-Caveat Lector-
an excerpt from:
Shrine of the Silver Dollar
John L. Spivak(C)1940
Modern Age Books
New York, NY
-----
The book that brought down demagog Charles Coughlin, who was the second-most
listened to person in the '30's, right behind FDR. John Spivak exposed Father
Coughlin to be a fraud and in league with Nazi propagandists. Out of print for
many years.
Om
K
-----
VIII
THE MYSTERY OF THE
DEFICITS
I HAD INTENDED to show in more detail in this last chapter that Coughlin's
broadcasts, which influence an estimated 3,500,000 listeners, cost much more
than the public contributes for this purpose. I had planned to list all the
forty-seven radio stations in his network and show that an hour's time on each
plus the "line charges" cost over half a million dollars a year. (Line charges
are costs met by the sponsor for the hook-ups between stations.)
The figures which I had from Father Coughlin's own books showed that neither
the Radio League of the Little Flower nor Social Justice magazine, which back
the weekly broadcasts, clears that much money. Since these are the only two
corporations established by the radio priest which raise money on a large
scale, the natural questions were: Who met the difference., and for what
purpose?
Father Coughlin, however, saved me the necessity of going into these details.
He frankly admitted, in the December 18, 1939, issue of Social Justice in
Pleading for a $200,000 radio fund that:
"Radio expense is now close to $10,000 per week."
This estimate, so far as I have been able to ascertain, is correct.
Let's see how the Radio League, which has already collected about a million
dollars from the public and which is tightly controlled by Coughlin's little
coterie of three, functioned right from the beginning.
By the end of 1930--only a few months after it was incorporated--the Radio
League had taken in over $44,000, but business was on the downgrade. I shall
not go into the detailed take from the public in the first few years when the
income fell to a pretty low figure (assets of only a little over $6,000 by the
end of 1934). It was in this period of small assets and a discouraged outlook
that the radio priest began to waver in his fervent pro-Roosevelt and pro-New
Deal speeches. He seemed to be uncertainly feeling his way to see what would
happen. One week found him for the New Deal and the next against it. By the
end of 1935 he was chiefly anti-Roosevelt and anti-New Deal. Big industry and
finance also hated the President and even his remotest ancestor; in Coughlin
they heard a voice which reached the country and attacked the man they hated.
In this very same period the money suddenly started coming in and assets
boomed to almost $80,000. Then funds appeared for launching Social Justice and
for distributing Coughlin's talks free of charge to anyone who asked for
copies. A political organization, the National Union for Social Justice, was
started, and the radio priest sought more and more stations to reach the
people. He didn't seem to have the slightest worry as to how the money to pay
for them would come. By the end of 1936, when he was most active in attacking
Roosevelt and the New Deal, the money he received, presumably in the dollar
and two-dollar contributions from his audience, brought the assets of this
neatly controlled corporation to a little over $200,000 clear of all
liabilities. Coughlin and his two stenographers took the money the public sent
in for the Radio League and bought $14,000 worth of real estate and $54,000
worth of other tangible property, extended credits of $125,000 and socked
$12,000 away in the bank.
By the end of 1937 the radio venture had assets of over $190,000 and not a
penny in liabilities. The trio--Coughlin and his two secretaries--had bought
about $50,000 worth of real estate, extended credits of $116,000, and had
$22,000 in loose change carefully put away in a bank. It was during this year
that Coughlin quarreled with his ecclesiastical superior, the Archbishop of
Detroit; and fearful that the Church might somehow stop him from running the
Radio League, he stepped out as president, though he left Amy Collins and
Eugenia Burke to keep an eye on things and run the outfit. The mysterious
Edward Kinsky became president of the Radio League and vice president of the
privately owned publishing business issuing Social Justice magazine.
Business continued booming, and by the end of 1938 (the latest balancing of
the Coughlin corporation books) the triumvirate had bought around $100,000
worth of real estate, almost $65,000 worth of property, had extended credits
of $118,000, and had a nice nest egg of $190,000 in cash in the bank.
