BY JOHN H. FENTON; SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMESJUNE 28, 1964  BOSTON, June 27—A Metho­dist minister from Boothbay Harbor, Me., has suggested that the John Birch Society may well be “on the road to respect­ability if its money holds out.”  The minister is the Rev. Dr. J. Allen Broyles. He said, how­ever, that such “respectability” tvas “still quite a distance clown the street.” In the meantime, he said, others might just as well learn to manage the prob­lem of coexistence with the ul­tra‐conservative organization.  The minister expressed his views in “The John Birch So­ciety; Anatomy of a Protest,” ($4.50), recently published by the Beacon Press. It was a re­vision of a doctoral dissertation submitted to the department of sociology and social ethics of the Boston University Graduate School.  In defining respectability, Dr. Broyles said that Robert H. W. Welch Jr., the founder of the society, had always maintained that his members were made up of “real, solid citizens.” The minister did not interview Mr. Welch in compiling his mate­rial.  “Most of the members I in­terviewed were in the middle or upper‐middle class, but most of them were ‘fringe’ within their communities, due partly, of course, to their outlandish views which are part and par­cel of the ideology of the socie­ty,” said Dr. Broyles. “Their socio‐economic status qualified them for ‘respectability,’ but their politics did not.”  The minister saw the soci­ty's executive council exerting a continuing moderating in­fluence on Mr. Welch. He ex­pected that this would lead to Mr. Welch's views and interests becoming “somewhat more re­strained and conventional.”  The Birch Society, Dr. Broy­les contended, would begin a “rapid downward spiral” if a  An Arizona member told the minister that he thought the conservative movement, of which the Birch Society was a part, “is basically a protest by people over the loss of individ­uality.”  In addition to its purported mission of fighting Communists, the Birch Society also professes to fight “big government.”  About the time Dr. Broyles's book was being displayed in book stores, a report filed with the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Edward W. Brooke, showed the society had ended 1963 with a deficit of $210.952.  The report, required by law, showed gross income of $1,043,­656 and expenses of $1,169,997 in 1963. There also was a carry­over deficit of $84,612 from 1962.  The membership of the Birch Society remains a secret. When he organized it, Mr. Welch set a goal of 1 million members. Some estimates have placed the mem­bership at about 100,000 at the most.  Twice in recent years, Mr. Welch has acknowledged that attacks on the society have slowed its growth. But he has vigorously disputed any sug­gestion that the slowing rate indicated a substantial loss of membership.  Dr. Broyles found that the average distribution rate of American Opinion, the society's monthly magazine, was 27,000 copies.  Dr. Broyles said that most of the society members he in‐  Since attempts to reform the society from the outside were “fore‐doomed,” Dr. Broyles said. that coexistence with such ex­tremist groups had to be faced. In the process, responsible citi­zens should not let inflamma­tory charges by the extremists go unchallenged. he asserted.  Members of the Birch Society, saki Dr. Broyles, “do not spend all their time making accusa­tions against uersons.”  “Some of them touch upon real issues and problems in many areas of our national life,” he declared, “but the most that could be said for the great majority of the members and leaders would be that where they are scratching there was an itch, but that their scratch­ing was only broadening the inflammation.”  Dr. Broyles saidhe had talked with a member of the Birch staff in the Belmont na­tional headquarters about two weeks after President Ken­nedy's assassination. And while there had been no “dropouts” from the society as a result, Dr. Broyles said he found the atmosphere of the place more restrained.  The staff inembers, said Dr. Broyles, commented that it seemed “a time when people need to speak the truth with prudence.”  Calling for a spirit of ra­tionality, Dr. Broyles com­mented:  “It is sobering to remind our­selves and to remind even the Birchers that, if we do not de­fend freedom and rationality as the norms of political conflict, we ought not to be surprised to find ourselves caught in a to­talitarianism not only from the left or from the right, but per­haps even from the center.”  This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send comments, questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com
Rev Dr J A Broyles's book John Birch Society: Anatomy of Protest discussed; he finds exec council continuing to exert moderating influence on Welch; holds efforts to reform soc from outside are 'fore-doomed' because of 'logic-tight and closed-mind ideology' of soc; advises coexistence; soc's money difficulties noted