The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-04-22
Women rs Jurors.


Said Ghiet Justice Greene, of Washing
ton Territory: 81 have held twelve terms
Of Court inwhich women have served as
grand and petit jurors, and il is certainly
u fact beyond dispute that no other twelve
terms so salutary for restraint Of crime
have ever been known in this Territory"
Let the doubters and scoflers, female and
male, ponder that pregnant statement Let
them conceive it they can the Inscriptions
which would be heaped upon the political
and judicial and executive capacity Of wo-
men wherever their votes controlled the
careers of public men.
The right TO vote would suddenly work
a TRANSPORTATION in women. Doubters Of
her political capabilities and scoiierS at
her alleged weakness would vanish In.
stead of these, all public men and public
journals would bear witness to her politi.
cal intelligence and practical ability, and
would magnify the elevating influence
which she had brought into public affairs,
The world would then behold that the
whole support Of The idea Of yoman's in.
ferior capacity In politics or in anything
else was that she could not vote.
The voting people are always intelligent
and virtuous. Public men all vouch for
this If women were voting people they
would be alike intelligent and virtuous,
public men would vie with each other In
extolling the political'capacity of women
and their ascriptions would cause the
mind TO wonder how popular government
existed so long without their elevating
voices, In Washington Territory not a
peep OF doubt of the benefcence of woman
suffrage is heard from either party, but
one vies with the other in profession Of
devotion TO II.
Judge Green's statement OF the salutary
influence Of these terms ol Court Tor re.
straint Of crime, must mean that by their
indictments as grand jurors, and their ver.
diets rs petit jurors, they have made
punishment Of crime so sure and severe
AS 10 enhance the terror to evil doors
Tor only in that way can term OF
Court have a salutary influence to restrain
crime. From this may be inferred that
the females have made the inquisltions Of
grand jurics more severe, and the vcrdics
of trial juries more inevitable, and that
they are moral terror.
The opinion has been that female prose.
cutors, judges and juries would be by ma.
turc more severe on offenders OF their own
sex, having knowledge OF their true in.
wardness. No statistics are yet gathered
TO confirm this. II they are also more
stern to male offenders, It Is justifable by
the oppression they have endured from
man through the centuries. There must
be fine sense Of righteous retribution IN
thus sitting in judgment upon him aud
getting even with the whole male gender.
II this severity Of female grand and
petit jurors is because Of higher moral
sense, the interesting question arises
whether this Is the female nature, or
whether II is because they have been kept
in domestic seclusion. II the FIRST the
conclusion is unavoidable that public
affairs should be placed In their hands cx.
clusively. No excuse can he fOr debasing
the higher morals by mixing In lower
degree. If the second, then the conclu.
sion is unavoidable that with her emanci.
patton from domestic scclusion, her higher
moral sense will be blunted, and that In
the same friction as man she will be no
better than man. And then this would
react on the family circle, and thus all
would sink iogether.-[cincih9pti Com.
mercial Gazette. Gr. AZ .u