The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1922-08-03
COMMENTS OF PRESS
ON NEW JURY LAW

The news reports of incidents of 9
recent criminal case, involving the SER
vice of six women on a jury here,
aroused statewide comment of the
press. Discussing the new women's
jury law, the Oregon City Enterprise
said:
"In Hood River case has gone to
trial involving a statutory offense
against girl under 16. According to
law, the jury must contain at least six
women. 1t took the Hood River coun-
ty officials day and half to secure
the six women required by the statute,
and the final swearing in of jury was
accompanied by the statement of the
officials of the sheriff s Office that they
had to fall back upon the busy house
wife. Club women were universally
ready with glib excuses, they declared,
and shirked service on the juries.
Jury duty, under any condition, is
far from desirable from a personal
standpoint. And the more serious the
case the more odious the duty be-
comes. But such service devolves up
on citizenship and should not be
shirked by the women any more than
by the men upon whom the law makes
it compulsory.
"In the fight waged over the nation
for the right to exercise the elective
! franchise, there was much discussion
of the assumption of the duties which
the ballot brought with it. There is
no plausible argument against woman
suffrage. But the women themselves
should not jeopardize their position by
attempting, upon the grounds of sex
discrimination which they decried, to
absolve themselves from responsible
ties, admittedly often far from pleas
ant.
'The matter of Sinking of citizen
ship duties brings into the field the
entire condition throughout the coun-
try, affecting both the men and the
women alike. The lethargy which is
exhibited IN the exercise of the ballot
ing privilege, is a serious menace to
the proper operation of the govern
mental system of the nation. How
many of those who fail to take serious
ly their duty to vote, would remain ST.
lent if their franchise were even tenn
porarily suspended?
"The casting of a we'll deliberated
ballot, interest in public affairs, SER
vice in the administration of Justice,
are part of the machinery of the state
with which the individual is necessari-
ly intimately connected. There are
cases where extenuating circumstances
render such service impractical; but
the finding of petty excuses for relief
from such duty is incompatible with
the best interests of a republic. II
the right to be a factor in the coun-
try's administration is worth preserv-
ing, it is worth the discharge of its at
tendsnt responsibilities.
The following is a comment from
The Dalles Chronicle:
''The editor of the Hood River Gla-
cier voices our ideas on the subject ex-
actly IN hissobservations last week on
the present jury service law for wom-
en- in this state. The statute is clum-
sy. impractical and expensive, as ex-
pensive an enactment as was ever
placed on the code books of Oregon.
IF a woman is entitled to jury SER |
vice, she should be made to handle ex-
actly the same cases and under the |
same conditions as male jurors, with |
Difference of course, to the purely per-
sonsl facts Of the difference in sex and |
the understood requirements thereto.