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rOUR THE NEWBERRY SUN FRIDAY, ^31^; i *, 1043 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA O F. ARMFIELD Editor and Publisher Published Every Friday In The Year Entered a* second-class matter December «, 1937, at tht postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SPECTATOR Trial by jury comes to us from England. Or, it was brought from England by the colonists who regard ed themselves as merely transplant ed subjects of the Kin', and entitled to all the rights, privileges and im munities of the British Constitution. The 7th Amendment to the Federal Constitution is one of the ten adopt ed in 1790 and known as our Federal Bill of Rights. The Amendment it self is an addition, of course, to the Constitution and was made a part of it. It reads: “In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial bv jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.” Men have won certain privileges by dint of perseverance over long periods and they have had to main tain those privileges at enormous cost. We observe that the language leads us back along the road of his tory: the right of trial by jury, it says. It has been pointed out that in chancery or equity this “right” does not apply. Applications for an in junction are heard by the Judge; so are applications for a writ of Spe cific Performance. There is a great difference between those two. An injunction may rest on a lot of facts, especially a permanent injunction. A temporary injunction may prevent irretrievable loss until the issues are threshed out. Specific performance rests on a record, though either side may undertake to prove by an agreed statement of fact that the original ag.cement could not be carried out as contemplated because the facts will not permit. This 7th Amendment is supposed to apply only to suits in Federal Courts. A suit at common law is an ordinary suit to recover money or property. Strangely enough it is said that there is no common law for Federal Courts. The Common law is the law of England, compound ed of old charters, customs and statutes, the law in principle as of the time of the settlements in this country, or beforr our independence. The overwhelming importance of the right of trial by jury is attested by the conclusive result of a jury verdict: No fact tried by a jury can be overruled by any court of the United States. Again, this applies to Federal Courts. An authority points out that this does not limit the power of a State, and cities the workmen’s compensa tion Act, which is not a trial at all, but a hearing previously agreed on. If we go deeply into the philosophy of law we might challenge that. How ever, the assumption is that the em ployers and the employees have agreed to certain rules and rates in certain cases, for their mutual ad vantage. The sixth Amendment guarantees a jury trial in Criminal 'prosecutions, the jury 1 to be of the same State and district wherein the crime was com mitted. Section 2 of Article 3 pro vides: "the trial of all crimes, except in cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.” All this is for Federal juris diction. Let us look brifely at the State Constitution: No person may be tried, except by indictment or pre sentment of a Grand Jury if the pun ishment would exceed $100 or 30 days. Article 1, Section 17. Again in section 18 the accused is guaranteed an impartial jury. Fur ther, in section 25 “The right of trial by jury shall be preserved inviolate.’’ In article 5, section 22, “All persons charged with an offense shall have the right to demand and obtain a trial by jury.” Then follows the re quirement of six jurors for magis trates and municipal courts; the petit jury in the Circuit courts shall consist of twelve men (it says men) though the Grand Jury shall consist of eighteen members. Each juror must be a qualified elector, between 21 and 65 years, and of good moral character. It is worthy of notice that in our State courts “Judges shall not charge juries in respect to facts, but shall declare the law”. It is not so in British Courts, nor in our Federal Courts. Perhaps we should fare better if our judges might review and discuss the evidence. Our State Constitution declares that in prosecu tions for libel the jury shall be judge of both the law and the facts. Sec tion 21, article 1. It is a British tradition that the evidence in a criminal case must prove conclusively the guilt of the ac cused Neither the Federal nor State Constitution, however, says anything about it, as I recall. This is a great principle of our jurisprudence, but seems to have escaped the framers of the supreme law. It is said that the French assume the guilt of the accused and he must vindicate him self. Our city courts seem to work on that idea. In our courts, State and Federal, again clinging to British tradition, t\, accused is tried, acquitted or found guilty on the evidence adduced at the trial. This iq so basic that I wonder that no mention of it is made in either the Federal or State Con stitution. The oath administered to a juror covers this, but I recall no Statute or Constitutional provision for it. It appears to be an instance of custom having the force of law. Says the oath: “You shall well and truly try and true deliverance make between the State of South Carolina and the prisoner at the bar, and a true verdict bring according to the evidence, so help you God”. Where did we acquire the institu tion called the jury—both Grand and Petit? This jury institution which was so much a part of our life that the denial of it was one of the counts in the indictment against the King of England, as seen in the Declara tion of Independence: “For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury”. This may . be an exhausting study, but it has not the merit nor the pre tension of being exhaustive. Singularly enough, I who now come from Clarendon, go back to Assizes and the Constitution of 'Clarendon, in the reign of Henry the Second of England, to seek an early point in our jury practice. Justice used to be bought and sold; men used to be arrested at the whim of the King—and others—and other wise ill-treated. The Judge was en tirely arbitrary Henry the Second instituted a regular jury service, but it was somewhat different. It was more like a combined Grand Jury and Petit Jury. It was a body of men who acted on their knowledge, rather than on the evidence. They infoimed the Court. The Grand Jury, by the way, was like the eye of the King; it presented matters to the Court; it looked about to see that violations of law were report ed to the King’s Courts. We are in grave danger in our Federal Courts of substituting “an information” for a presentment or an indictment by the Grand Jury. When the Sheriff of Anderson County was arrested, it was on “an information”, not by any act by the Grand Jury. The practice is growing in the Federal Courts and should be squelched now before it be comes a law by custom superseding the Constitution. The Jury trial was also the first step in what is spoken of as the equal protection of the law—meaning that all men stood as equals before the bar of justice; and that all are amenable to the law in equal degree. There is no more democratic prin ciple than that of our jury trial. The jury is a group of twelve (or six) people of our neighborhood, of our County ,and of nearby counties, in Federal Courts. It is a basic partici pation in government and should be seriously accepted by all citizens, for nothing touches a man so intimately as the loss of his liberty and the de fense of his name and rights. Citizens who dodge jury serivce are doing a large part to create and maintain rings and injustice If your liberty and property are worth so much to you the other man’s are to him. Think what it means, that a man is entitled to a trial before his peers, his own neighbors and fellow citi zens. The O.P.A. Commission in Washington I regard as a gross vio lation of our Constitutional rights, clearly contravening the Constitu tional guarantee of trial by your nei ghbors We carry on great political cam paigns for members of the Legisla ture; and we scan the papers to see if they have increased the taxes. If they add enough mills to the levy to increase our tax burden $5000 we raise a hue and cry. That is, the av erage man raises a storm about an increase of $50; but the Corporation whose payments increase $50000 feel happy and acquiescent because it wasn’t $100,000 A petit jury, how ever, can assess you $50,000 or $100,- 000 on a mere trivial cause of ac tion. This great power; this splendid feature of our democratic govern ment, is becoming more oppressive than old King John of England. The jury verdict for damages is a power we must regulate in the interest of justice. It is the first principle of English and American jurisprudence that justice shall not be bought or sold, or become oppressive. We must develop a discriminating sense of justice and make our Courts the in struments of evenhanded, equally- balanced justice. One measure to bring that about would be to allow the State judges to charge on the facts. To appreciate the value of the jury we must throw ourselves in imagination to the years of royal | power, class discrimination and jud- ' icial abuses Trial by jury guaranteed a hearing before one’s neighbors, be fore the rank and file of the citizen ry; and to preserve this inviolate, you observe that the jury’s finding of fact remains beyond the power of the court, unless the court sets aside the verdict; b^t no judge may set aside a verdict which declares a man not guilty. It has been suggested that we do away with juries and rely on the judges. If men of intelligence and character and property shirk jury service it might be as well to do awnv with the jury system; but, while our courts in South Carolina, both Federal and State, would probably be above reproach, we cannot forget that our late President’s appoint ments to the Supreme Court, and that court’s effort to use its au thority to propogate a social philoso phy, have cost the Courts much of the confidence and respect which a court should constantly strive to de serve Very properly the special concern is to protect the individual from op pression by arbitrary Executive Act; it is timely to ponder whether So ciety may not need protection from arbitrary Executive Acts, whick thwart the processes of justice. LIKE THE REST OF US (Charlotte Observer) Those writers and publicists who profess to see something disturbing in the failure of discharged soldiers to flock in droves to take advantage of the educational provisions of the G. I .Bill of Rights should pause in their worrying long enough to take a good look at statistics on the aver age educational attainments of the American people. The men in the army are a cross section of the people. It should not be expected, therefore, that they should be any more enthusiastic about going to school than civilians in the same age groups. Of all the men drafted at the age of 18, according to the American average, 94.5 per cent had completed all the schooling they ever intended to take. Of those drafted at 21, 95.5 per cent had not planned to go to school any longer. And among the group drafted at 22 or older practically all considered their education finished. Most of the men so far discharged have been in the older age groups who either were through with school before they were drafted, or, having already lost two or three years, are anxious to get into business or in dustry and have no desire to go back in the same classes with youngsters who will seem like infants. Moreover, it should be remembered that they have been through experi ences that have matured them far be yond their years. School and college activities that are highly important to young students seem trivial and even silly to men who have been eye witnesses to a civilization in mortal travail. The prospect of returning to class es with their carefree kid brothers and sisters does not appeal to them. It is to be expected, therefore, that the percentage going back to school will be even lower than the national average for their age groups. And that is very low. It is one of our worse national weaknesses that the American people on the whole do not yearn for education for living as well a s for making a living. kill p«w*r un4« tMiwai ’ Svrnu «f Standards, U. S. Poof, i: of Commarc* SpacMtofiofu, Try 1), '■[ JV"-"" m -Ski. §21 m EDDIES AM OFFICER IN THE U.S.NAW NOW AND IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUR NAVY CON TINUE TO BREAK THE WORLD'S FIREPOWER. RECORDS, buv MORE WAR SONOS 0. 