school system must be general, uniform, and equally open to all, but uniformity will be secured where all schools of the same grade have the same system of government and discipline, the same branches of learning taught, and the same qualifications for admission. The court said: "In our opinion the classification of scholars on the basis of race or color, and their education in separate schools, involve questions of domestic policy which are within the legislative discretion and control, and do not amount to an exclusion of either class . . . there would be as much lawful reason for complaint by one scholar in the same school that he could not occupy the seat of another scholar therein at the same time the latter occupied it, or by scholars in different classes in the same school, that they were not placed in the same class, or by scholars in different schools, that they were not all placed in the same school, as there is that black and white children are placed in distinct classes and taught in separate schools."
In 1877, the Indiana law of 1869 was amended[103] so that the school directors might (not must) organize separate schools for the races. In case a colored school was not provided, the colored children should be allowed to attend the regular white school. When the colored child had reached a grade higher than that taught in the colored school, he must be admitted to the regular high school, and no distinction therein should be made on account of race or color. In 1882, there were only about six Negro children in a certain district, and the trustees were indicted for not establishing a separate school for them. The court[104] ruled that it was impracticable to maintain a separate school for so small a number. In 1883, a Negro
