Taleswomen In South Dakota

If straws show the way the wind blows, the action of the court of divorce in Brookings, S. D., whereby a jurywas made up of six men and six women is the inaugural of the peaceful revolution in American jurisprudence. To any one familiar with the jury practice of modern oourts the innovation will be welcomed by all believers in judicial reform. The jury is one of the few ancient institutions which have not progressed with society and civilization. Driginally it was the greatest bulwark of a man 's safety. He was entitled to De tried by 1 2 of his peers and neighDors, by the men who knew Mm and could therefore the best judge of his character and his motive. There was at :he same time in those olden days a ma;rons' jury for special occasions and emergencies. With the process of the years, chalenges for favor, challenges for technical reasons, challenges without any reaaons, were allowed in ever increasing numbers. At the same time exempting .aws were passed whereby the most in;elligent men were free from all jury duty. Soldiers and sailors, lawyers and clergymen, physicians and dentists, public officials and newspaper men, firemen and even militianien were excluded from tlie jury list. It is obvious at a glance that this set of practices on the one side and laws on the other resulted in bringing the ignorant and worthless into abnormal prominence in the jury box. Worse than this was the practice, which has grown steadily throughout the United States, of excludiug everybody who betrays any intelligence, who has f ormed any opinión or who has read the papers and seen any notice of the litigation in their columns. The consequence is a disgrace to the administration of justice. In great lawsuits like those of Tweed and of Beecher 1, 000 jurymen were drawn and really tried bef ore the necessary 12 couldbe secured. In numberless cases you have jurymen who never read the newspapers, who do not know the name of the governor, president orthe mayor, whocannot read and write, and who are frequently but one remove from the poorhouse or the asylum. The action of the South Dakota court in basing its jury upon intelligence and 6electing the rnenibers equally from the two sexes, in order to better undërstand and judge upon the merits and demerits of the husband and wife, is a progressive action which cannot be too highly praised or its momentons consequences