The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-27
THE cIvIL-R1GHTs DECISION.


extended abstract of the Supreme Court de-
cision on the civil-rights BILL published yes
terday, which are worth little thought,
and which even a layman may dare to call
attention to without having all the constitu-
tional lawyers in the country in arms over
his temerity. In the first place there is the
broad ground OF difference upon the funda-
mental assertion that there must be statutory
legislation by State authority before the gem
eral government can proceed to use its power
in the enforcement of the rights which the
fourteenth amendment guarantees That
amendment prohibits States from denying"
to any citizen the equal protection of the laws,
or from denying any person all the rights
and privileges to be enjoyed by any citizen.
The position of the Supreme Court is that
this denial must be an affirmative denial; it
must be deliberately expressed in a law. The
Withholding of any rights, the neglect or
failure TO give any citizen his constitutional
privileges, is not such denial as brings
the matter within the province of the four
ttGibH dlu6hQuIShIs All bL4db 10 LCOCSoaig
for the people of any State where hostility to
the negro is the most rancorous is simply to
avoid an expression of their
hatred upon the statute book. The
pacity may do what they please-"deny"
what they will to the negro, and this denial
may be SO universally practiced as to amount
TO a custom; but if it does not take shape in
legal enactment the general government,
which has affected to ciothe all men with
equality before the law may not interfere 4
If this is not binding Samson with more than
green withes and hempen ropes We don't
know what it is. 1t is clipping his hair,
and making him the laughing stock of the
Philistines. We are not saying that the
ciYil-rights act will be at all nee
essary in the future. 1t may
be that those who have hitherto
held the negro in bondage may have had
their hearts so changed, either through grace
or necessity, that colored men will meet
with no trouble in the enjoyment of the
equality to which they are entitled; but we
speak OF the decision and its effect upon the
abstract ground of right and justice. circum-
stances being the same as when the act was
originally passed by so overwhelming vote
in Congress, and when it received the almost
universal acquiescence of the country. The
decision of the Supreme Court amounts to
this: The rights of the colored people are
guaranteed in the fourteenth amend
ment. That amendment is sef-executing;
therefore, the rights are valid and exist
emit They may not be recognized they
may be withheld, but SO long as there is no
actual law denying them, the rights are in
full vitality. A colored man may be kicked
out into the street from hotel; he may be
thrown from passenger coach and chucked
into box-car with freight and other chattels;
he may be elected from theater, with
whole audience of white people on their feet
Yelling at his audacity in 'obtruding" into
seat after paying for it-but in each and all
himself up out of the mud, rearrange
his torn garments and patch up his
skin where broken, and then. under the mid
night skies, hug copy of the blessed consti-
tuition to his bosom and thank God and the
general government for his rights. For the
Supreme Court says
1.-THE wrongful act of any individual, I'M
supported py any such authority, Ia State
lawl is simply private wrong or crime of
that individual; an invasion of rights of the
injured party, it is true, whether they affect
his person, his property or his reputation,
nut ii not sanctioned in some way by State,
oHuot done under its authority, his rights
ranaifI in full force. An indivd-
ual = unless protected in those wrong
1ul acts BIZ some shield of State law or State
authority. can not destroy or injure that
right"
We have made agreat deal of righteous
fun of the fiat lunatjc who would take
piece of paper and print on it ''this is a
dollar" or who might take milk ticket and
put on it "ths is a quart of milk" but if the
Supreme Court has not run the fat theory
into the ground we do not unders tand the
capabilities of the English lam
guago in fine irony. The negro,
made to sit where we want him." in the
ears of the Texas railway, can console him
self with a copy of the fourteenth amend
ment, and fancy himself bowling along
serenely to his destination in a Pullman
palace car. He has the authority OF the