Live Oak daily Democrat. (Live Oak, Fla.) 190?-190?, 1907-07-09
IMPORTANT ISSUE SETTLED.


of the South have peculiar and ex-
elusive interest and about which
there has been more or less nervous
ness among Southern people. We
refer to the separate coach law OF the
Southern States. which provides for
the segregation Of the whites and
negroes while travelling on the cars.
A Tennessee negress wanting to go TO
Georgia, lately made a case against
the Nashville. Chattanooga & ST.
Louis Railroad Company because she
was elected from the coach for the
whites. She claimed that as an In
terstate traveller paying equal fare
with the whites she was entitled to
equal accommodations with them and
could only get ii BY riding in the
white coach.
The Commission has just handed
down a decision which fully sustains
the Southern contention for the
separation Of the races as being en-
tirely constitutional. and at the same
time LAYS down the obviously just
doctrine that negroes paving equal
fare with whites are entitled. in sep
arate coaches, to equally good &C
commodations. They have not been
getting this and the large majority
of them have not protested against
the discrimination, but there are
negroes travelling these days who
/ lave education and refinement, and
such may well shrink from the eondi-
tons they are frequently compelled
to face in the coaches provided for
them. Paying as much money to
ride as the whites do, they are en-
titled to as good accommodations,
and now that the Commission has so
decided, the roads will doubtless con-
form to that decision.
There will, of course, be no objec-
ton to this among the Southern
whites, for all We sought or cared for
was to have the principle Of segrega-
tin or separation thoroughly estab-
hshed and in this we have succeeded.
Now let every railroad company in
the South promptly provide the
facilities required by the order Of the
! Commission, and when this is done we
will have an end Of all this negro
howl about Jim Crow cars" and
materially abate race friction in con-
sequence except among those who
seek social equality for its own sake.
For such as they a very different
remedy will be found than any pro-
vided by the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
, The Tallahassee Sun recently had
an article on this question and we
take the following from ii as just
statement Of the case:
The day coach given to negroes
/ to ride in is reported to be inferior
/ in point Of furnishing and cleanliness
to the coach provided for the whites.
Ny own observation conyinees me
that this claim is justly made. The
negro coach should be equal in every
respect to the white coach if the ne
gro pays the same rate that the
white man does. This negro with
whom was talking is a graduate of
one Of the large universities. He is
a graduate of one Of the largest
medical schools in this country. He
has travelled in Europe and studied
medicine in Germany and France.
His tastes are developed. He should
not be made to ride in a coach deYOt-
ed partly to his use and partly to the
use Of the news butcher with his
slop, from Coea-Cola and soda water
| bottles, and the odorS Of his rotten
fruit; and as a travelling barroom for
those who carry pocket TASKS. He
should not be required to ride il a
coach with dirty floors, unSanitary up
holstery, and foul odOrS. This man
and most Of the other negroes who
have prospered like him, does not
seek social equality. He does not
wish to intrude himself upon the
! white people, but he does wish and
has a right to demand equal accom-