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Show ThoughtJohnSherman a Thief i African Methodists of Atlanta Wanted "Some of the Money That Had Stuck to the Hands" of Their Guest. Once in his long career as a member mem-ber of congress, secretary of the treasury, and secretary of state, John Sherman was publicly charged with having allowed some portion of government gov-ernment money which passed through his hands to stick to his palms. Curiously Curi-ously enough, that accusation was made at a religious meeting in the city of Atlanta at a time when Mr. Sherman was secretary of the treasury treas-ury and a visitor there. It is a bit of new news that is vouched for by Rt. Rev. Benjamin J. Keiley, now Roman Ro-man Catholic bishop of Savannah, and for a decade a pastor in the Georgia metropolis. "As is well known, President Hayes was sincerely anxious to bring about a good feeling in the south," said Bir.hop Keiley, "and for that reason he made a former confederate lieutenant lieu-tenant colonel from Tennessee, David McKendree Key, his first postmaster general. For that reason, also, it was thought advisable that Secretary of the Treasury Sherman, about the middle mid-dle of his term In that office, should visit the Eouth and come into personal touch with the business men of that section. His itinerary Included the city of Atlanta, which at that time gave promise of becoming a very influential in-fluential industrial center. "It so happened that at the time of Sherman's visit to Atlanta a great meeting of members of the African Methodist Episcopal church was being be-ing held in the city. When the elders heard that the distinguished brother of General Sherman had reached the city, they immediately got busy, and committee of the colored brethren called upon him and asked him to hcror them by attending one of their meetings. The secretary replied he would be greatly pleased to attend the meeting. "There was a great crowd at that meeting, the word having been passed )Vr- tb.".' lohn Sherman would be Tr- there, and at the proper moment, the presiding elder arose and said: 'Brethren, the Lord be praised that we have this great meeting; the Lord be praised that John Sherman, brother of General Sherman, whom so many of you remember, is with us tonight. John Sherman is President Hayes's treasurer of the United States. All the millions and millions of dollars the government has passes through his hands sometimes three or four million dollars a day. Now, you can't expect a man to have millions of dollars dol-lars pass through his hands without having some of the money stick to them. And so I say, Brother Sherman, Sher-man, let us colored Methodists have some of the money that has stuck to your hands; put It In the contribution contribu-tion box to help along the school we are going to endow.' "The appeal created a great shouting shout-ing of 'Amen!' But it so happened that at the last moment an imperative matter, that came up suddenly, made It necessary for Mr. Sherman to stay away from the meeting. He insisted, however, that some of the subordinates subordi-nates who were with him should attend at-tend the meeting. This they did, and to their unconcealed joy when they heard the accusation so ingenuously made that government money had stuck to John Sherman's hands. And when the contribution box passed before be-fore them they felt so grateful to the presiding elder that they put many dollars into it. "After the meeting was over they could not get back to Secretary Sherman Sher-man fast enough to tell him what the, colored 'brother' had said about him. For a moment Mr. Sherman was greatly great-ly disturbed, but when he learned all the circumstances surrounding the accusation, ac-cusation, he, too, was Intensely amused. At last he asked: " 'I hope you put some money into the contribution box?' "They told him that they did. " 'Then that is sufficient,' John Sherman Sher-man replied drily. 'That will wipe away the stain of the government money that has stuck to my hands.' " (Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) |