The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-10


form. Every iuryman In this city should re-
oeive at least two dollars a day promptly
paid. Even a wealthy man likes to receive
enough to pay for his lunch on such ocoa.
sions; and TO the majority of Jurors this fee
would sensibly diminish their loss, and conse-
quently their sense of hardship. But, after all,
1t would not amount to half the daily earnings
of decent mechanic, and would be ridiculous,
considered as an inducement, to prosperous
tradesman.
The principal reason, as far as we can Judge
why business men object to jury duty is that
1t takes them away from business for long
time at once, upon short notice, and with an
entire disregard of their convenience, or even
of their necessities. In short, the system is a
cast-iron one, and cannot be accommodated to
the wants of individual men. Thus, friend
of ours commenced term of service at the
Circuit Court, expecting to go through with it;
but suddenly finding himself defrauded to a
large amount by parties who had run off west
ward, he was obliged to leave instantly in pur-
suit, and did not return until the Court had
adjourned Shortly afterwards he was CALLED
upon to pay fine of $25 for every day of his
absence. Naturally he felt that this was prac-
tically unjust, however difficult it might have
been to frame rule to meet this case So one
class of men can easily spare couple of weeks
out of January, who could not afford to lose
two hours in May while another class could
spare the time in May better than in any other
month; and yet another class could well afford
to lose one day in each of six consecutive
months, who would be almost ruined by leav-
ing their business for fortnight consecutively,
at any season Of the year.
Why should not the law be so framed and
administered as to accommodate all these
classes Let it be understood, for example,
that juryman is required to serve FIVE days
in a year, which is quite as much as should be
srn1 o.,A 4InA h ~.
suit himself on receiving a summons. Juror
No. l concludes to serve his FIVE days at once
No. 2 has leisure time in February, and pre-
fers to clear himself for two years by serving
ten days in that month. No. prefers to
serve in instalments, and is set down for the
first Monday of each month, from January to
May. No. a is set down at his request for the
third Monday of the same months. No. 5
takes the second Thursdays of October to
March. Each would receive a certificate, set
ting forth the time appointed for his service,
and this would be checked from day to day by
the clerk until the whole period was filled up,
when the certificate would be completed by a
formal discharge of the Juror for one, two, or
three years, as the case might be. 1t would
not be advisable to allow a Juror to exempt
himself for longer period than three years.
Of course, it would not be possible to meet
precisely all the preferences of each juryman.
An excessive number might choose to serve in
particular month, or on particular days OF
the week. As soon as a full supply was
secured for one day, the remaining jurymen
must, of course, select some other day. But
allowing for all possible drawbacks, we think
the plan we have suggested would work bene-
ficially. 1t would increase the labors of some
officers of the courts; but that is a matter
easily provided for. The public convenience,
and the improvement of the administration of
justice, are the chief things to be considered
The convenience of jurymen being thus con-
suited, and their pay increased, the fines i'm
posed for non-attendance should be strictly
enforced; and the officer empowered to collect
them should be held to full accountability
for such collection. All the business connected
with juries should be put in charge of single
Office, and the term fees now collected by the
sheriff (by what authority no one knows)
should go to the officer in charge, to be paid tC
the county.
We do not pretend to have covered all the
details of this subject, as they would require
more time and space than we can bestow upoI
them; but we believe that general plan il
here marked out, by which great and highly
desirable reform may be accomplished.