Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1908 — COLOR LINE CONSTITUTIONAL [ARTICLE]

COLOR LINE CONSTITUTIONAL

go Declared by the National Supreme Court In the Case of Berea \ College. Washington. Nov. 10.—In deciding the case of Berea college versus the state of Kentucky favorable to the state the supreme court held that the states of the Union may, constitutionally legislate to prevent the coeducation of the white and blaek races. The case was begun to test the validity of the Kentucky law of 1904 prohibiting white and negro children from attending the same schools. The higher state court took the position that the races naturally are antagonistic and that the enforced separation of the children of the two Is nee. essary for the preservation of peace. The opinion of the supreme court was handed down by Justice Brewer and affirmed the finding of the Kentucky circuit court and the court of appeals. Justices Harlan and Day dissented. Justice Harlan in hts opinion said that if the majority opinion is right “then a state may mak« It a crime for white and colored ixsons to frequent the same market places at the same time, or appear in an assemblage of citizens convened to consider questions of a public or political nature In which all citizens, without regard to race, are equally Interested.” He declared the Kentucky statute “Inconsistent with the great principle of the equality of cltiene before the law.”