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FULL STEAM AHEAD 463
Coughlin's daily habits, and habits of mind, I decided to make my call on a Saturday morning, when he would probably be at home preparing for the Sabbath. This I did, at about ten o'clock in the morning of a beautiful summer day.
I found his cottage on a corner, next door to the church. In answer to my knock the door was opened by a young priest, evidently a member of the parish staff. In reply to my inquiry I was told that the pastor was over in the "Tower" preparing his sermon and that he received no callers on Saturday. I remained undiscouraged. I said, nevertheless, that I was having a good deal to do with the Catholic Church at the time and that I thought it important for me to talk over the motion picture situation with Father Coughlin.
The young man said then that he had recently come to Royal Oak from Cincinnati, where he had worked under Archbishop McNicholas of the Bishops' Committee on Motion Pictures. He knew what had gone on in connection with the Legion of Decency and was kind enough to add that Archbishop McNicholas had a high regard for me. He even told me that he had seen some of the correspondence between us, and became very cordial. When I told him I had in my pocket a letter bearing significantly on the relationship between the industry and the Legion, he said, "I think you'd better wait while I go over to the Tower and tell Father Coughlin you're here. He wouldn't like it if I didn't." Returning almost immediately, he said that I was to go right over myself.
Father Coughlin greeted me cordially and asked me to come upstairs. Under his cassock I could see that he was as rugged as a truck driver. On the way up to his study we passed a room where there were perhaps fifty girls opening letters and making records. I was told that the letters, most of them containing currency or checks, came from all over the country to support his activities and those of the shrine. When we entered his study on the upper floor the clock, resembling the circular clock in a captain's cabin, registered exactly ten minutes after ten. We sat there until twelve.
As we talked I told him that the reason for my coming was that I wanted to discuss with him the whole matter of motion pictures, in which I understood he had great concern, and to tell him what the organized industry was trying to do. He expressed interest, and I told him the story. At half-past eleven he asked me if I had any engagement for "dinner," meaning the noon meal. I told him I had no other engagement than to see him. It seems that each Saturday he had dinner with his mother, that they both looked forward to these visits, and that he wanted to take me with him. I accepted gladly, and he telephoned that he was bringing a friend.
In this two-hour morning conversation we covered a lot of ground,