The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-20

,l,4.,ls. ,It1 t,t.5 ANA 1lacN llDrs sluutug
side by side, watching the progress of our
business. 1t would never occur to anyone
. that the presence OF a CUlOred citizen in a
courthouse, or courtroom. was an invasion
of the social rights of white persons who
may frequent such places Ard vet such
suggestion would be quite as sound in law
| say it with all respeCt-as is the suggestion
that the claim of a colored citizen to use
upon the same terms rs is permitted to white
citizens, the accommodations OF public high
ways, or public inns. or places of pubic
amusement, established under the license of
the law, Is an invasion Of the social rights Of
the white race.
A RESERVED POINT.
The court, in its opinion, reserves the CUES
ton whether Congress, in the exercise of its
power to regulate commerce amongst the sew
eral States might or might not pass law
regulating rights in public conveyances pass
ing from one State to another. l beg TO sug-
gest that that precise question was substau-
tally presented here in the only one of these
cases relating to airoads-RoDinson and
Wife vs.. Memphis & Charleston Railroad
Company. In that case it appears that Mrs
Robinson, a citizen of Mississi ppi, purchased
a railroad ticket emitting her to be carried
from Grand Junction, Tenn, to Lynchburg,
Va. Might not the act of 1915 be maintained
in that case, as applicable at least to COM
merce between the States, Notwithstanding
does not, upon its face, profess to have been
passed in pursuance OF the power given to
Congress to regulate commerce? Has it ever
been held that the judiciary should overturn
a statute because the legislative department
did not accurately recite therein the par
tcular provision of the constitution au-
thorizng its enactment? We have often
enforced municipal bonds in aid of rail-
road subscriptions where they failed to
recite the statute authorizing their issue, but
recited one which did not sustain their va
Iidity. The inquiry III such cases has been
was there, in any statute, authority for the
execution of the bonds? Upon this branch
OF the case. it may be remarked that the
State of Louisiana, in 1869 passed a statute
giving to passengers without regard to race
or color, equality OF right IN the accOmmo-
datOns of railroad and street cars steam
boats or other water crafts stage coaches
omnibuses, or other vehicles But in Hall
VS. De CUR, % I. S, 1877, that act was pro-
nounced unconstitutional 50 far as it related
to commerce between the States, this court
saying that "f the public good requires such
legislation it must come from Con1ress and
not from the States" suggest that it may
become pertinent INQUIRY whether Con.
greSs may, in the eXert!uu Of its power to
regulate commerce among the States, enforce
among passengers on public cOnveyauces
equality Uf right, without .elard to race
color or previous condition OF servitude if il
be true-which do not admi.-that such
legislation would be an interference bV gov
eminent with the social r.hts oj the people
My brethren say that when q man has
emerged from slavery, and by the aid of
benefcent legislation has shaken off the in
separable concomitauts OF that state, there
must be some stage in the progress of his
elevation when he takes the rank OF mere
citizen and ceases to be the special favorite
OF the laws and when his rights citizen,
or man, are to be protected in the ordinary
modes by which other mems rights are pro
tected 1t is, l submit, scarcely just TO say
that the colored race has been the special
favOrite of the laws What the nation,
through Congress, has sought TO accomplish
in reference TO that race, is-what had
already been done in every State of the Union
Tor the white race-tO secure and protect
rights belonging to them as freemen and citi-
zens, nothing more. The one underlying
purpose of congressional legislation has been
to enable the black race to take
the rank of mere citizens. The dif-
ticulJy has been to compel recognition
of their legal right to take that rank, and to
secure the enjoyment OF privileges belong
ing, under the law, to them as component
part of the people, for whose welfare and
happiness government is ordained At every
step in this direction, the nation has been
confronted with class tyranny, which, a con
temporary English historian says, Is of all
tyraunies the most intolerable, for it is
uDlti ulloto III llS operation. ana weighs, per
haps most heavily on those whose obscurity
or distance would withdraw them from the
notice of a single despot." To-day it is the
colored race which is denied by corporations
and individuals, welding public authority,
rights fundamental in their freedom and cit
lZenship. At some future time it may be
some other race that will fall under the ban.
If the constitutional amendments be enforced
according to the intent with which, as 1 con-
ceive, they were adopted, there cannot be,
in this republic, any class of human beings
in practical subsection TO another class, with
power in the latter to dole out to the former
just such privileges as they may choose to
grant. The supreme law of the land has de-
creed that no authority shall be exercised in
this country upon the basis of discrimna-
ton, in respect of civil rights, against free
men and citizens because of their race, color,
or previous condition of servitude. To that
decree-for the due enforcement of which,
by appropriate legislation, Congress has been
invested with express power every one
must bow, whatever may have been, or
whatever now are, his individual views as
to the wisdom or policy either of the recent
changes in the fundamental law or of the
legislation which has been enacted to give
them effect.
For the reasons stated, l feel constrained
to withhold my assent to the opinion of the
court