CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



217 



.-merits, nml public conveyances, is that of 

 proprietors, and as they aluno can know 

 what iniuuto arrangements their business re- 

 quires, tin- discretion ns to the particular ac- 

 commodation to be given to the guest, tho 

 !i T, ami tin- visitor, is quite wide. But as 

 !ipliiyim-nt thoe proprietors have selected 

 lunches tiio public, tho law demands that the 

 amodation shall bo good and suitable, and 

 this lull tulils to that requirement the condition 

 that no person shall, in the regulation of these 

 employments, bo discriminated against merely 

 ;se he is an American or an Irishman, a 

 ( .i-rman or a colored man. 



" I have called attention to inns, places of 

 amusements, and public conveyances, separate- 

 ly from schools, institutions of learning and 

 benevolence, and cemeteries, supported in 

 \vholo or in part by general taxation, because 

 the condition of the existence of the former, 

 to wit, inns, places of amusements, and public 

 conveyances, differs from that of the latter, to 

 wit, schools, institutions of benevolence, and 

 cemeteries. I assume that no one can question 

 that schools, institutions of learning and benevo- 

 lence, and cemeteries, which are supported by 

 the taxation of all, should be subject to tho 

 equal use of all. Subjecting to taxation is a 

 guarantee of the right to use. Even as to these 

 institutions, which are the fruit of taxation, 

 the bill does not disturb the established law, 

 statute or common, or tho discretion of their 

 managers, except so far as the one or the other, 

 in violation of the fundamental principles of 

 oar Government, discriminates against some 

 one under our jurisdiction because of his blood, 

 because of his complexion, or because of the 

 cruel wrong of slavery which he may have 

 suffered. 



"Uniform discrimination may be made in 

 schools and institutions of learning and benevo- 

 lence on account of age, sex, morals, prepara- 

 tory qualifications, health, and the like. But 

 tho son of the poorest Irishman in the land, 

 who has sought our shores to better the condi- 

 tion of his offspring, shall have as good a place 

 in our schools as the scion of the chief man of 

 the parish. The old blind Italian, who comes 

 otherwise within the regulations of an asylum 

 for the blind supported by taxation, shall have 

 as good a right to its relief as if he were an 

 American born. 



" There is but one idea in the bill, and that 

 is, the equality of races before the law. 



" The inquiry may arise whether this bill ad- 

 mits of the classification of races in the com- 

 mon-school system ; that is, having one school 

 for white and another for colored children. 

 That subject has been discussed somewhat in 

 the courts. In a case in 24 Iowa Reports, 

 page 267, it was directly considered. There 

 the court held that 



The constitution and statutes in force effectuating 

 it provide for the education of all the youths of the 

 State, without distinction of color; and the board 

 of directors have uo discretionary power to require 



colored children to attend separate school. They 

 may c.xcn'Uc u ijiiit'riii <li*> mtive uj>on 



all, as to the residence or qualification f <-hiMn n to 

 t-ntitlo them to admission to each particular school, 

 l.ut they cannot deny a youth admiiuion to any par- 

 ticular school, because of his color, nationality, reli- 

 gion, or the like. 



"Tho law of Iowa goes further than the la*r 

 proposed in this bill. Here there is no prohi- 

 bition as to a discrimination on account of re- 

 ligion or of morals. It does not say that all 

 youths shall have this right. The only prohibi- 

 tion in this bill is one which prevents discrimi- 

 nation on account of race. The same subject 

 was considered in the case of The State on the 

 relation of Games . McCann and others, in 

 21 Ohio Reports, page 198. There the court 

 held : 



That the act authorizing such classification on tho 

 basis of color does not contravene the constitution 

 of the State, nor the fourteenth amendment of the 

 Constitution of the United States, and that colored 

 children residing in either of the districts for white 

 children, are not. as of right, entitled to admission 

 Into the schools for white children. 



" The constitution and laws of Iowa provide 

 for the ' education of all tho youths of the State 

 without distinction of color.' In Ohio the 

 statute expressly provided for separate schools 

 for white and colored children. Therefore the 

 decisions of those courts afford no precedent 

 for the construction of this bill when enacted. 

 The language of this bill secures full and equal 

 privileges in the schools, subject to laws which 

 do not discriminate as to color. 



" The bill provides that full and equal privi- 

 leges shall be enjoyed by all persons in public 

 schools supported by taxation, subject only to 

 the limitation established by law, applicable 

 alike to citizens of every race and color, and re- 

 gardless of previous servitude. 



" The bill does not permit the exclusion of 

 one from a public school on account of his 

 nationality alone. 



" The object of the bill is to destroy, not to 

 recognize, the distinctions of race. 



u When in a school-district there are two 

 schools, and the white children choose to go 

 to one and the colored to the other, there is 

 nothing in this bill that prevents their doing 

 so. 



" And this bill being a law, such a voluntary 

 division would not in any way invalidate an 

 assessment for taxes to support such schools. 



" And let me say that, from statements made 

 to me by colored Representatives in the other 

 House, I believe that this voluntary division 

 into separate schools would often be the solu- 

 tion of difficulty in communities where there 

 still lingers a prejudice against a colored boy, 

 not because ho is ignorant, or untidy, or im- 

 moral, but because of his blood. 



" It is claimed that the enactment of the bill 

 would be in violation of the Constitution, be- 

 cause the regulation of inns, public conveyances, 

 and places of amusement, common schools, in- 

 stitutions of learning and benevolence, and cem- 



