The Alaska socialist., 1913-12-05
Issued by Socialist Publishing Go. at Fifth X Lacy Streets, Fairbanks, flask a Subscription Price $500 per year; $2. 50 for six months 125 for three months 50 cents for one month si ingle e copy 25 cents, payable ill advance. PUBLISHED TIE FIRST AND FIFTEENTH OF EAch AONTH.
 PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE
 WORKERS OF ALASKA
 AND ADVOCATING
 POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ACTION
THE PASSING OF THE PROFESSIONAL JURoE.
From Eair'banks Daily Times.

From Ea1rbankS Daily Times.
 Through long abuse of the authority vested ill the office of the United States marshal i'll the matter of selecting jurors for the trial of cases i'll the commission CTS court, the public has learned to look askance at jury decisions emanating from the lower court. Under the system which prevails, it is o t impossible to pack jury, provided the marshal or his deputies lend assistance, and, ill the be- lief of many Fairbanksans, such things actually have happened under former administrations. Both decisions and the names of the jurors have furnished evi- aence of questionable justice.
 Under the new regime, however, it is pleasing to Rote that there has been less cause for complaint against a system which is admittedly bad and anticipated. The names of the old fami1iars who were regarded with suspicion have disappear ed entirely fr11n the panels, and there is now a refreshing variety of names on each new jury summoned.
 The recurrence of nanles can not be avoided entirely iu town the size of Fairbanks The fees paid for jury service i'll the lower court are no inducement to business men to become jurors, and the tlumber who can conveniently serve without interfer renee with their private affairs is small at all times, so that 1t sometimes happens that one man is compelled to act more often than otherwise would be the case. Since Marshal Erwin has taken over the office however, comparatively few jurors have served more than once, and only ill one instance has jurS+ been required to act more Ehan twice.
 The present marshal and his assistants have shown disposition to deal fairly with the public, und insofar as the Times Il las been able to learn, there is no reasonable excuse for complaint at the nianner in which trial jurors are selected. Good jurors are i'll demand at all times, but with the best citizens hold ing back and the semi professional juror pushing himself forward, 1t s not sur prising that the marshal sometimes finds it difficult, if not impossible, to secure a jury entirely ptable to a critical public
 The best thing in the reading liAe we have been able to find of late is an ed itorial i'll the Fairbanks Times of Nov. g which is set forth above for the edifc- ation of our readers The Times tells us that it has evidence of corruption under q former administration i'll the matter of selecting jurors, but it does not explain why these ;riGlss ahat the Times speaks of were not exposed at tile time they happened
 It also informs us that it is still pos sible to turn the trick but that it will not be done which makes us happy.
 The Times also tells us that the fees paid for jury service ill the lower court are not at7i' aptfeesnt s, to attract business men to serve a S jurors. The assumption w e draw from the language of the Times is that the fees being more in the upper c2ur,, and the fee being the sole attract ion, 1t follows that jury duty will attract the1n with vengeance.
 HEro are our best citizens? The Times