The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-04
KANSAS COMNENT
THE JURY system.

] THE JURY SYSTEM
! Trlai py jury is one of the guaran-
it usually IS classed with the bulwarks
and paIladlums and sweet boops. but.
as time goes on, and the people are
ginning to question the value of those
bulwarks and palladiums, the jury sys-
TEN comes In for it's share of criticism.
| Ihe american people no longer look
with complete reverence upon an in
stitutlon merely because it was handed
down 70 them by their fathers A good
many things shat We're handed down by
those wise and admirable ancestors are
proving inadequate to this age of cleo
tricity end airships,
Time and again have protests been
voiced against the jury system, and
always there is the reply that con-
Pounds the infideI: What substitute can
you offer? The jury system is bad;
but the average man. whose life or for
1T ne is IT peril prefers to take his
chances with a jury to rIsking the de-
cision of judge who has more respect
for law than for justice.
The conviction of Mccain, at Chi
cago, is an illustration of the uncer-
tainty of a jury trial. 1t is said that
when the Jurors retired to their room
to deliberate. the first ballot showed
fine were for acquittal; the second
showed that the jury was evenly d.
Vided, six against six; then followed
other ballots, and prolonged discussion,
and finally the II good men and true
agreed that the defendant was guilty.
Now, what argument induced those
nine men, who went to the jury room
believing Mccain innocent, to swing
tround to the opposite belief, and de-
clare him guilty? No evidence was pre-
scented to them in the jury room; they
heard all the evidence in the court
room, and they were honestly con-
WINGED that Mccain was entitled to his
liberty, and the vindication of an ac-
al Gould thew switch to the OD-
posite theory honestly? Could they DO
it with a genuine realization OF the
great responsibility resting upon them!
Who shall say what sordid corsidera-
lions caused them to yield, one by one
and consent to fasten upon man. in
whose innocence they recently beheVed,
the ineffaceable stigma of a conviction!
The arguments in a jury room are
necessarily arguments of exredience.
if they are arguments at all. The dis
cussions are more likely to be in the
nature of threats, promises and per
suasions, than to be argumentatlVe.
Jurors are not usually logicians or ora
tors, ana IL the court has shown thing
to be white they are not likely to be
able to prove it black. Such cases as
that of Mccain will go far toward
lessening the already diminishing re-
spect for the jury trial.-Emporia Ca
Eetts.
THE FOOLS PATH
more men lllO t4OOOAO
foolishness than from naturally VI
cious instincts. The industrious, po-
lite, honest individual is usually NOV
ing up a little. The FOOLS path is
ever downward. The man who drinks
when he doesn't want it, or because
he thinks it smart, or to be good
is not necessarily vicious out
he is a fool He. is treading on dan
gerous ground. and the vice and mis-
cry will come in time If he follows
the path long enough. The loafer VINO
fancies the world owes him living
may not be vicious at heart, but he also
is a fool; he also will resort to vice
ord crookedness in making his coLec- |
tons of that living the world owes MN !
He is numerous in penitentiarles, Jalls'
ard poor houses. He travels the down !
ward path. The --woman who regards
virtue as its only as. we'll as its own
reward. must pe counted with the FOOLS.
She learns in time there are more
Lhorns than blossoms along the prlm,
ose path. The actual value of good
behavior is too lightly held; too little
appreciated. For it is most intrinsic
and real. The real source OF happiness;
he foundation of success; the final
proof of wisdom, without which great
knowledge comes to naught. The world
mas too many fools who believe they
ire wiser than the lesson of the ages
Atchison Globe.