The important thing is not that this trio ran the take up to almost half a
million dollars or that they were buying real estate and other property, which
they controlled exclusively, but that the money was collected from the public
for "charitable and religious" purposes and, in 1937, for "maintenance of
church."' I should like the reader to bear this point in mind; I shall come
back to it.
Nineteen thirty-eight, the year when the take reached almost half a million
dollars, is the year when Coughlin began his anti-Semitic campaign,
disseminated Nazi propaganda manufactured in Berlin, and fought the C.I.O.
drive in the auto plants with all his might. Incidentally, in this year when
he got the most money, he did not employ as many girls to open the mail as
when the contributions from the public were nowhere near as muchwhich arouses
the reasonable suspicion that a good portion of this money did not come from
small public donations.
Figures usually make dull reading, so I shall not go into greater detail on
the income and expenditures of the Coughlin corporations. But there are
several important aspects of the Radio League and Social Justice that should
be summed up.
1. Father Coughlin's broadcasts, according to Stanley G. Boynton, president of
Aircasters, Inc., which arranges them, are paid for by the Social Justice
Publishing Company. This private publishing business, however, is operated on
an annual deficit--in the past year or two, between $60,000 and $75,000. Its
entire income, even if it did not pay for paper, printing, editorial and
office help, advertising, mailing, freight, etc., is insufficient to meet
broadcasting expenses totaling half a million dollars a year. It uses its
income to publish and sell the paper and at the end of the year has a hefty
deficit. Consequently, it could not possibly pay the costs of the weekly
national broadcasts; and just as logically the radio time and the magazine's
def. icits must have been and are now being met by per. sons other than the
general public-persons who are interested in promoting Father Coughlin's pro-
Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-union activities.
2. These broadcasts, again according to Stanley G. Boynton, who arranges them,
are commercial and intended to advertise the radio priest's privately owned
Social Justice magazine.
3. If there are no sinister forces supporting Coughlin's dissemination of
propaganda, then these enormous costs must have been met by the Radio League
--the only other corporation collecting money from the public on a large
scale.
4. Money collected by the Radio League of the Little Flower and used to
advertise a private publishing business, cannot be considered as used for
"maintenance of church," which the Radio League swore is the business it
engages in.
5. If Radio League money, collected from the public for "Christian endeavors,"
has been and is being used to advertise a private business, then the people
who contributed it in the belief it was for religious purposes were
defrauded--an act punishable by imprisonment, I am informed by competent
attorneys.
One thing is certain, according to the direct statement made to me by the
president of the firm which handles the broadcasts: They are paid for by the
Social Justice Publishing Company, publishers of Social Justice magazine. This
private business is now "owned" by another corporation organized by Coughlin
and called the Social Justice Poor Society, which was incorporated "to aid the
poor and destitute." Actually this outfit never gave a second thought to the
poor and destitute; it was organized under the guise of carrying on Christian
charity but really functioned only as a holding company for the private
publishing business established by Coughlin.
I think that, before I close, you should come with me to meet one of the
"owners" of this private business. It will give you a better picture of how
Coughfin operates.
The auditor for the various Coughlin corporations is Alberta Ward of 807 North
Washington Avenue, Royal Oak. Alberta, who works in the taxexempt Shrine of
the Little Flower, gets $20 a week(Social Security Card No. 364-12-9190) paid
by the Social Justice Publishing Company. For this $20 a week, she acts also
as "trustee" of the Social Justice Poor Society, which owns the publication
for which she works. As one of the three "trustees" she is one of the owners
of the magazine.
