The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-01-24

government and making them IA
miliar with it's workings that would
know nothing of it, were they not
called to serve thereon, and they feel
greater responsibility than they
or erwise would. He favored placing
JlG decision of important matters in
ohe hands of many, rather than that
! of one person.
The discussion then took a general
character and was participated in by
Messrs. Koehler, Higgs, Currier, Cox,
Pass, Schmitt, Beattie, Young,
Plymat and others, and was an inter-
esting and instructive one.
Prof. Koehler would not have the
system abolished but thought the
jury should become more representa-
) tive of the best class of people. Mr..
Schmitt thought there were many
mistaken ideas about jury matters,
and that the papers were responsible
for the prevailing opinion that lawyers
did not want an intelligent jury.
Every lawyer wants an intelligent
jury, but does not want one that is
prejudiced.
Mr.. Young thought the newspapers
said too much about important cases,
and especially criminal cases before
they were tried. Said they should not
be allowed to do this. He spoke of
several features of the system, and
said that an important reform could
be made in changing the method of
drawing the juries. If instead of
their being drawn by the county COM
missioners, as is now the case, the
names of all the electors of town
were put into box at the annual
town meeting. and the nnnta of that
town drawn out, there would be no
possible chance of fayOritiSm and a
jury representative of the people
would be secured. In addition to this
he believed that juror should not
be eligible to sit thereon again for
three years, which would do away en-
tirely with what is known as the pro-
fessional juror. These ideas met the
approval of the members present
Mr.. Plymat touched upon several
features, but strongly objected to the
scheme of having the verdict render
ed by less than twelve good men and
| true
In closing the discussion Mr..
ComStock took the same position,
and said that to abolish the jury sys-
tenn and leave the matter to judges
oily would necessitate an entire re-
org uization of our judiciary, which
would do much to shake the confid.
alc d the people in it.
1T the close of the discussion Mr..
simpson vas invited to address the
clubaua rasp0 uded. He compliment
I I'd tie oas it's organization and
4 tue good ok it appeared to be do
/ ing ar said mat it would be better
SoT -ng aifaEe of the country were
! there mono such organizations scatter
led 1lraug - 10 study and discuss the
| problems via Oh confront US. He
looked upol the jury system as an
{ golu5l0c oil trial by combat. Then
the strongest Won, now the weakest
h ve ao ,QuaI Stow, and their rights
protected lie referred to the allu-
si1l made 81 he newspapers, and
ST &c o. tila p0Wer they were for evil
If 80 disposed, IS we'll as for good. He
haa 1ad Considerable experience with
TN ia and #as ct he opinion youcould
MOI depend upon all you saw there
in. But on the whole he had no COM
pla nj ~ make Of Them. He did not
kno but lnat be owed good deal
of HI reputation Of them, and on the
who the Buys ere a jolly set of
gOoC fellows sad he was often re-
ferred o az a poll clan but hoped he
was uct II 10 sonse that a politician
is generally known, and followed
this with Emersons definition
of a politician and a statesman.
He referred to the inventions,
and TO the development of steam
and electricity and said that
we had the power to produce every
thing which man needed for his COM
fort and enjoyment, but the one
thing lacking was it's proper distribu-
tion, SO that the producers could get
thelr just share OF the wealth they
helped create. He said that Gov.
Mckinley at Chautauqaa gather
IN Kansas last summer said the per-
petuity OF the nation lis dependent
upon IL homes, but that heforgot to
tell them that 80 per cent of our
farmers are tenants, that The ma
Jorlty OF those living in cities rent, |