The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-11-28
ROMANS INVETERANS' BUREAU
CAUSED TRIAL OF PROTESTANT

Papal Senator Caused Invest
ment Of Catholic as PROSECUTE
FELLOWSHIP FORUM !
Col. Charles R. Fobes, Mason, for
mer director of the United States
Veterans Bureau, is being crucified
on the black cross of Romanism, if
|-certain events in the course of the
PRONUNCIATION Of the present investi-
CATION are to be taken as criterion.
The investigation, according to
those well on the inside of the affair,
which has never yet been brought out
before the Senate committee, had it's
inception at the American Legion
convention in New Orleans in 1922.
Forbes Defeated Roman
The New York state delegation,
made up largely of and dominated
altogether by Roman Catholics, went
to New Orleans with instructions
from the hierarchy that "BilP Dee
gan was to be put over as command
er. With great whoop and cry the
delegates from the Tiber raised the
cry that sold Bill Deegan," whom
they sought by this appellation to
surround with halo of veneration
and reverence, must be elected COM
mander. They sought to stampede
the convention and sweep Deegan
into office in the excitement of their
demonstration for him.
Col. Forbes, attending the conven-
ton, Saw the course things were TAX
ing, and knowing Deegan's connec-
ton and his record, rose on the floor
and, call attention to Heretofore
unknown fact-that Deegan was not
an overseas man. That finished Dee
gan. Owsley, an overseas man, was
chosen, and the Catholics were forced
to come away with the second best
ofice-that of chaplain.
Roman Conspiracy
Then it was that the Catholic edict
went forth that Forbes must be got
en-, All efforts of the Roman Cath
Ole hierarchy, whose ramifcations ex-
tended into all parts of the Veterans
Bureau, were put into force to bring
out everything it possibly could to
discredit the Forbes administration.
A reporter for the Washington Her
aid, a Hearst newspaper, John A.
Kennedy Catholic, was working daily
in the Veterans Bureau gathering
news. The word was passed through
the Romalist organization permeat-
ing the establishment to feed this re-
porter with all the stories that could
be found tending to show that Forbes
was crooked. This one man turned
up more "evidence" against Forbes
than any six men of his mediocre
ability could procure without the aid
of some vast and well-working ma
chine behind him.
Flynn Behind Plot
Then he, with his managing editor,
M. J. Flynn, also Catholic, went to
New York for a personal interview
with William Randolph Hearst, to
induce him to throw the whole Hearst
machine in Washington into the fray
to cause a gigantic expose of Forbes
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
But Mr.. Hearst evidently saw the
ruse, and exercising one of those in
denepdent streaks of his, he refused
to have anything to do with it, hold
ing that it was matter purely local
to Washington. However, he grant
ed Flynn and Kennedy permission to
pursue their. "expose" in the Herald
as they had been doing.
In the meantime the Catholic roar
had reached the United States SEN
ate, where David I. Walsh of Massa-
chusetts, Catholic, introduced the
resolution which provides for the
committee that is now investigating
the Forbes affair. Walsh firmly ex-
pected to be made chairman of the
committee, but for some inexplicable
reason the then Vice President Cool
idge appointed Senator David A.
Reed of Pennsylvania, Mason, as the
chairman of the committee.
Catholic Prosecutor
Thus curbed, Walsh was forced to
content himself with working in Maj.
Gen. James F. Organ of New York,
Catholic as counsel for the commit
tee. That Organ has done yeoman
service for the hierarchy in this ap-
pointment is evident.
This article is not written in ex-
tenuation of any wrongs that Col.
Forbes may have committed, but is
for the purpose of showing to the
people of the country some of the
things that have taken place behind
the scenes of which it is not aware
and which, for some reason, have not
been broughtout in the investigation.
To date nothing of graft" or
criminal nature has been proved on