I had been curious about this lady and about Dorothy Rhodes, Marie Rhodes,
Eugenia Burke and the rest of them--all underpaid employees of the Social
Justice Publishing Company and all holding high offices in the Coughlin
corporations. In trying to locate their homes I looked them up in the 1938
Royal Oak city directory, the latest edition. Like everyone else the ladies
listed their occupations along with their addresses. Dorothy and Marie Rhodes,
both living at 826 Knowles, stated that they are "stenographers"--this while
they were supposed to be presidents, secretaries, treasurers, directors and
trustees of Coughlin corporations collecting vast sums of money from the
public. Eugenia Burke of 1922 Edgewood Boulevard, Berkeley, another high
officer in the Coughlin corporations, gives her occupation as "clerk."
Alberta, who gets less pay than any of them, had the most impressive listing;
she is an "accountant."
I found Alberta at her home, a two-story frame building a few blocks from the
Shrine. She opened the door and ushered me into the parlor with its spotless
three-piece suite of upholstered furniture. Alberta is a timid woman
approaching middle age and, I'm afraid, given to rouging her cheeks a bit too
heavily. Her most striking feature in an otherwise plain face is a pair of
deep, dark eyes which look out wonderingly at the world through
octagonalshaped glasses. When she becomes frightened the pupils seem to dilate
until the eyes become two dark balls.
"I understand youre the auditor of Social Justice Publishing Company," I said.
"Yes." She smiled in a friendly fashion.
"And you're also a trustee of the Social Justice Poor Society?"
The pupils in her eyes widened immediately. She nodded without speaking.
"Could you tell me when you were elected trustee ?"
"I-I wouldn't--I can't--I can't give you any in. formation at all," she said,
her lips suddenly quivering. "Who are you? Why do you come to me?")
"You're a trustee of the Social Justice Poor Society which owns Social Justice
Publishing Company which issues Social Justice magazine,"' I explained, "and
you also audit the books of the Social Justice Publishing Company. That's why
I came to see you."
"I don't 'see why I should make any statements--"
"Aren't you the auditor?"
"Yes, I handle the records at the Shrine."
"That is why I came to see you. The Social Justice Poor Society is a public
organization which controls Social Justice magazine which in turn is
collecting money from the public--"
"I don't care to answer any questions," she said, her eyes big and black
behind her spectacles.
"Surely you have no objection to telling me when you were elected trustee of
an organization devoted to aiding the poor and destitute?"
She shook her head and swallowed hard.
"'I can't answer any questions. Why do you come to my house? The place to see
me is at the Shrine. My work is there. All my records are there."
"I was at the Shrine but you had left so I came here. You keep the records of
Social Justice magazine and the corporation at the Shrine?"
"Yes," she said.
"I still don't understand why you decline to tell me when--approximately will
do--you were elected trustee of the Poor Society."
She motioned nervously with her hands and shook her head.
"I'll be wanting to see the other trustees, too. Will I be able to find them
at the Shrine?"
"Yes, we all work there."
"Let's see, how many other trustees are there in the Poor Society?"
"I don't know," she said hesitantly with a slow shake of her head.
"Aren't there three--you, Bernice Marcinkiewicz; and Marie Rhodes?"
"I don't know," she repeated with a worried shrug.
"There are only three trustees of a big publishing company and you don't know
the other two associated with you as owners of the business?"
"We have several organizations up there," she said. "It's a little
complicated. I don't know which ones they're trustees of without looking up
the records. I'd have to see those records."
"Those records show that you're a trustee of the publishing business--and
you're one of the three owners?"'
"I guess so," she said.
"What is the circulation of Social Justice now--?"
"Oh, I wouldn't know that."
"Perhaps you could tell me how much print paper was bought last year?"
She looked blankly at me and again shook her head. "I really don't know."
"Have you met with the editors lately to decide on policy--?"
"Oh, no. I have nothing to do with that--"
"But you're one of the three owners of the magazine--"
"Oh, please--" she interrupted. "Please, I can't answer any questions. If you
wish to see me, you will have to come to the Shrine. My records are all there
and--I'll tell Father you wish to see him."
"But Father Coughlin is not an officer or director of the corporation which
owns Social Justice. You and two other girls are the owners, you know."
