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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
7
GEORGIA’S JUNIOR SENATOR ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY
FOR LIBEL
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Washington, D. C., June 30.—Senator Thomas E.
Watson, of Georgia, in the latest issue of his weekly
publication, “The Columbia Sentinel,” has assumed
personal responsibility for all the charges made
against the Catholic clergy and Sisterhoods in a
previous edition of his paper, and adds new charges.
One of these editorial charges is the following:
‘‘When Mr. Harding named the Romanist priest
of Marion, Ohio, for the consulship at Rome, it
seemed to me that the President was virtually send
ing an envoy to the Vatican, but there was no evi
dence which could be produced, and it would have
been useless to have raised a row over the appoint
ment.
“I am in a minority; in a minority, common sense
is my guide, and I do not intend to waste time and
strength on small, doubtful matters.
“If it should hereafter become evident that the
Marion priest is meddling with our foreign affairs m
Rome, I will be heard from, you may be sure.”
President Harding has not named or appointed a
Catholic priest of Marion, Ohio, or any other city or
place, as consul at Rome or elsewhere. The post of
American Consul General at Rome is held by Fran
cis B. Keene, of Milwaukee, who was appointed by
President Wilson in June, 1917. Mr. Keene is not
a priest; he is not a Catholic. None of the four
American vice-consuls in Rome is a priest.
As a member of the Senate, Mr. Watson must
have known that President Harding had not ap
pointed a priest as consul at Rome; that no appoint
ment of any one had yet been made as successor to
Mr. Keene, or any of his vice-consuls. The appoint
ment of a consul at Rome would have required con
firmation by the Senate, and as a member of that
body Senator Watson would have known the identity,
the calling and all the facts about the President’s
nominee.
Senator Watson in his latest tirade devotes four
paragraphs to a virulent assault on Richard Reid,
publicity director of the Georgia Laymen’s Asso
ciation. He is resentful toward Mr. Reid for send
ing to the President and to members of Congress
“The Sentinel’s” outrageous attack on the Good
Shepherd Sisterhood and on the priests of the coun
try.
Only Senator Watson knows what he had in mind
when he wrote the following:
“Have a care, Mr. Richard Reid!
“If you inflame any one of your murder gang to
attack me here in Washington, what do you sup
pose my Augusta friends will do to you?”
Mr. Reid’s activity has' been wholly confined to
sending to the President and members of Congress
copies of Watson’s own slanders. He will continue
to keep them posted on the Georgia Senator’s defa
mations.
In the latest issue Of his paper Senator Watson
also continues his abuse of President Harding.
SENATOR WILLIAMS OF MISSISSIPPI INTERESTED IN
COLLEAGUE’S CHARGES
The letters sent out to the members of the United
States Senate, the Vice-President and the President,
accompanied by copies of the Columbia Sentinel,
edited by the Junior Senator from Georgia, were
honored by numerous replies and by one inquiry.
The inquiry came from Senator John Sharp Wil
liams, of Mississippi, who wrote to the publicity man
ager in part as follows: “I confess I do not know
how to answer it, unless I can get a reply to one
question; is it true that Bishop Keiley, or the Bishop
of Savannah, refuses to permit the Keiley estab-
lishment at Savannah to be inspected by the officers
of the courts of Chatham County? I would like to
have an answer, yes, or no, to that question; and I
am not asking it for purposes of argument, but for
information; because I don’t know. If it be true
that there be in the United States any sort of an in
stitution, pretending to have a right to defy the
inspection laws of a state, that institution ought to
be put out of existence, root and branch. I can not
believe the statement can be true 1 , because I can not
conceive of such insolent treason to American insti
tutions. I shall hold your letter upon my desk for
further consideration until I have heard more from
you.
“With every expression of regard,
“Very truly yours,
(Signed) “John Sharp Wiliams.”
The Bureau’s Answer.
The letter from the Publicity Bureau to Senator
Williams follows:
“Hon. John Sharp Williams,
“United States Senate,
“Dear Sir: Your letter of June 16th in answer
to our letter of June 13th calling your attention to
a recent article in the paper of the Junior Senator
from Georgia impugning the integrity of the Geor
gia courts and grand juries in regard to the inspec
tion of convents, is received.
“lou inquire whether or not it is true ‘that Bishop
Keiley, or the Bishop of Savannah’ refuses to per
mit the Keiley establishment at Savannah to be in
spected by officers of the courts of Chatham County.’
“It is not true. The grand juries of Chatham
County have regularly inspected all of the institu
tions whose inspection is provided for by the Geor
gia law each term of court since the law was de
clared valid three years ago, and the reports of the
grand juries showing such inspection and its results
have been regularly published in the papers of Sa
vannah.
Grand Jury Report.
“Enclosed herewith is a marked copy of the Sa
vannah Press of May 24, 1921, containing the report
of the Chatham County Grand Jury for the spring
term of this year, which shows the latest of such
inspections. The pertinent part of the report reads
as follows:
“ ‘Savannah, Ga.,
“ ‘May 20, 1921.
“ ‘Hon. J. J. Cummings,
“ ‘Foreman Grand Jury,
“ ‘Chatham County, Georgia.
“ ‘Dear Sir: Your Committee, appointed under the
Veasey Act, has visited the various institutions sup
posed to be covered by this law, and beg to submit
detailed report as follows:
“ ‘The St. Mary’s Home, St, Francis’ Home and
the Little Sisters of the Poor were all found in ex
cellent condition in every respect and inmates receiv*-
ing best attention.
(Continued on Page 15)