial policies of the Roosevelt administration. In fact, last week's petition was in the nature of a reward for the help and encouragement he gave Senator Thomas' currency inflation amendment to the Farm Bill.

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