El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-10-15
The literary Limitation placed upon

The literary limita placed upon
the voters is of the greatest import
ance, and may be called the keystone
of the solution of the problem under
consideration. It will confine to the
intelligent classes, and those better
fitted to understand the needs Of the
situation, the making of the laws and
the choosing of the officers to man
age the government. Again, such q
policy will encourage the masses to
educate their children and raise them
to the plane of self relying and self
governing people.
The Innovation proposed leaving to
the legislature to determine the trial
of causes by jury or court, is based
upon the procedure peculiar to the
civil law. which is the foundation of
the customs and laws of these people,
and in attention to the repeated
failures in Spanish-American coun-
tries to ingraft the jury trial in their
criminal codes. The people in these
Spanish republics have failed to under
stand the duties required of Juror,
and the trials under that system have
resulted invariably in the wholesale
quence has been to abandon juries in
favor of trials by the court. The
qualifications for a conscientious jury
man appear more difficult to acquire
than those for being a voter or even a
legislator. So, it appears to me, that
we must give to our new citizens Q
chance to fit themselves for that duty
before they assume it. Crimes will be
committed, order must be maintained
and justice done in the new territories
and the best way to do 80 is to con-
tinue the judicial forms as far as com,
patible with the new order of things,
to which the people have been
accustomed, and leave the door
opened to future legislatures to in
troduce this republican palladium of
liberty, when the people shall have a
acquired the proper qualifications to
discharge the duty. Someway argue
that the United States constitution
is in the way of the proposed rule. But
neither has the constitution provided
for the acquisition of foreign terrific
ry, nor is it to be supposed that those
islands shall be delivered to carnival
of crime, for such would be the result
OF the immediate introduction of our
jury system in their codes.
In the Philippine Islands the Island
OF Luzon is where the Spanish made q
successful Judgment, migrating ON the
natives their language and European
civilization, and this island NAV be
trusted with territorial government
like the one proposed for the Spanish
w 6Sb lQQ1oS.
In the other islands the Spanish set
Elements are mpsratively few,
while there are hundreds of thousands
of semi-bar barisns and of wild,
indomitable savages who have never
felt the Spanish yoke. Then again,
there are said to be two millions semi
Mohsmmedans, with their
fanaticism and determ-
ined antaRonism to European civil
izstion. All these people will never
accept our advanced ideas or our
form of government. The only
government that L can think of to
manage these ssvsges and anita
gonistic communities is military gov
ernor. we'll backed by strong army,
with full power to establish municipal
governments in such localities as in his
judgment should be deserving of it.
Beyond this the United States will
have to make a careful study of the
conditions existing before determining
how to ruleethem oyeutuailV