Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-08-16
TRIAL BY Jury.

Why should any one be surprised be-
cause Secretary of War Taft made bold
in his Yale address to question the
sacredness of trial by. jury?" Mr..
Taft has eminent republican authority
for his position.
Have we forgotten that when repub.
lican president sent his instructions to
the Philippine commissioners he used
the language of tie sixth amendment
to the constitution, barring a very i'm
portant clause While in the language
of the sixth amendment he directed
that lin all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right OF speedy
and public trial" he omitted the bal
ance of the sentence, to wit: "by an i'm.
partial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been com.
mitted, which district shall have been
previously ascertained by law"
When Senator Lodge offered an
amendment to the Philippine bill ex-
tending to the inhabitants of the islands
a bill of rights, 1t was noticeable that
he had excepted the clause granting
jury trial and the right to bear arms.
That eminent republican newspaper,
the New York Tribune, referring to
Senator Lodges proposition, asked
what more can the Filipinos ask aud
what more can anybody ask for them?''
The Tribune explained that trial by
jury was denied to the Filipinos because
as it said: ut is obvious that jury
trials among people even the most ad.
vanced of whom have not the slightest
conception of Anglo Saxon jurisprud-
ence would be complete failure. In.
stead of being q guarantee of Justice
1t would amount to denial of Justice.
We guarantee the substance of the
Anglo Saxon liberty freed from forms
unsuited TO Philippine conditions"
On June L, 1904, the United States
supreme court rendered an opinion in
which the right of trial by jury figured.
The case under consideration was
a libel suit in which tie editors of a
Manila paper had been convicted after
being refused trial by jury. 1t was
another "five to four" opinion. The
majority of the court, speaking through
Justice Day, said that the government
of the Philippines has been expressly
left by the Treaty of Paris in the HANDS
of congress, and that congress because
of the incapacity of the people Of the
islands, had purposely withheld the
right of trial by jury. The court con.
filmed the conviction of the editors in
the Manila court, and held that the re-
fusal of the jury trial was correct.
Justices Harlan, Peckham, Brewer
and Fuller dIssented. In the dissent.
ing opinion Justice Harlan declared
that the decision of the majority
amounted to an amendment of the con.
stitution. He considered that a most
dangerous step, declaring that the
right of trial by jury was Fundamental
AID necessarily extends to any place con.
trolled by the United States and gives
a privilege which cannot be taken away
by any power of congress.
Ii the right OF trial by jury is so faI
from being a sacred right that we car
safely deny it to the Fillpinos then why
reed we be surprised when the right IL
seriously assailed when applied among
the people in our own immediate land;
According to the old fashioned view it
was sacred right. Mr.. Jefferson con
sldered 1.-THE only anchor ever yet i'm
agined by man by which a government
can be held to the principles of its con
stitution:" and among the complaint.
enumerated in the Declaration of In
dependence IS that King George wa,
guilty of deprlvlng us in many case.
OF the benefits of trial by jury
Commoner.