For the last eight years he has been holding the high, responsible and well-paid office of Register of the Treasury of the United States.
Nevertheless, this Judson W. Lyons went down to Macon, Georgia, to attend a convention of negroes, and in this convention he heard Bishop H. M. Turner, a negro, denounce the flag of his country as “a contemptible and dirty rag;” and Judson did not open his mouth to protest.
He also heard this ungrateful Bishop declare that—“Hell is an improvement on the United States when the negro is involved.”
Still, Judson W. Lyons sat there in apparent acquiescence—he an officer of the Government!
Now when you are told that every blessed son and son-in-law of Bishop H. M. Turner was appointed to office under President Cleveland, and when you bear in mind that Judson Lyons has so long been in the enjoyment of a Federal office which pays him $8,000 per year, you can form a fair idea of a radical defect in negro character. It is Ingratitude.
Bishop Turner has been treated with the utmost consideration by the whites. He enjoys a larger income than he could hope to draw as witch doctor in Africa, or as voodoo man in San Domingo. He lives on the fat of the land, grows juicy himself, and yet runs no risk of being hot-potted by hungry brethren—as he would in his native land of Africa. He dresses in a manner which would have stunned King Tchaka; and to see him take his ecclesiastical ease in a Pullman car is a sight for the sore-eyed.
What is the Bishop angry about?
Apparently for the reason that “drunken mobs” in the North, South, East and West diabolically persist in accusing the negro of committing rape.
The Bishop says that the negro is innocent. Being innocent, he is necessarily as innocent as a new-born babe. The Bishop declares that “no negro has been tried by the courts and found guilty of this crime of rape in fifteen years.”
This statement makes the other twin for Booker Washington’s assertion that “not more than six” graduates of negro colleges have ever gone wrong. A more precious pair of Siamese-twin lies have not been put in type since the decease of the late lamented Baron Munchausen.