The Alaska daily empire., 1914-04-30
JENNINGS LECTURES GRAND JURY HOBBY
 -s- Continued from Page one)

to them IS also contempt of court Any attempt to hamper the inyestiga- ton of alleged ofrenses by grand jury is a contempt of court that will be severely dealt with. It is your duty of each'and every one of you towards whom those influences have been di' rected to inform the court, that the offender be dealt with as by law pro vlded. If you fail of that duty, you are yourself guilty of contempt of court and if you listen to any such induce ments or representations, not only are you guilty of contempt of court, but YOU also deserve the contempt of every honest and honorable man.
 The stream of justice is not to be polluted anywhere in it's course; least of all is it to be polluted at it's fountain head-the grand jury. Our only safe ty as a society depends upon the ad' ministration of justice among our selves. Justice for all-there is not one law for the rich and another one for the poor-one for the prosperous and another for the needy.
 If the evidence submitted to you con vinces you that a crime has been com mitted and that there is reasonable ground to believe certain person committed that crime, you should in dict that person and let the matter be tried by petit jury. All matters in extenuation, all pleas for sympathy all consideration for his family, all resentment against other persons - are matters with which you have noth- ing to do. If man is charged with stealing $1O, you hear the evidence against him, and, if that evidence shows that he is probably guilty you indict him, and that man has to stand trial and make his defense-and yet he may have been in dire need when he took the money-he may have had a wife and many children depending upon him. He has no one to plead before you for him, he has no agents and friends to manufacture sentiment and exert influence.
 And so, if there comes before you the case of a man with troops of friends, with influence and power, you should look at his case in the very same light as you use when you look into the case of the $1O thief
 You are only the accusing body. Af- ter an accusation is made the accused is to have a fair trial.
 It is the boast of our civilization that it is founded on law; it is the boast of our law that for justice all places are a temple and all seasons are sum- mer, and it is the boast of justice that all men-the highest as well as the lowest-are amenable to its sanctions.
 That is not justice which accords to one man consideration greater than that which is bestowed upon another in like circumstances; that is not jus tice-that is prostitution of the laws of your country.
 It is discrimination like that which scatters abroad the seeds of discon- tent and anarchy. Every such dis. crimination speaks with a thousand tongues and adds volume to the cry that the law bears down upon the poor and unfortunate, while it winks at the transgressions of those in affuent cir cumstances. We know-you and know that the law does no such thing it is only faithless administrators of the law who do those things; and yet every such discrimination puts a dag ger in the hands of the enemies of your civilization, of your country, and of your government-and lights the torch that may blaze the way to bloody revolution.
 In every case there is but one Ques- ton before you-and that is: 'Ts 1t probable from the evidence before us that the accused has committed a crime?" If so, it is your duty to in- dict him, whether he be high or low rich or poor,-white or black-not yours to try the offender-not yours to conjure fanciful doubts. or make hair line distinctions, or draw back in hes itation because the person might pos sibly be innocent. This only is yours to say, as good citizens, as men who know the right, and knowing, dare maintain, as grand jurors of a com monwealth which you yourselves are making or your oaths, what does the evidence before us show?"