The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-18
Mixed JurieS.


has displaced from public attention
the twins of Why is Tariff?" and
Designs for Easter Gowns" Com
munity civic center discussions,
lodge night. Good of the Order
Debates" and similar public forum
machinery are devoted now to the
question of whether the national
jury system must not be reformed
now that women sit in official
judgment.
Editorial comment of the news
papers throughout the country con-
tain suggestions to meet the prob
lem. Locking up for AZ hours at
st. Paul of a jury of seven women
and FIVE men forced the subject
into the public eye. On top of this
came the locking up of a jury of
six men and six women at Tren-
ton, n. J.
The natural and initial sugges-
ton was that the problem be solv-
ed by providing retiring rooms for
the jurors of each sex, the men to
be guarded by male bailiffs and the
women by members of their own
sex. This received general ap-
proval. Now comes the suggestion
from eminent members of the bar
that this action on occasions di-
vides the jury into hostile camps
and increases mistrials The rem
edy, according to the editorial COM
ment, seems to remain unsuggest-
ed.
THE storm aroused at st. Paul
he Of hn
says the Jersey Journal, "fs so
| great that Governor Preus of Min
nesota has declared that never
| through such an ordeal. And not
only in Minnesota, but in every
state where mixed juries are drawn
bands who will echo the Minnesota
| bands who will lecho the Minnesota
! governors sentiments. That the
! fight of women for absolute equal
i ity of rights with men has, by rea-
son of these jury experiences, re
/ ceived a decided setback must be
admitted. The locking up over
night of iuries composed of both
men and women is a matter bound
| 10 lead to resentment wherever at
| tempted. When equality of rights
! brings about such a state of af-
fairs. then, as one irate St. Paul
husband declared, the end of duty
as good citizens is reached" Here
is matter that calls for prompt
action by the bar associations OF
! the several states"
The editor of the New York
| Tribune. however, hardly considers
/ the matter as bad as all that. He
: asks just why the women should
not have been locked up in one
room and the men in another, and
then adds:
! There is no serious question
why a mixed jury should not OPP
crate satisfa ctorily No presidents
will have to be established and the
jury system is not so perfect that
! it cannot be improved with a few
changes. The ends of justice need
not necessarily be defeated if a
new method is introduced to bridge
lover the night hours on a protraCt-
ed case"
Jury duty may not be agreeable
for men" says the Pittsburgh Ga.
zette Times. though it is a par
of citizenship that cannot be avoid
ed. The character of the case &c
be heard may make it especially
disagreeable for women. So long
as women are called. certainly the
court should exercise some discre-
tion as to whether the case is such
as a mixed jury should hear II
the laws are such as to threaten
repetition of situations like that in
Minnesota. either the laws should
be changed or women should with
draw from liability to jury serv-
ice"
If we are to have women jur-
les, and their records so far seem
to indicate that they make good
Ones" says the Fort Wayne Und. J
iNews-Sentinel, "by all means lei
them sit on juries by themselves OF
yet them sit only in such cases as
do not involve morality and do moi
necessitate the adducing of evil
dence of filthy nature. Mixed
juries under any other circum-
stances cannot but contribute fur
Their to the removal from about
women the robes of virtue with
| which good men mentally invest
them"
Since the demands for equality
in jury service are inexOrable in q
state which DEGREES the abolition
of political discrimination between
the sexes says the ST. Louis Post
Il Dispatch. the only remedy for such
grievances as those recently suffer
ed in st. Paul seems to be to ap-
peal again to science to show uE
how we may have men and womeI
jurors together, and still have then
apart and how. for the repose O
her more taciturn sisters, a quack
ing juroress may be made quack
less"