Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1944-11-18
Civil Rights,
Peonage Laws
Are Enforced
Atty. General
Biddle Gives
Breath To Laws

WASHINGTON-(A N PIT h e
civil rights and peonage statutes,
which we're particularly enacted to
protect the rights of Negroes. have
been more vigorously enforced dur
ing the last two years than In any
previous period of the last two
decades, study by the Associated
Negro Press reveals.
There was a total or 20l full
scale Investigations of alleged vio-
lations under these statutes during
the fiscal years 1913 md 1914, with
prosecutive action Resulting In %.
That there we're not more prose
cutions is attributed to the strict
ness of the rigid judicial interpre-
tations which have been placed on
these statutes, limiting the right
of the federal government to in
tervene except under the most
precisely defined circumstances.
An examination of the historical
background of civil rights leglsla-
ton in the United States reveals
great strides forward during the
first two decades following the
Civil war, and slow but persis-
tent reversal throughout the first
three decades of the present cen"
fury. In 1866 the first Civil Rights
act was passed, followed two years
later by the adoption of the 14th
amendment. Later other statutes
designed to insure and implement
the privileges of citizenship grant
ed Negroes by the Emancipation
proclamation and the amendment
we're enacted.
SUMMARIZES EFFECT
Atty. Gen. Francis Biddle sum-
married. the effect of these laws
recently in an address at Cornell
university in the following words:
THE changes brought about by
such legislation were drastic, for
they not only affected underlying
social relation but provided at
the level of government for federal
supervisory control over acts that
had heretofore been In the exclu-
stve jurisdiction of the states. The
balance of state and federal pow
er was materially altered. Taken
together, (these amendments and
period of II years for the express
purpose of freeing the slaves, max
ing them citizens, and giving them
the right to vote, constitute an i'm
portant chapter IN The history of
the theory and practice of equality
before the law ali equally essen
tial for the achievement of free
dom. Today, they constitute the
sole source of the power of the
federal government to protect In
dividual rights against encrach-
ment by the states and in some
instances. by individuals :"
But these advances In social
legislation were not to retain their
full vigor for long. III the same
address the attorney general point
ed out, 'the pendulum, following
the carpet bag" days and the rise
of the Klan, swung very far in
one direction . Four years after
the ratification of the 14th amend
ment, the swing began in the
other direction" BY judicial IN
| terpretationS such as those in the
SlaughteTnouse Cases, the civil
rights decisions, u. S. " Harris,
and others. the applicability of
the amendments and statutes was
draStically narrowed
FRAGMENTS LEFT
"The passion and power behind
the great amendments were being
cooled by the breath of judicial
construction. "a. As q result We
now have on the statute books
only fragments of the original
acts /"
It Is, therefore, within these
relatively narrow limits that the
department of justice says it can
act today to prosecute alleged VIC
Iations of what Is generally con-
sidered the "inalienab1e" right of
citizens. white or Negro.
In order to do this as effective
ly as possible, special civil rights
section was created within the
| criminal division in 1899 It's fun
ction is to examine every COM
plant of an invasion of civil rights
and, if the FACTS seem to warrant
attempt to discover the legal
means by which prosecution can
be brought within the limits of