At last the question narrows itself to this: Is a citizen of the United States, when denied admission to public inns, railway cars and theatres, on account of his race or color, in a condition of involuntary servitude? If he is, then he is under the immediate protection of the General Government, by virtue of the 13th Amendment; and the Civil Rights Act is clearly constitutional. If excluded from one inn, he may be from all; if from one car, why not from all? The man who depends for the preservation of his privileges upon a conductor, instead of the Constitution, is in a condition of involuntary servitude. He who depends for his rights--not upon the laws of the land, but upon a landlord, is in a condition of involuntary servitude. The framers of the 13th Amendment knew that the negro would be persecuted on account of his race and color--knew that many of the States could not be trusted to protect the rights of the colored man; and for that reason, the General Government was clothed with power to protect the colored people from all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Of what use are the declarations in the Constitution that slavery and involuntary servitude shall not exist, and that all persons born or naturalized in the United States shall be citizens--not only of the United States, but of the States in which they reside--if, behind these declarations, there is no power to act--no duty for the General Government to discharge? Notwithstanding the 13th Amendment had been adopted--notwithstanding slavery and involuntary servitude had been legally destroyed--it was found that the negro was still the helpless victim of the white man. Another amendment was needed; and all the Justices of the Supreme Court have told us why the 14th Amendment was adopted. Justice Miller, speaking for the entire court, tells us that: "In the struggle of the civil war, slavery perished, and perished as a necessity of the bitterness and force of the conflict." That: "When the armies of freedom found themselves on the soil of slavery, they could do nothing else than free the victims whose enforced servitude was the foundation of the war." He also admits that: "When hard pressed in the contest, the colored men (for they proved themselves men in that terrible crisis) offered their services, and were accepted, by thousands, to aid in suppressing the unlawful rebellion." He also informs us that: "Notwithstanding the fact that the Southern States had formerly recognized the abolition of slavery, the condition of the slave, without further protection of the Federal Government, was almost as bad as it had been before." And he declares that: