WAR BY RADIO IN UNITED STATES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20056, 13 March 1935, Page 9

WAR BY RADIO IN UNITED STATES

ATTACK ON GENERAL JOHNSON

MILITANT PRIEST’S LIVELY CAMPAIGN

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received March 12, 7.25 p.m.) DETROIT, March 11. To-night Father Coughlin followed Senator Huey Long in publicly answering the charges made against him by General Hugh Johnson, and for 45 minutes over the nation-wide radio network divided his remarks between vigorously attacking the “Wall Street money trust,” for which he claimed that General Johnson was spokesman, and advocating his own programme for “social justice and economic liberty,” the principal feature of which was the creation of a Government—controlled central bank to supersede the nation’s private banking structures. Most of the address was in the form of direct queries and statements to General Johnson as if addressing him face to face.

After defending the right of churchmen to discuss political questions, Father Coughlin unleashed a sarcastic flow of invective against General Johnson, at various times calling him a "chocolate soldier,” “the prince of bombast,” and "the first casualty of the New Deal.” He added, however, that General Johnson was only speaking for his "masters,” often naming Mr Bernard Baruch, with whom General Johnson was associated for many years.

In concluding his attack, Father Coughlin reaffirmed his support of President Roosevelt, counter-charging that General Johnson, Mr Baruch and other “Wall Streeters” were attempting to wreck the Administration, not him, although he retained the right to criticise some features of the New Deal and the N.R.A.