0. 1 reasury Jethro Allen’s Magic Lantern and Dramatic Revue was the only show ever to visit our little backwoods town. I don’t think he ever made much there biit he didn’t loose much. As a showman he travelled light. Jethro wore a debry and a walrus mustache and a coat which was too short. He moved about town with a string of small boys at his heels. As I sa^y the great showman com ing toward my father’s store I dart ed from behind a counter to be sure and get near enough to touch him. After a few words with my father and as he went out I timidly put out my finger and touched his coat. I let the Other boys smell my finger. Jethro Allen’s show consisted of magic lantern slides, or scenes, of the Flight from Egypt, and a closing niece called “Over The River Char lie.” - The first few years Jethro showed in our town he travelled with a run of the mill woman but one year when I was just ten he blew into town and paraded the streets with the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen in a dress of out of one. She was the only woman I had seen up to that time and for many years afterward who painted her lips. She wore a black net dress and her ample pro portions bulged in expected and un expected places. Mrs. Jethro played and pumped the organ in the show and sang “Shall We Gather At The River.” Seated on a little stool she overflow ed its dimensions and bucked and sang. Her bosom white and glisten ing and checkered behind the net dress rose and fell and seemed badly in need of a brasier. I heard my mother say she believed to her soul that the woman was stark naked un- I der that net. Maybe she was but I was willing to meet her at the river. I tell you a truth when I tell you I was romantic even at 10.’ Jethro intoned the story of each of the seven plagues as the scenes flashed on the screen. The vibration from the organ gave the pictures a jumpy effect and the Hebrew child ren seemed to be tripping along on hot ashes. The wind seemed to be always blowing in those old time lantern slides and Moses’ long whisk ers flowed back on either side of his neck as he and his followers plodded on toward the Promised Land. After Jethro had exhausted the plagues and his buxom mate had all the audience ready to jump in the river backward (provided she went first), came the piece de resistance. I was too ’young or too ignorant to appreciate the full beauty of this piece of drama. I only remember that a fellow was in bed and after much talking and scrambling about the stage, another fellow whacked him across the belly with what ap peared to be a two by four scantling. The bed ridden one would then yell “Over The River Charlie” and the audience would laugh and laugh. I laughed too, and dapped and shouted ‘Over The River Charlie.”* For six months after Jethro had moved on “Over The River Charlie” was a phrase to double us up with laughter, big and little, young and old alike. I decided that year that I must have a show like Jethro’s. I even took the name of- Jethro, much to the amusement of my older brothers who were more worldly. They had been to Columbia. . We fed our cow cotton seed meal and though the sacks were a bit smelly they' were ample for a tent and a curtain. The star of the play was a boy called G°hler and I chang ed the title a bit to fit him It was now “Over The River Gobler.” A couple of other cronies were to make with the business on the stage while I directed from the wings. Rehersals went well and with half dozen kids (brothers and sisters of the director and cast) we went into production. The stage boys scampered about Gobler who lay stretched out on an orange box and one of them let him have it on the belly. I‘had prompted him to yell “Over The River Gobler” when he was hit but not a sound came from the prostrate Gobler. Hit him again I yelled. By this time the second stage man had gotten into position and he let Gobler have it in the pit of his stomach with his fist. Yet only a moan escaped the lips of the star. I moved over and saw an uneasy look on his face but before I could speak he jumped up holding his belly and streaked spraddle-legged for home. Gobler had eaten too many green apples. He had the “gripes.” Mrs. E. W. Gayle (Carrie Lee Mc- Swain) a nd twin daughters, Agnes and Sally, have moved from Charles ton to Newberry and are now mak ing their home a t 1724 Harper St., in the J. R. Green apartments. Lieut. Gayle has left for the west coast to report for duty. Miss Eloise Boozer left last week fo Polkton, N. C. after spending the summer vacation at her home in Prosperity. Miss Boozer will again be a member of the high school fac ulty where she will teach mathma- tics and science. HELP WANTED ^MACHINE*OPERATORS 1 Apply HALLMARK MFC. CO. 319 Caldwell St, Newberry, S. C. CARD OF THANKS I just want to thank you for the splendid vote you gave me last Tuesday. I will try to the best ot my ability to make for you the best Alderman our Ward has ever had. To those who did not vote for me, I want you to know that I still count you my friends, no one can expect to get all the votes. It at any time I can be of any help to you, please do not hesitate to call on me. Again, thanking you one and all. CECIL KINARD The best suit you can buy is your Best Buy. —and . . . you’ll never be better dressed for almost any occasion than you can be in a welbmade, becomingly tailored Suit (of your own choice of color and type) such as you can now find at Carpenters P. S.—Of course we have the matching and contrasting Accessories to make it a perfect outfit. 4 i I