The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-30
nIITERACY AND IGNORANCE
THE JURY IN THE COOPER
CASE.

The people Of the North do no UNI
derstand the difference between litter
acy and ignorance. They think the
terms are synonymous. AS q matter
of fact they are very different as all
who live in an agricultural State
know. In the big cities the illiterate
man is Ignorant: in North Carolina
and Tennessee the man who is not
educated in the books is not ignorant.
There are hundreds of men in rural
districts OF the country. who had no
school advantages when they We're
boys, but who are better post ! n pol
tiles and in their rights under tae law
than some men who are learned n the
books. The late Hon. Joseph J DAVIS.
Associate Justice of the lrFeElc
Court, explained the reason Ny the
man in the South or most in the a:ri-
cultural districts were Otter. oettcr
qualified for political service h the
Northern man who can read and wife,
by saying that the southern man VINO
had not armed to read and write had
been accustomed from bOyhOod -tg
hear political debates between paCtV
leaders. h debates in the South
that have always been an important
part of the political education in the
South are virtually unknown in the
North. There heyaoccasionally have
a great bate between a Lincoln and
q Douglas, but the general debate b3-
tween loca! candidates on the hustings
is confined almost wholly to States
~ /, oro no Ur;o,,lf.r 10 ,,nn11lo tino pra.>
dominates. These debates. often bril-
liant and quite as often Of the rough
and tumble type that interested and
instructed all classes. drew all the peo-
pie for an all-day outing, and inter-.
change of views. The unlettered mar
could vote ana he was sometimes bet
ter posted than his better educated
neighbor. for he depended for his in
struction and information upon hear
ing While the educated masa paid less
heed to the debate depending as much
| upon reading as hearing. Ip the
South the a who never went to
school is often as Well posted on the
principles Of ordinary court cases AS
the man of good education, sometimes
better. It is their habit and has
been for generations to go to court to
hear the judges charge to. the grand
jury. Dur judges have been men OF
practical sense and they have almost
always eXDOunded the law so plainly
that a child could understand all about
the crimes of larceny, assault AID bat
terry, manslaughter, murder. THESE
charges, while made specifically to the
grand jury. are heard usually by Il
crowded court room, Inc many inlet
tered men have. thereby obtained a
knowledge of legal procedure that
would stump the educated mar who
did not make a practise Of hearing the
charge to the grand jury. Our Su-
perior Court judges are the most i'm
p~ortant teachers of the grown-up PEG.
pie who attend court. and it is be-
the men who were denied good
educational advantages have learned
SO much from attending court and i'm
bibed the Old-fashioned reverence for
the sanctity Of an oath and believe so
firmly in administering justice with
out fear or favor that they render yer.
diets that are sound and just.
When. after weeks Of effort IN Sc
curing a jury in the case to try the
Coopers for the murder of Carmack
the news was flashed over the wires
that a majority Of the jury were eithe,
illiterate men or had not read the pa
pers- containing the Carmack editorials
or the ecoun of the shooting. the
Northern. papers all jumped to the
conclusion that an illiterate jury was
necessarily an ignorant iuryAand tba
the Coopers would escape the punish
fnent they merited. ON Souther.
; papers tooktthe same view, and. other:
! feared that the political machine II
! control of the faction that opposed