ANTI-RACE DISCRIMINATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 65, 17 November 1913, Page 4

ANTI-RACE DISCRIMINATION.

Ou September Ist tlioft* went into of-, 1 feet in New York State one of the I most sweeping “equal rights” or anti- I race discriiuination laws on the' l Slatnle-hooks of the several States, i * This law was aimed particularly at 1 T hotels and restaurants which have r harred their doors to Hebrews ami 1 negroes, although the Chinese and s other peoples that are unwelcome in h some public places will profit equally. I with these two* races from enforce- n incut of the law, if that proves to lie 1 e possible. Coder the old statute such t ) discrimination was a misdemeanour, t a hut a negro who was refused admis- 1 p don at a “white man’s” barber shop, I tr a Chinese who was denied the privil- y| >ges of a saloon frequented by whites, ]( was obliged to prove actual damage '0 •eceived as the result of this discrimin- 0 ilion in order to get redress in a civil iciion. ruder the new law, however,' fp he person discriminated against is, 1 a nioii proof of such discrimination, to I

receive a sum of from one hundred to j live hundred dollars trom the person that infringed tin' statute, the size of. the line to lie determined by the court : and the culprit is also to he deemed, guilty of misdemeanour, and subject-j ed to a further line oi live hundred dollars for every ollenee. or to imprisonment lor a term ol trom thirty to ninety days, or to both line and | imprisonment. What gives the law; unusual force is the prohibition ol all discriminatory advertising. It will be_ interesting to observe whether the re-! I'nsal of an hotel clerk to grant an j undesirable visitor accommodation on j the time-worn excuse that “the house is full” will be held to constitute an “indirect refusal,” and, in fact, whether a law so flatly opposed to certain strong prejudices will ho capable of enforcement. It cannot he enforced unless it is supported by a strong public opinion is yet definite enough on lie opinion, and it is questionable whether public opinion is yet definite enough on this question to reinforce so drastic a law is the opinion expressed by the New York Outlook.