Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/377

 States from legalizing race distinctions, so that all public places of amusement, accommodation, and instruction would be, so far as the law could make them, open to all persons, regardless of race. Such a measure, far from effecting its purpose, would doubtless be the beginning of extensive race discriminations. Once abolish separate hotel accommodations and the white race, wherever it is in the majority, would monopolize every hotel, leaving other races either to walk the streets or to find accommodations in private houses. Were separate street car accommodations forbidden in cities where there is a fairly large percentage of Negroes, if any passenger were forced to stand or be crowded off the car altogether, it would be the Negro. Were separate schools not permitted, Negro children might possibly be excluded from schools altogether in defiance of the law; but even if admitted, their interests, if different from those of the more numerous race, would have to be sacrificed. A further review of race distinctions now legally recognized would only more fully substantiate the conclusion that, with race feeling as it is, if such distinctions were not recognized and enforced, the stronger race would naturally appropriate the best for itself and leave the weaker race to fare as it could.

On the other hand, let one imagine that the same laws recognizing race distinctions as now exist in the South obtained in all communities where two races are nearly equal in numbers. Suppose, for instance, that separate hotels were permitted in all cities which receive an appreciable number of Negro travelers. Respectable Negroes might then secure comfortable entertainment in hotels provided for their race and thus escape the inconvenience