New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-06-11
The Jury ROS.
Letter Regarding the mn Relating 10
Educated .Jurers.
WASHINGTON, ID. G.. June G. 49,

WASHINGTON, ID. c., June G, 1871.
To he Editor IF he Washington Croa'cl,:
see that a bill, reported by Mr.. Potter,
from the Judiciary Committee, and provid-
NC that no one shall. act as a juror in the
Federal courts who cannot read and write
in the English language, has passed the
House OF Representatives without n dissent
ing voice. AS L can not see any but evil
results likely to ensue upon the adoption or
such measure, deem it my duty To protest
against 1t as reactlonary, impolitic, and anti
republican.
The bill is glaringly inconsistent with the
whole policy of reconstruction, which con-
tempated investing the negro with full citi-
Zenshp. The judgment of the negro is that
African ignorance at the polls and i'm the
Jury-boN is safer than pro-slavcrv rcbclism
and kukluX scoundrcsm. Accordingly,
we now have cOlorcd voters in all the states,
and colored jurors in many of thcmr The
general results of this policy have bee
bcncticent and satisfactory. No other meas
urcs could have given peace to the South
III is very desirable that this happy settle
mcnt Of vcXed questions should remain I'M
disturbed, at least for the present. During
the present generation uncducatcd hut peace
lu black citizens must Ollsct-racc hatin" and
vindictivc white ones at elections, on iuries.
and wherever else the duties of citizenship
are to be exercised. The next generation
will see the negroes educated, and the
whites pacilicd and cured Of colorphobia, 50
that even then there will he no pressing ne
ccssity for the proposed educational G,lalli.
cation.
OF course, it is understood that the pro-
posed law is aimed especially at the Southern
negroes. Leading journalists are already
chucklin. over it as an evidence that their
huc-and-cry against Contamination " is hay
ing its effect. No one supposcs that such
a bill would have been introduced except To
pacify the anti-ncgro element. Why was
not such law thought of before, durin@
more than eighty years. operation Of the Fed
eral courts:
My experience with the courts in tho South
which has been considerable, convinccs NE
that Justice can be best secured with mixed
.iurics, even though the colorcd clement be
represented by illitcratc men. could adj
ducc many remarkable facts in support of this
opinion were it necessary. The passage Of
this bill will make white and black Radicals
feel less secure in the South. The law would
have the effect practically 10 exclude nearly
all colorcd citizens from the iurics wherever
the court rules should require jurors to he
drawn iudiscriminately from lists OF registered
voters, from which the names of illitcrates
had been cxpungcd, or to he drawn from full
lists and aitcrward excluded Tor lacking the
proposed qualification. A bill providing that
none but white citizens shall serve on Fed
eral iurics seems to me but little more Obiec-
tionablc than this at this time, for now the
whites rs n class can read and white, while
the blacks rs class,ca not In my opinion
all Southern judges and district attorneys
who seek the enforcement of the laws would
prefer that every class he fairly represented
on iurics.
The proposed qualification is arbitrary and
useless always and everywhere. In MaSsa-
chnsetts the dislranchscmcnt or disqualified
ton of illterates is useless, because the
prescribed class is too small to do any harm.
In South Carolina such n prescription oftwo-
thirds of the population would he ant-rcpub-
lcan and impoliic, Notwithstanding. the
desirablcncss Of intelligent citizenship. The
evil complained OF will cure itscfif let alone.
No race can show Il more rapid Improvement
than the negros have exhibited since cnian-
ciapatiOn.
The strongest argument for the Jury system
is that it educatcs the citizen and makes him
law-abiding by grounding him i'll the rud-
mPnts of law. Our strong American individ-
uality owes much to the fact that almost
every American citizen is liable to jury duty.
The possession of all the privileges of citizen
ship is the greatest possible incentive 10
education and labor, as the marvellous pro-
gress of the freed people demonstrates. The
policy OF reconstruction was to make the OK
slave full lledgcd citizen first, and TO educate
him up to that high standard ailerward.
ReactiOnary legislation by Congress antag-
onistic to thisisenerOus and bcnclicent policy
will directly incite the Southern States
practically to disfranchise and prescribe most
of the colored citizens by imposing education
al and property qualifications, which can be
done without violating the fifteenth amend
mcnt.
The working classes throughout the United
States are deeply interested i'll preventing any
mOvementl looking to the slightest abridgment
of universal suffrage or its incidents. In
France, Republic with mutilatcd suffrage
can only end with the Empire along with the
pleJisci,m. The ignorant and toiling masses
| throughout the civilized world are continual
ly crying out against the aggressions Of in
tellgcncc and capital. In our own country
all the opportunities and privileges OF the full
lest citizenship can hardly avail to enable Ia
Dor tostand its ground. Any inroad upon this
citizenship will prove disastrous TO the ma
TONS peace and honor.
{. T. GARLAND.