Show r I 14 f i t 1 i UNCONSTITUTIONAL i 4 q 1 H 1 i The United States Supreme Court ii 1 i as will be seen by reference to a ri i Washington telegram elsewhere in i this issue has declared the civil I I rights act unconstitutional so far as it applied to the States This act has been the subject of as much controversy both in and out of the courts as pretty nearly any other 1 onehalf the i that can be named I I i people of the United States declaring j declar-ing Congress had no right to pass a I the law and the other half endeavoring i 1 s endeav-oring to force it upon an unwilling 1 f public Whatever may have been t 1 y the rights of Congress in the premises i prem-ises it was unwise and bad legislation i i I = 5 legisla-tion for the reason that it undertook I to control a social matter that was t ° I the of government = I i beyond power itself to regulate Its purpose was i i i to make the negro the social f n equal of the white a thing 1f 3 f J that never can be done by statute R If this is ever accomplished it must 1 t I be the work of the negroes themselves them-selves through education and refinement y j re-finement Congress in pursuance yj 1 i I of the centralization idea or policy j j l that has been growing stronger and l i more aggressive ever since the Ret Re-t g publicans came into power declared = J to t I de-clared the negro was the equal of r 4 I 1 p the white and must be so received i f1 and regarded by railroad companies compan-ies hotel keepers and the public 1 i generally To make this declaration e I r I declara-tion was simply a taunting of I I j the negro and an insult B to the J J r whites and to attempt to carry it effect the sheerest I ii q t into practical 1 j t folly To whatever cause we may attribute itJ it is nevertheless a f J lth fact that the great masses of the I i t i American people will not yet sit at 11 iu a hotel table by the side of a negro ua nor will they if they know it occupy I a bed in a hotel that was slept in the j h night previous by a black man I t J t They will not ride in sleeping carsOn tl cars-On terms of social equality with the I 1 J I negro and in fact will not be the I Iii I companions and associates of the i n t 1 colored people The landlord who i ll I receives and welcomes negro guests I as he does whites will soon find that H his business must be confined to the i I fl i1 I colored race and no statutes can < ilt i change the matter i The negroes attempted to enforce t 5 1 the civil rights law against innkeepers I I inn-keepers and others and the result J ° is what everybody expected it would be who had faith in the Supreme r l > Courts manhood and fearlessness in i standing by the Constitution If i1 1 there is any one point in the Constitution f Consti-tution that is made clear it is that to the States is reserved the right tot I to-t ii i legislate upon matters like the one f mentioned and it is gratifying and t r assuring to feel that the supreme t tribunal has again risen above party t I l I politics so far as to be able to decide so important a matter as this without t r f t with-out the influence of the prejudice i 1 1 that has in late years manifested its if t self even on the bench f f frt The decision also settles beyond b ftt dispute another matter if any l i l t doubt existed It is that the right Ij t r I of Congress to legislate for the Territories j i pt Ter-ritories and the Districtof Colum 11 Comm r bia is supreme l i n |