1924

I was a little ashamed of what I wrote recently about ministers’ salaries, but today I was strangely justified in my criticism. Walking into a store to buy a hat I met an old friend who told me about his new preacher. His church had tried for a long while to secure the right man, and then by dint of a special campaign they raised the salary from $6,000 to $10,000. That is obviously more than most of the people in the congregation make. He said to me with considerable pride, “You ought to hear our new preacher. My, but he is a great talker!” Then he came close and whispered to me out of hearing of the other customers: “He ought to be. We are paying him ten thousand dollars.” The cynicism was quite unconscious.