The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-12-02
TURNS DOWN A MILLION.
Massachusetts Man Denounces Sys
tenn That Made the Money.


Charles Garland, the young man who
has renounced his right to million
dollar legacy, left him by his father,
James A. Garland, who was a veal
thy club man and yachtman of Bos-
ton, today made a formal statement
of his reasons for rejecting the mon
ey. His statement, he said, was due
to the fact that the many reports of
his failure to accept the legacy had
failed properly to present his posi-
tiOn.
''I refuse to accept the money be-
cause it is not mine," was young Gar
lands summary of his action. "A
system which starves thousands while
hundreds are stuffed condemns itself.
A system which leaves a sick woman
helpless and offers its services to a
healthy man condemns ITSELF It is
such a system that offers me a mil
lion dollars" he continued.
1T is blind to the simplest truth
known to every child, the truth that
the hungry should be fed and the ma
ked clothed. I have, had to choose
between the loss of private property
and the law which is written in every
human heart. I chose the one which
believe to be true"
Believes Christ Would Have Rejected.
Garland, who has stated he renoun-
ced his claim to the million dollars
because he thought Christ would have
done the same, continued:
II believe I could not do good with
the money. 1t is the man who gives
food to the hungry who does good,
not the dollars given in exchange for
the food. would be happy to be the
man if l had the food to give, but
can not lend myself to handling the
money that is not mine even though
the good that might be done is pos
sibly great
Many people have written to tell
him what could be done with the
money, he said. "They seem almost
proud to point out the power that
have in my hands, but it is the most
pitiful thing you could point to.
You cannot serve God and Mammon'
So many people ready to serve the
dollar means so many less to serve
God. There are great opportunities
to do good, but they are in mems
hearts, not my check book. A preach
er in the name of Christ said this
million should have been turned to
good. He thinks that Gods work is
paid for in dollars. Gods work will
never de done until men see that this
theory is untrue.''
Living at Mothers Expense.
Mr.. Garland's statement was made
from his home here, a former inn of
stage coach days. The young man,
who is % years of age, is living at
the house with his wife and infant
daughter as the guest of his mother,
Mrs. Marie Tudor GGreen, who sup
plies them with maid and keeps
their larder full. He plans to go to
work eventually, he said, but year
at Harvard, which he left to get mar
ried, and preparatory schooling in
this country and in England fitted
him for no work ready at hand, and
he said he thought it would be
spring before he found anything. His
wife joined him in his remuneration
of the million, Garland said.
His mother, although not hold
ing the same views, has told him to
do what he thought right.
In another house on the estate lives
James A. Garland, third, brother
of Charles Garland, who has accepted
his share of his fathers estate, made
larger by the fact that the mother of
the boys abandoned her rights in or
der to marry Francis G. Green after
the death of her first husband. At
Harvard college is Hamilton Garland,
third son, who lacks several months
of reaching his majority. His broth
er, Charles, said today that he un-
derstood Hamilton was also consid-
ering refusal to take his share when
he became of age Their ideas on the
subject are somwhat similar, he said,
although the influences of f'education
and environment were not Identical.
Garland indicated that his refusal
to take the money was not based on
any question attached to the origin
of the Garland fortune, saying he did
not know from what source it was
derived, but he believed it came
down from his grandfather.