Two board members, Roland Smith and Dearing E. King, took the opportunity to suggest that President King should receive a salary from SCLC. King declined the offer, and explained that what he kept from his speaking fees and royalty income—some $6,000 per year—was sufficient to supplement his salary from Ebenezer Baptist Church. “I think I get along fairly well by speaking and writing.… I must never give people the impression that I am out for big money.… All of us have our shortcomings. I always ask God to help me. One of my shortcomings, I feel, is not in the realm of money.”
