Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-08
"'Civil Rights"


devOtee Of liberty nearly a century ago
Madame Roland--as she was being led to ex-
ecution had reason to excaim, so, Liberty!
what crimes are committed in thy nameI" And
the true friends of civil rights, in this age. may
with equal reason, sxclaim: o, civil rights,
what wrongs are done in thy name 1t is
maxim in England that the poorest mans house
is his castle, which the sovereign NAV not in
wade unbidden. BIT in America in this era of
the largest liberty, whole class Of citizens are
subjected to the necessity of receiving guests
into their houses. their parlors, their dining
rooms and their chambers whom. whether from
prejudice or for better reasons, they hold to be
not their social equals If there be any sacred
right it Is the right to choose ones associates.
and If there be one form of tyranny more
| Odious than another, it is that which invades
the social circle. The government of Russia is
despOtism, but the ukases and rescripts of the
car respect the family. People talk of the
right of every citizen to take lodgings at a
hotel. and to sit at the table with the family and
with favored guests, as if hotels were built at
the public expense by appropriations out of the
common treasury. Or. as If the hotel proprie-
tor enjoyed some monopoly which is denied to
Otner househ0lders. But unless it be deemed q
peculiar privilege to pay license tax which is
not imposed on other hOusehOlders, it will be
difficult to point out one which the hotel or
housekeeper is blessed with. The ancient COM
mon law OF England made 1t obligatory on inn
Keepers to receive every traveller as guest or
to find him victuals and lodging on being ten
dered reasonable price for such accom-
mOdations. And there was then and there,
good reason tor this requirement. since inn
Keeping was then a monopoly, guarded and
protected by the law.-See Hdnkins' Pleas of
the Cro,cn, Vol. l, page TIA, where it is laid
down. that if a man ''sas up a nep inn ,che,e
there IS no manner of need for one to the hind.
rance Of ancient and sce governed inns he is in
1acfdoA and nedbte; and by statutes such inn may
be suppressed"
No license was necessary, as the books show,
to setting up an inn-hotelis the modern French
l1ed name-and this fact shows that the sole
purpose OF the law. in making it an indictable
oHense, was the protection Of the old inn
keeper in the enjoyment of his monopoly But
since inn-keeping was thus guarded and pro-
tected against competition, 1t was but fair to
require of the keepers that they should enter
tain all decent travellers who were able to pay
their way.
But in America this monopoly of inn-keeping
has never been given or practised by law-cer-
tainly no such monopoly now exists; and on
the contrary, the inn-keeper is required to pay
tax for license. 1t is well-settled prin-
the reason of the law has ceased to exist or OBJ
crate the law itself ceases or becomes a dead
letter. The maxim in law Latin is as follows:
Cessdnte rdtione cessdt ct ipsa lex.
The act of Congress, therefore, is without
reason for its basis, is tyrannical and unconsti-
tutiOnal.
AS it regards railroads and conveyances which
carry the mails, the case is different. For horse
railroads. occupy. as monopoly, the use of the
streets. which belong to the whole public; and
the great railroad companies Of the country
have the chartered privilege of forcing their way
through the private property of the people,
IheY are therefore very properly required to
furnish equal accommodations to all travellers
who can pay their way. For similar reasons
conveyances which carry the United States mails
are required to accommodate all travellers
EQUAL RIGHTS.