Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-09-30
Standards of Duty Are Too
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and order 1t is the duty of every clti-
zen TO vote for good men to represent
them-and to conduct public business
1t Is the duty of every court of justice
TO see that no fraud or chicanery Is al
lowed to pass unnoticed or unrebuked-
in a trial between litigants-and when
ever a professional juror frequently gets
on a jury he should be made to feel
the strong arm of the law, and his
name cut out from the jury box after
ward.
That there are men selected on 5uries
who are not to be trusted to decide &C
cording to the law and the evidence Is a
painful fact. and that they are used by
INSCRIPTIONS people TO hinder the course
of Justice is we'll known.
Let me illustrate: This story was
told me by a keen observer. During
the late primary election certain coun-
ty precinct was in doubt in a local cleo
ton. Word was passed that certain
names should go in the jury box and
certain amount of money should be
paid, if the box at that precinct was
carried for a certain local candidate.
This keen observer did not see the
money paid, but he did find the names
that had gone on the jury list as per
agreement. Now, it should be the duty
of all such keen observers to make pub
lie outcry and assist in probing for
the facts. That was a disreputable
agreement If true, and whenever courts
and iuries are purchasable we have been
struck down at a most vital point
Hon. A. H. Stephens used to say
that this republic could not fan 50
long as we had a clean judiciary and
honest jurors-but that We would fail
whenever the courts were tempered
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tecting the jury box from corruption.
1t is a well known fact that a criminal
without money gets the hard end of the
law, and that a criminal with money
enough may laugh at the halter. The
rich men who are convicted are not put
to hard work in prison camps, but the
poor wretch who committed a similar
crime will hang without mercy.
We need a higher standard of duty as
citizens and voters as honest people.
We see many crimes condoned when
the money is paid up. when a man who
has no money will occupy a cell in a
prison for the lack of the money.
The crime is the same, the offense Is
as great in one as the other, but the
result is not the same; because we are
lax in justice and common fairness. 1
heard of a lady who caught a woman
picking her pocket in a store She got
her purse back and the thief admitted
she was a confirmed offender.
Nobody took the trouble to prosecute
the thief and she went scot-free.
Now, it was somebody's duty to put
that thief out of business-it was a duty
to society-and yet nothing was done.
We know there are brazen frauds at
the ballot box. where shrewd tricksters
are in control, but we are so lazy or in
different or so disregardful of our obli-
cation as citizens that they go unwhip-
ped of justice. We are not worthy of
respect unless we lend our aid in Civ
ing due attention to abuses where life
and property are at stake. There have
been many glaring violations of law and
order, occurring every year since / have
been old enough to see and understand
them. but they are not attended TO, and
1 hear persons say, We'll, 1t isn't my
business. l don't intend to be drawn
into difficulties by reporting what 1
know"
Every patriot owes 1t to himself aud
to his fellow-men to assist in purifying
the methods by which legal business is
conducted. To sit still and allow things
to be condoned, as is too often done, is
cowardly to say the least of 1t.
have been told tliat we have In Bar
tow county, which is about 40 miles
square, $500 registered white voters. Out
of that number we have only 700 names
in the jury box, and a gentleman of
prominence tells me there are 500 up
right and intelligent men whose names
have been stricken to put in some who
are not only illterate, but manifestly
ignorant of their duty as jurors.
Jury revision is done secretly and while
there are plenty of public journals-news-
papers-there is no publication of the list
selected or any reason given why up
right men of intelligence and probity are
disallowed in these jury lists.
1 am told also that a similar condition
exists in many counties in the state, and,
therefore, we can understand why justice
Is so often defeated