Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-26

l Vi du lHulNlUudl, unsupported Dy crime
! of that individual, or the evasion of the
rights of the injured party, it is true.
/ whether they affect his person, his prop
/ erty or his reputation, but if not sanction
! ed in some way by the State or not done
under State authority, his rights remain
/ in full force and may presumably be vim
dicated by resort to the laws of the State
/ for redress. An individual cannot deprive
! a man Of his right to vote, to hold
! property, to buy and sell, to sue in courts
! orto be witness or juror; he may by force
/ or fraud interfere with the enjoyment of
/ the right in a particular case; he may
/ commit an assault against the person or
I commit murder, or use rutian violence at
| the polls, or slander the good name of a
! fellOw-citizen; but. unless protected in
! these wrongful acts by some shield of
| State law or State authority, he cannot
! destroy or injure the right; he will only
| render himself amenable to satisfaction
or punishment; and amenable therefor to
the laws of the State where the wrongful
acts are committed. Hence, in all those
cases where the Constitution seeks to pro-
tect the rights of a citizen against dis
criminative and unjust laws of State
! by prohibiting such laws, it is not indi-
! Yldual Offenses, but abrOgatiOn and denial
of rights which it denOunces, and for
which it clothes Congress with power TO
provide remedy. If the prnci-
Piles of Interpretation which we have
laid down are correct, as we deem
them to be, it Is clear that
the law in question cannot be sustained
by any grant of legislative power made
to Congress by the fourteenth amend
ment. But the power of Con-
| Sress TO adopt direct and primary, as dis
! tinguished from corrective. legislation on
the subject in hand is sought in the Sec
Ond place, from the thirteenth amend
ment, which ab0lishes slavery. This
amendment declares ''That neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude, except as pun
ishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly cOnvicted),
| shall exist within the United
States, or any place subject to their juris-
dictiOn; and it gives Congress power to
enforce the amendment by appropriate
legislation. This amendment, as well as
! the fourteenth, is undoubtedly self-eXe-
! cutting without any auxiliary legislation,
| for as far as its terms are applicable to
any existing state of circumstances by
| its own unaided force and effect it aboi-
ished slavery and established universal
freedom. Still, legislation may be
necessary and proper to meet all
the various cases and circumstances
| to be affected by it, and to prescribe prop
er modes of redress for its violation, in
| letter or spirit, and such legislation may
be primary and direct in its character;
for the amendment is not mere prOhibi-
! ton of State laws, establishing or uphold
| ing slavery, but an absolute declaration
that slavery or involuntary seryitude
| shall not exist in the United States.
Now, cOnceding for the sake of argu-
ment, that admission to an inn, public
! conveyance, or Il place of public
amusement on equal terms with all other
| citizens is the right of every man and all
classes of men, is it any more than one of
those rights which the States, by the
fourteenth amendment, are forbidden to
deny to any person, and is the Constitu-
tiOn violated until the denial of the right
has some state sanction or authority?
| Can the act of a mere individual owner
of an inn, public conveyance or place of
amusement, refusing accOmmoda-
tiOn, be justly regarded as i'm
posing any badge Of slavery or
seryitude upon the applicant, or only as
| intlicting an ordinary civil injury properly
cognizable by the laws of the State and
presumably subject to redress by those
laws until the contrary appears. After
| giving to these questions all the cOnsidera-
tion which their Importance demands we
are forced to the conclusion that such an
act of refusal has nothing to do with
slavery or involuntary servitude, and that
if it is viOlable of any right of
the party, his redress is to
be sought under the laws of the
| State; or if those laws are adverse to his
rights and do not protect him, his remedy
will be found in the corrective legislation
which Congress has adopted, or may
adopt, for cOunteracting the effect of
State laws or State action prohibited by
the fourteenth amendment. 1t would be
running the slavery argument into the
ground to make it apply to every act of
discrimination which a person may see
fit to make as to the guests he will enter
tain, or as to the people he will
take into his coach, or cab,
or car, or admit to his
concert or theatre, or deal within other
matters of intercourse or business. Inn
keepers and public carriers, by the law of
all States, so far as we are aware, are
bound to the extent OF their facilities to
furnish proper accommodation to all unOb-
jectiOnable persons who, in good faith,
apply for them. If the laws themselves
make any unjust discrimination amend
able to the prohibitions Of the
fourteenth amendment, Congress has
full power to afford a remedy under that
amendment and in accordance with it.
When man has emerged from slavery,
and by the aid of beneticent legislation
has shaken off the inseparable cOncOmi-
tants of that State, there must be some
stage i'll the progress of his elevation
when he takes the rank of a mere citizen
and ceases to be a special favOrite of the
man are to be protected in the ordinary
modes by which other mems rights are
protected. There "ere thousands of free
cOlOred people in this country before
the abolition of slavery, enjoying all
the essential rights of life, liberty and
property the same as white citizens: vet
no one, at that time, thought that it was
any invasion of their personal status as
freemen because they were not admitted
to all the privileges enjoyed by white citi-
zens, or because they were subjected to
determinations in the enjoyment of ac-
cOmmOdatiOns in inns, public convey
ances and places of amusement. Mere
determinations on account of race or
color were not regarded as badges
Of slavery. If, since that time,
the enjoyment OF equal rights
in all these respects has become estab-
lished by constitutional enactment, it is
not by the force of the thirteenth amend
ment, which merely abolshes slavery, but
by the force of the fourteenth and fif-
teenth amendments. On the whole, we
are of the opinion that no countenance Of
authority for the passage of the law in
question can be found in either the thir-
teenth or fourteenth amendments of the
Constitution, and no other ground of
authority for its passage being suggested
it must necessarily be declared void, at
least in so far as its operation in the sew
oral Gt1fpc ic anOo0rpod