She made bewildered motions with her hands. "Please. I don't know what the
records show. I'd have to look at them."
I really felt sorry for this woman who, in the process of holding down her $20
a week job, had been picked as one of the dummy "trustees") of Coughlin's
private publishing business. She all too obviously didn't know that she was
being played for the "fall guy" and I left her in peace. To me she was just
another illustration of the methods Coughlin has developed in manipulating the
corporations he organized.
As I proceeded with my study of his activities I came across so many
statements the radio priest had made while he did precisely the opposite, that
it seems to me that, before I conclude this book, we should again examine the
statement he made to Ruth Mugglebee, his biographer. She quotes him as saying
to her:
Do you know how I would live if I renounced religion and was illogical enough
to disbelieve in the life beyond --in the real life? Why, if I threw away and
denounced my faith, I would surround myself with the most adroit hijackers,
learn every trick of the highest banking and stock manipulations, avail myself
of the laws under which to hide my own crimes, create a smokescreen to throw
into the eyes of men, and--believe me, I would become the world's champion
crook.
The two important points in this statement concern the creation of a
"smokescreen to throw into the eyes of men" and learning "every trick of the
highest banking and stock manipulations." Let us see if there are any grounds
to believe that he has followed this policy to hide his real activities.
1. He created an organization called the League of the Little Flower, whose
function was to collect money from the public to maintain his church and to
help build a new one. He used money thus collected to gamble on the stock
market while he was publicly denouncing those who played the market.
2. He raised money for the Radio League of the Little Flower upon solemn
assurances that it was a "non-political organization" and then used some of
that money to build a privately controlled political organization.
3. He created a corporation with the Christian charitable objective of aiding
the poor and the destitute, called it the Social Justice Poor Society, but
never lifted a finger for the poor and the destitute. The corporation was used
as a holding company for his privately owned publishing business.
4. While speaking and writing as a "friend of labor," he secretly tried to
split labor's union ranks.
5. While denouncing, Nazism over the air and in his magazine, he was
disseminating Nazi propaganda sent out from the German Ministry of Propaganda.
I could continue with this list, but I mention these five points only by way
of illustration. I believe they can reasonably be considered as creating
smoke. screens to hide what Coughlin really did.
Let us consider "learning the highest tricks of banking and stock
manipulations."
1. Coughlin established corporations which raised several millions of dollars
from the public and controlled these corporations through employees acting as
dummy officers and directors.
2. The books of these corporations were sewed up so that no one outside his
little coterie would know the sums taken in and what happened to them.
3. He claimed tax exemption for his profit-making corporation on the grounds
that it was really owned by a non-profit-making corporation.
4. He ignored his Archbishop's request, made on papal instructions, that
Social Justice magazine be truthful, by asserting that his publication, whose
offices were in a Catholic church, was a private business which had nothing to
do with the Church?
5. He used monies contributed by the public to one corporation he controlled
to aid another corporation he also controlled.
These, too, could be extended, but again I offer them only as illustrations. I
believe that such actions can reasonably be considered "tricks."
Certainly one thing is obvious: The Reverend Charles E. Coughlin of Royal Oak,
Michigan, has collected several millions of dollars from the public, which was
under the impression it was aiding him in "Christian work." If there is
nothing wrong with his many strange activities, the radio priest should
voluntarily open his books to public examination, explain the various
transactions, what is behind his dissemination of Nazi propaganda and his
anti-union efforts. This procedure would eliminate any unjust suspicion not
only of his motives but of his financial transactions.
If, on the other hand, he thinks it wise not to do this voluntarily, then it
seems to me that it becomes the duty of the law-enforcing agencies to do it
for him, so that the millions of people who have been sending him money and
who believe he is actuated by "Christian" and "patriotic" motives may know
what sinister forces motivate him and expose them to the full glare of public
knowledge.
pp. 158-180
--fini--
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
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