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Show PRESS PARAGRAPHS. Some recent verdicts by juries have called attention at-tention afresh to the material out of which many juries vare selected. The truth is that earnest business busi-ness men fight shy on jury duty. On this subject the Boston Herald says: "Mental void seems to be a requirement for jury service now days, in order that the juror may be in a receptive mood. But what sort of verdicts can be expected from mental machinery that never worked or that is rusty from disuse ?" The Utica Press wants good juries and good judges. It tells us that "the court is the judge of the law and the jury is the judge of the fact. In order to secure exact and even-handed justice, it is necessary to have good judges and good jurors." The St. Paul Pioneer Press is sarcastic in the following: "Would it not be -well for..legislatures to provide that hereafter all juries shall be drawn from the institutions for the feeble minded? Or might not some of the dullest pupils in our primary schools be so segregated that they might forget the little they have learned;' never see a newspaper or hear an opinion on any subject; and so qualify themselves beyond all others for jury service ?" The Chicago Tribune wants the court practice amended. It says: "The Tribune believes that the tedious and over-technical administration of our courts has not a little to do with the practical business busi-ness man's reluctance to serve to juries, and it is confident that one of the benefits which would emerge from simplification would be a better type of juries." The San Francisco Chronicle thinks: "In the first place no juror ought ever to be asked whom he will or will not believe, for he does not and cannot know himself. A person fit to serve as a juror will be governed by the evidence when he hears it and sees the bearing of the witnesses on the stand. Get a good jury, present the evidence, and trust to the intelligence and honesty of the jurymen for a just verdict. That is the essence of the jury system." sys-tem." . The Picaynue of New Orleans looks forward to a time wdien it will be impossible to get juries, saying: say-ing: "It is plain if the mania for education goes on, the time will come when every person will be too well acquainted with the newspapers and too well informed on general subjects to be trusted as a member of an 'intelligent jury.' Then for what are we so crazy to educate everybody?" The Boston Globe asks : "If it be found necessary neces-sary to exclude men from juries because they are farmers, how long can the jury system last? If business busi-ness men, so called that is, city business men in distinction from country business men; that is, farmers are more necessary on a jury impaneled to try a case which lias a 'commercial phase,' it may be necessary yet to have juries made up of experts, ex-perts, something never contemplated hitherto." The Washington Post calls for more patriotism and self abrogation, and says : "We need not "wonder "won-der that men of substance and activity the very . kind most desirable for this service to the public-try public-try to shirk. The duty calls for a heavy sacrif ice now in the matter of money, now in that of health. A business man must withdraw his eye from his own affairs for weeks; this counts against him, even if his subordinates are competent and faithful. faith-ful. No eye can take the place of the master's eye." j |