Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-03-06


/ tiOnality Of the measure, but how can
that be judicialiy settled? Only by an
appeal 10 the supreme court, where it
would be placed at the foot OF the
docket, and could not be called short of
two years. Those who think it would
be advanced on the docket simply know
nothing OF the makeup Of that court.
The hOtel-keepers are alarmed, and at
loss to know what to do. Either horn
OF the dilemma is ruin TO them If they
refuse TO furnish board to the negro, who
is sure to ask for it sooner or later, they
will be dragged before q Federal court
and fined and imprisoned. Fifteen
hundred dollars is not pleasant sum
to pay for refusing a dinner to the foul
est and most OdOrous negro from the
slums Of Nashville. But take the other
view Of the case. Suppose a negro ap-
plies for board at the Maxwell house
and is accepted, and comes into the par
lOrs and dining-rOOm with the same
privileges that l enjoy, or the other
guests enjoy. Don't you know that In
less than twenty-four hours the house
would be deDOpulsted, not a guest re-
naming. What shall the inn-keeper
do? Refuse the negro from day TO day
and be fined fifteen hundred dollars
and go to Jail three months
for each Offense, or accept the
negro and ruin his business in that
way? Governor Porter counsels sub
mission, and so does every Conservative
citizeni but here you will see that sub
mission on the part of hOtel-keeper
will ruin his business quite as readily as
rejection. The governor correctly says
that the great masses of the negroes will
not attempt to use their new power, but
one healthy, sDle-bOdied black rascal,
aided and abetted by some designing
villain Of the white race, in this instance
can create as much discord as a regi-
ment of negroes. 1t will not do to say
that the white man cOunseling such &C.
ton shall be prosecuted for champerty,
for that would simply punish the white
man, while the negro would be left free
to continue in stirring up strife, and after
once emDarking ON that tempestuOus
sea he would hardly stop until he met
the inevitable. AS an attempt to evade
at least portion of the iniquity, a bill
was yesterday introduced in the senate
by General Wilson, but subsequently
withdrawn because some of the prOvi-
siOns seemed to require changes. A bill
more sW6 eping in its nature was intro
duced in the house by Harvey Mathes,
but they are each Of them delusiOn
and snare. The general assembly may
pass them, but they will only serve as
a bar against an action in any State
court. No mere act Of the legislature
can close the doors Of a Federal court
against a citizen who makes oath that
he has no remedy in State court, nor
will such be the case 50 long as negro
is the plaintiff. That there will be ac-
ton taken by the legislature have no
doubt, hut to be made available in the
slightest degree it should be held back |
until after the fourth of March for vari- |
Gus reasons. The shrewd lawyers of the !
two houses may be able to find some |
loOphOle Of escape, and by cunningly- |
devised law escape some o. its prOvi- |
sions, and to that end the attention Of !
all intelligent members should be turned. |
Soften it as they may, there will still re- |
main much to iTritate the feelings OF |
the people, and fear, to arouse the hot |
blood in too many instances. There |
have been no threats, but there have |
been no efforts to enforce it. The max |
ing of the one will beyond doubt pro-
woke the other.
CTenn) Herald.l
So far as the mass of the people in |
this section is concerned, we anticipate |
very little trouble. Every mans house
Is his castle, and of course no law can be |
devised which will confer upon any in
iividual, black or white, the right to
'Orce himself into the dOmieile of any |
Other man. 1t is only at the hotels and |
places Of public amusement, and upon
railway trains, that the new law is /
likely to be dissgreeable. So far as
.hese are concerned, each proprietor and |
as well as each individual
guest or passenger, must regulate mat
ers for himself. The only recourse we
IAN now see is the application, when
.ver necessary, of such pertinent argu-
nents as the hickory stick and the
iOuble barrel shot gun - arguments
which the most illiterste negro under
tands and the only result, the inev-
table and rapid decrease of the eolOred
population. So long as the negro be-
laves himself and knows his place,
Teat him well; when he attempts to
'nfOrce practical social rights, let the
be speedy and certain
jivil rights is now the law Of the law
)ut, in this matter, every southern man
8 "s law unto himself"