The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-03-20
COUGHLIN Gets
$4,000 LETTERS
IN SINGLE DAY
Radio Priest Is Flooded by
Steadily Growing Mail
Volume.
BIZ FORREST DAVIS
Tines Special Writer

BIZ FORREST DAVIS
Tines Special Writer
ROYAL. OAK. Mich. March 20
Tie truck which hauls the Rev.
Charles z. Coughlin's mail from the
Royal OAK postofhce to the Shrine
OF the Little Flower runs, necessar-
uv. on schedule. II carries, no
doubt more pieces Of mail, 10 and
from. than any private conveyance
IN the republic.
The tide of messages flowing into
this community and 70 one indi-
viduaI truly is enormous. On sin
gle day last week the truck brought
- huge sacks. averaging 1000 let
ters TO the sack Eighty-eight thou
sands letters thus we're dumped into
the Shrine mail room
AZ the end o. the week, 400 600
let ers. cards and kilograms had
been stacked in the Office catacombs
under the unfinished basilica or
rested in various stages Of handling
by the clerical staff. Last weeks
gr!st. stimulated By Father Cough
linz reply 10 Gen. Hugh Johnson on
Monday night. set a new record.
Mail Volume Growing
Today the tide set in strongly
again
The general has been a great
help to the father this last week, :"
an Office assistant gravely observed
today.
-Four hundred thousand separate
responses 10 a broadcast is unique.
But the volume OF mail steadily ex-
pauds. I was told in Detroit BY a
person who obviously was guessing
that the mail had fallen away and
that. hence. Father Coughlin's hold
on his audience was diminishing.
This is the exact reverse Of true.
The National Union for Social
Justice and its predecessor as spon-
sOr for the Sunday Afternoon lee
lures. the Radio League Of the Lit
tie Flower. has doubled plant. ca
pacitv and pay roll in the last Is
months. II is doubtful! if any ether
enterprise in the Detroit vicinity
may say the same.
More than go on Pay Roll
n Thomas J. Coughlin. the priests
father. who daily busies himself in
{ the routine of his sons affairs,
could not be sure without checking
how many Office workers regularly
are on the pay roll now. The last
report ne had showed more than
200. fewer than $50.
The flow Of mail is Father Cough
FMS principal index to the success
OF his political apOstlehOod. BY
that index his influence grows week
bv week. He asked his audience to
vote by mail on whether he should
prolonr this lecture season beyond
Easter Sunday. Heretofore he had
ended the series in the spring. The
overwhelming majority &C letters so
far tabulated has urged him TO per-
severe.
His postal following remains loyal.
4 sampling Of letters received after
the reply to Gen. johnson showed
the unsympathetic or adverse ones
to be in a relationship of one TO $50.
Carried out that ratio would infiict
4 on Father Coughlin only 1000 to
1900 critical epistles out CT last
weeks tidal wave.
Many Send Money
The letters bring quantities Of
money. Envelopes drip dollar bills.
fves. tens and drafts. The money
is not. however. sufficient in volume
to implement all Of the priests prof.
ects. His collections we're impaired
two years ago by magazine and
newspaper articles which implied
that the money return fairly in
undated him. The handsome new
church is unfinished largely because
of such dampening reports.
Nor IS Father COughlin able to
distribute aims as he might wish.
In the beginning Of the depression.
in 1891 and 1882, he denied himself
to few callers. He cared for I'M
fortunate neighborS. But presently
a drove Of supplicants appeared
from Detroit. His resources and
energy were exhausted. if not his
Will
One morning his father. who lives
IN Detroit. received a peremptory
call from the pastor.
Gave Away His Shoes
please stop on your way out and
buy me a pair of shoes Father
Ccughliu directed.
He had. that morning, literally
given away his last pair Of shoes
He sustained. am told. the I'M
employed of the ROYAL Oak COM
munity. His benefaCtions saved the
taxpavers thousands. He still prod
fEaIv disburses aims. but he no
longer sees each petitioner nor reads
each letter asking aid The task
would require a staff. His extraor-
binary radio responses provide the
/. staff.
y As A success story. merely. the
growth Of Father COughlin's bust
ness" grasps the imagination.
Esna to- Ksdnou