The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1903-01-01
NOT A BIG THING.
Washington Press Man Arraigns
Jury System.

Is the jury such a big thing?
You can brag about thing long and
loud enough to make everybody believe
you; and for several centuries now
blow-hards have been vociferating that
it Was an epochmaking thing when
twelve men were brought together in
jury box to do justice to man. one of
their peers. The twelve men must
agree, or they are nuisance. If they
"hang" they are far r. 80 g
making thing. s,ara
!! The truth is, people take very l4slieSs
stock in "a jury. Comets are not inefe
erratic. The Lord himself doesn't
know what jury will 'sfnd." The
average jury isa puzzle and stumper
to the almighty, and omniscience isn't
in it. A prophet has to go out of busi.
ness. There is no sure telling what
jury will do. Only this: If there's a
chance to be swayed by sentiment or
prejudice, you can gamble on it the
jury will veer that way. In all such
cases, especially if there's woman in
the case, if the jury may have chance
to gush, they'll pay no sort of attention
to the charge of the judge, whose in
structions are the law In the case.
They'll go it on their own preiudices
and sympathies if there is either cor
| poration or woman in the field.
Juries are SO characterislicallv and
lnotoriously uncertain, so apt 10 be
swayed and bamboozled, that any sen.
sible man would rather try his case to
the court than have jury boggle with
it. For SO many men get into the jury
box who have no more discrimination IN
weighing evidence than gopher. They
can't see point if its showed at them
on three tined fork. They can't rea-
son. They lack judgment. They don't
think. They are simply emotional. They
know no law A shrewd lawyer can fill
their eyes with subtle dust and success
fully play on their prejudices and ex-
cite their emotions. And they bring in
the most preposterous and unjust yer.
idiots.
But try your case to the conrt--if the.
Judge is an honest man, and not a cor.
rupt scoundrel ready to take bribes,
you stand some show Of getting asensi-
Bile judgment. For the judge is a train
ed man. He is not easily mbugged
7 by partisan attorneys. He actually
knows some law. He is usually fair, and
the thought of 3 corporation does not
give him rabies or Jim jams.
It is notorious that. railway corpora
tions can't get justice at the hands of d
Jury, unless it be made up Of trained
business men. The saverage jury has
Iitin for railroads especially, and usu-
ally for all SORTS Of corporations, and
will salt 'em every time. There would
be no end to this mischief if we had no
supreme court to reverse the findings Of.
ljuries and do substantial justice. But it
| is expensive to maintain court just TO
upset and thwart the justice done by
this epoch making humbug called a
Jury twelve men huddled into box to
be blown by all the winds Of sophistry
and by all the hot air a LOT Of lawyers
can bring to bear upon them.
The jury, instead Of being the big
thing il is claimed to be, is really one Of
| 1.-THE least useful of our publicyinstitutions
land the public and the cause Of justice
would be well served byits total aboli-
/ ton, Try to courts. You'd save
time and money by doing IL. Washing
ton Press.