But such legislation,
to be of any value whatever, must be permanent. If it only
be maintained in force while one political party is in power,
and repealed when its antagonist comes in, and is to be constant
matter of political strife and sectional discussion, it is
better, in my judgment, to abandon it than to keep up an incessant,
fruitless struggle. It is like legislation to prohibit by law
the selling of liquor. I believe that it would be wise to
prohibit the sale of liquor, with the exceptions usually made
in prohibitory laws. But if we are to have in any State,
as we have had in so many States, a prohibitory law one year,
another with different provisions the next, a license law
the next, and the difficulty all the time in enforcing any
of them, it is better to give the attempt at prohibition
up and to adopt a local option, or high license, or some
other policy. In other words, it is better to have the second
best law kept permanently on the statute book than to have
the best law there half the time.
So, after Senator Hill's repealing act got through the Senate,
I announced that, so far as I was concerned, and so far as
I had the right to express the opinion of Northern Republicans,
I thought the attempt to secure the rights of the colored
people by National legislation would be abandoned until there
were a considerable change of opinion in the country, and
especially in the South, and until it had ceased to be a matter
of party strife.
Pages:
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035