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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 3 U. S. SENATOR’S PAPER ATTACKS COURTS AND GRAND JURIES OF GEORGIA The Columbia Sentinel Says There Are White Slave Pens in Our State While County and State Officials Stand Idly By. (By N. C. W. C. News Service) Washington, D. C., June 13.—The Catholic Lay men's Association of Georgia has requested and re ceived the co-operation of the National Council of Catholic Men in a movement initiated by the Cath olic Laynien’s Association to bring to the attention of the United States Senate, the authorities and the people of the State of Georgia, and the American public generally, accusations made by Senator Thom as E. Watson of Georgia that the authorities of the State of Georgia are permitting and conniving at very serious infractions of the law by not taking steps against Rt. Rev. Benjamin J. Keiley, D. D., Bishop of Savannah, who is declared by Senator Watson to be conducting a white slave den in Sa vannah for immoral purposes. Senator Watson’s Infamous Allegations. Marked copies of the Columbia Sentinel, of which Senator Watson is editor, for the issue of May 16th, which contains the charges, are to be sent by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia to Presi dent Harding and the members of the Senate, with a letter calling their attention to passages in which are made the accusations that the great majority of sixty-five thousand girls who disappeared from their homes last year “were captured by Catholic priests and sentenced to slavery in the Houses of the Good Shepherd, etc.,” and that “in Keiley’s estab lishment, at Savannah, Georgia, there may probably be a score or more of those ‘missing girls,’ ” ard similar statements; another one being that “the Roman Catholic Church dictates to President Hard ing, just as it dictated to Wilson.” Advertisements are to be inserted in the Georgia newspapers by the Catholic Laymen’s Association calling the attention of the authorities and people of the State of Georgia to Senator Watson’s further statements that “the laws of Georgia require that Bishop Keiley’s slave pen shall be inspected by offi cers of the courts of Chatham county, but the Bishop of Savannah informs us that he gets his law from Rome, and therefore, he cannot recognize laws made in this country. The question is, Shall Bishop Keiley be permitted to continue to laugh at our laws?” The action to be taken by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia was discussed at a meeting held in Savannah Sunday, June 6. This meeting was attended by the Executive Committee of the As sociation, a committee of the Knights of Columbus, and a representative of the National Catholic Wel fare Council of which the National Council of Cath olic Men is a branch. The full text of the article in the Columbia Sentinel, which is signed by G. C. Edmondson, whose editorial address, together with that of Senator Watson, and Mrs. Alice Louise Lytle, the managing editor of the paper, is given in the paper as being Room 129 Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C., is reproduced elsewhere in this The defamatory article was read at the meeting and the whole subject thoroughly discussed by the delegates present. At the request of Bishop Keiley, the decision as to what action to take was entrusted by the meeting to the Publicity Committee of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, acting in co-operation with the National Council of Catholic Men. When asked for a statement in regard to his attitude in the matter Bishop Keiley stated that he was opposed to any legal action being taken by his friends expressly on his account, as it seemed to him a matter that concerned the entire body of the citi zens of Georgia much more than it did him per sonally. Bishop Keiley’s View. “I have suffered similar attacks from that man for many years, and surely I need no defense now after thirty-five years lived in Georgia and when I am nearing the time when I can hardly expect to spend many more years among my friends,” said Bishop Keiley. “However, it seems to me that this is a matter that should interest the public-spirited citizens of Georgia. It is they who are challenged. The integrity of their laws and institutions are im pugned. The honesty of their courts and grand juries is called in question, and these horrible impu tations on Georgia are vouched for by one of its Sen ators. These frightful charges come on top of a shameful record of lynching and peonage which al ready has made Georgia notorious. No, it is not I who needs defending, but Georgia, and it seems too bad that it should require to be protected from its highest placed public official, one of its representa tives in the United States Senate.” The marked copies of the Columbia Sentinel, the letters to President Harding and the members of the Senate will reach them this week. The Publicity Committee of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia is also preparing the newspaper advertise ment and collecting the material for a pamphlet which will be widely distributed in Georgia and else where. In reference to the statement in the article in the Sentinel in regard to “Keiley’s establishment in Sa vannah,” it is pointed out that there is no house of the Good Shepherd in Savannah or anywhere in Georgia. There is, however, a community of the Sisters of Mercy in Savannah, who conduct a regu lar parochial school. At the meeting last Sunday one of the delegates stated that the Sisters were also taking action—the same action that they have been putting into effect for a number of years, as have many other communities in Georgia, namely, the offering up of prayers for the welfare of Senator Thomas E. Watson, one of whose daughters was educated in a Georgia convent for more than a year and a half, and some of whose grandchildren have very recently attended Catholic schools in Georgia. TEXT OF LETTER TO PRESIDENT HARDING, VICE-PRESIDENT COOLIDGE AND THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. The text of the letter sent by the Catholic Lay- Dear Sir: men’s Association of Georgia to Hon. Warren G. You will be interested in the enclosed copy of Harding, President of the United States, Hon. Cal- the Columbia Sentinel, published at Thomson, vm Coohdge, Vice-President, and the members of Ga. The Junior Senator from Georgia is the the Senate, follows: editor of this paper.