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 were again refused. Before the schools were opened for the session of 1908-09, many of the Negroes were visited and induced to send their children to the four Negro schools built in Alton. But forty other Negroes filed a petition for a writ of mandamus against the mayor and council of Alton seeking to have them answer why they refused to obey the mandate of the Supreme Court of the State.[100]

A statute[101] of Indiana of 1869 required the trustees of schools to organize separate but equal schools for Negroes. If there were not enough Negroes in the district for a school, two or more districts might be consolidated for that purpose. If there were not enough within a reasonable distance, then the trustees might provide such other means of education of colored children as would employ their proportion of the school fund to the best advantage. A case[102] testing the constitutionality of this law, which arose in 1874, is one of the most exhaustive cases on the subject. The father of Negro children applied for a mandate to compel the admission of them to white schools. The court held that the separation of the races in schools is not in violation of the Federal or the State Constitution. The common schools, it was said, are based upon State legislation, are domestic institutions, and, as such, subject to the exclusive control of the constituted authorities of the State. The Federal Constitution does not provide for any general system of education to be conducted and controlled by the national government, nor does it vest in Congress any power to exercise a general or special supervision over the State on the subject of education. Under the Constitution of Indiana the common