New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-04

.,ssr. an intoiersbe OFFENCE, and the husband ana
sther replies that IL itself the height Of vusary 70
raise tho question Of private social RAM smons '..
In railway cara he viii DO fortunate II he is only tnrus'
i,hout more ado into the coored car and not kicked
ana beaten BY two or three white whose superior gen.
ty has been nsued and he and HE wife ana enho pun
of at tho next station 70 appeal In vain 70 'h'
courts For in court he will nnd that railway companies
are even required by laws Of the State To maintain
this iQnominious separation Of all who bersy an African
tncture refined unrchned ccan or unclean nom inc
presence white passengers in the cars %
those passengers ever promscuous throng
Such an example Of Of the least grievances Of the
eoorcd under the present regime In tho southern
States; and so dull perception OF wrongs
committed ut distance that hundreds OF thousands OF
intelligent generous sensitive people In the Northern
States are daily confessing their inability to see any
serious hardship case II only the coofed car
be really equal in its appointments to the one In which
only white people every sort admitted as II per-
ignominous distinction on account OF ancestry,
made IN public, by strangers and In the enjoyment Vi
public rights were not an insult or an
injury unless joined bodily discomfort Let 1t DO
plainly understood that though least scores Of thousands
intelligent and gcnccl yet the majority Of col
cred people in the United States neither refined In
mind nor very decent in person. Iheir race
has never had "a white mans ehahco
In America IT has been under the iron yoke OF
saverv that allowed no distinctions Of worth 10 cross race
lines and In Africa contend for The mastery Vi
wild continent so unconQuerabie that lor
sands years the white has srvcn In VAN W
IT, and IS only at last strong enough 10 pierce w
enriched. emil ghtcncd and equipped by the long oo
ouest OF two others impregnabe For all that ID
known black is an inferior race tnoueh now VI
how pcrrnanently inferior remains improved but inc
core OF the coored grievance that the Individual
in matters right that do not justly go by race Is
treated whether man child, without regard TO person.
dress behavior, character aspirations In pubic ana ny
law as though the African tincture, much or itue'
itself stupidity, squaor and vice. But let us see
whether the grievance grows
passing into third southern State, the tnce travel
iers though still holders OF rstcass tickets will be re-
qured conGne themselves to the socaled
car, a place much better than dram shop. When
stops for meals and the passengers men, women
and children rough the polished all hrong into one
common eating room TO receive fare and atten
ton, those cat in the kitchen or go hungry.
Nor can they await the coming of uain IN some
railway stations except in separate coored waiting
room" If they tarry in some Southern city they VIII
encounter the most harassng and whimsical treatment OF
their most ordinary public rights American citizens
They may ride in any street car however crowded. scu
beside or even crammed In among white men or women
OF any or every station c but at the platform OF The
railway train threshold Of any theatre or concert
or lecture hall thew directed 10 the most undcsr
able part house and compelled to take that or no'h
ing They will that the word public rarely means
public them that they may not even draw books from
the public Libraries use their reading rooms
Should the harried exasperated be so fierce or
ndscreet as to quarrel with and strike white man
he will stand several chances TO white mans one OF
being killed on spot II neither killed nor halked
but into court he will have nnenne chances IN
hundred OF confronting jury from which either by or
else spite legal provision, Of African tncturc
have been wholly or almost wholly excluded ii sent TO
prison under penal system which the report
OF the National Commissioner Of Prisons officially pro-
blot upon civilization" lie VIII hnh the pop
uaton OF the State prisons nine-tenths coloed d.
vded into chain gangs famed out to private hands even
subeased aud worked in the mines, quarries In railway
construction and turnpikes under coidons oil "hce
ter rifles; verabe quarry slaves. lie viii find most OF
the few white convcts under this system sun ring the same
outraees but he Will also find that tho system Itself da
pears this general attitude toward the oacK
race disappears and that where 1t and us ouTdges con-
tnue the race line in prison obtcrated only when
the criminal a negotiable commodity ana IL costs
the lessee money TO maintain absurd distinction lie
would number Of coored men within those deaoy
corlons all proportion to the colored population OUT
side as compared percentages Of blacks In ana out
OF prison in States under this regime There are state
prisons I'm which he would the cooIed convics serving
whose Is nearly twice that oil inc "hlo
convcts the places for the same crimes IN inc
same or other prisons he would eoorcd youths and
BOYS by scores almost by hundreds cOnsorng with odc
criminals under sentences OF SEVEN cn twenty years
while the Legislatures vote down year aiter year inc
efforts Of few courageous and humane men eer W esao
sh coloed youth or to Introduce the ee
ment Of socaed penitentarcs Should he
escape alive the deadIhe Oh "hchcsor'
he Will hunted with bloolhounds
But suppose he commits offence against person or
property; will make another list OF discoveries Tic
win find that select school under southern auspices
WI. receive his child That If he sends tho child to pub
lie school IL must be- required by law TO schoo eNeiu
sivey for coiored children, II his child Is seven es
more whte than colored Though his child be sehue
well behaved clearly and decorousy dressed ana inc COZ
ored situated to be naturally ana properly 'e
cholce of the vericst the school population he
Will have no liberty beforc he VIII be toid
again. We know but one kind Of negro" Inc chIu
father and mother may themselves be professional III
sructors but highly trained OF whatever repua
zion for moral and religious characters however talented
AS teachers or dscipnarians holding the diploma OF what
ever college university wellesley, Vassa faie Oorhe"
and of experience, they VIII ma 'he'
selves shut out by law from becoming teachers in any
pubio school for white children, whether belonging 10 ana
filled from neighborhood or in and for the low
est quarters OF alleys and shanes They VIII presently
learn many hundreds Of southern schoous'c'r
where the populations sparse and poor to ADMIT oi
separate schools the the children OF ooh are
being brought up ignorance OF the very aphaDee dei
than let them enjoy common public right under common
roof They find that this separation is not really
based any ncapacfty of children TO distinguish oct"ce"
public and private social relations; but that inc SAME
separation enforced adults and that whe every
southern State is lamenting inability make anything
like an adequate outlay for public education ana huhueu
of thousands colored children growing up In ape
nteracy largely lack OF teachers and schOohouse an
expensive OF from race is Kept up even III inc
schools and eachers Even In the hous
OF worship divinity school they would ana the
selves pursued by nvdous distinctions ana sep
araous that had followed them at every stop and would
follow and attend stl to and In every amshouse
| and insane asylum.
| STRANGE INCONSISTENCIES AND CoNTRADlO
| TIONS.
| And then they would make ono moro discovery. IhcS
would find that not only they victims Of holder nrac
lions Of the obvious common rights Of humanity
than are offered any people elsewhere In Chrisenaou
save only tho Cbinaman the far West but that 70 MAKE
tho opprcsson moro exaspeatng STILL there is not single
feature OF any State, though jusulable on inc
pca OF stern necessity that does not stand condemned
by It's absence the yet more pronounced
in some State Sometimes even one par
OF State will utterly stuty the attitude held In anothe
vi In Virginia or South Carolina coiorcd persoi
decent or behavior may sit any
railway car but la Georgia the law forbds IL, and In Ken
cky the law leaves the caprice Of railway manage
mens some OF which accord and Others withhold the gh