The emancipation of the working
class must be the class-conscious work
of the working class. — KARL, MARX
3LIST
ALASKA MR 15, 1913.
TO THE ALASKA SOCIALIST :
In the Fairbanks Times[of_Oct. 29th,
appears a list'of the names of^tlie Grand
and Petit Jurors,[drawn to serve at the
coming term of Court at Fairbanks, in
and for the Fourth Judicial Division of
Alaska, beginning Nov. 10th, 1913, and
it will be seen, as stated in the report,
that the great majority of both juries
are composed of Fairbanksans. The re
port also says : “the attorneys express
general satisfaction at selections made.”
I suppose the attorneys would have
been better satisfied if they themselves
had been selected jurors instead. It is
very doubtful, however, if the people of
the Fourth Division, if they amount to
anything, will feel as elated over the
Juay selected. The Jury drawn may be
composed of honest men and worthy cit
izens. I have no desire to cast any as
persion on any of them whatever, or
forecast what they may do. They may
do what their conscience dictates. My
intention is to criticise the number sel
ected from one locality to the utter dis
regard of all others. And that the city-,
to consider cases that they must cf
necessity be unfamiliar with. As it is
reasonable to suppose that in a country
such as the Fourth Division of Alaska
the only productive industry is that of
mining, that the great majority of civil
«
cases to come; before the jury will be
those involving mining rights and min
ing affairs, that those whose life has
been spent in the cities are unfamiliar
with, consequently they will be more
at the mercy of glib tongued attorneys,
hence the generol satisfaction of the
legal fraternity.
Where the majority of the jury is
composed of men having^ a practical
knowledge/_of7mining and the cases un
der consideration, -they are more in
clined to deal justly between the litig
ants and disregard the wild vaporings
of lawyers ; but when they are unfam
iliar with mining cases in ^general and
conditions under consideration they are
more apt to be_^carried away by legal
bombast.
Now let us analyze and see what the
Jury consists of that gives such general
satisfaction to;_the.Fairbanks’ attorneys.
According^ the Times, of the 23 names
of the^Grand Jurors, 16 of them are
from Fairbanks or 70 per cent. Of the
36 names that constitute the Petit Jury
27 of them are from Fairbanks or 75
per cent of the whoie mumber. That
looks like too much Johnson.
It would be interesting to know if
those names drawn out of the box was
in a fair proportion to the names put
into the box from the different voting
precincts. The method of drawing the
jurors is, to all appearances, fair and im
partial and above board. But can that
be said about the method of selecting
the names and getting them into the
box. It would be smpossible to draw
out of the box what is not put in to it. j
i
Heretofor the persons drawn as jurors !
in the Fourth Division have been fairlv
proportionate throughout the Division.
But this time Fairbanks appears to be
the only place there is any person el
igible. It is very evident from the fig-1
ures that the Jury is in no way repres
entative of the people of the different
localities, be the cause accidental or in- |
tentional. I have always been led to be
lieve that the purpose of selecting a
jury was to assist a judge in admin-1
istering justice ; and as far as possible
, to select it from all classes of eligible j
persons throughout t li-e district ; and!
make it as representative of all interests
as possible. But such is not the case
in the present instance. The jury job
is not one that the workingman desires
as the compensation is not sufficient to
attract any workingman. Yet it is very
essential that they should take a part
as jurors. And especially those who
suffer from loss of wages should be
; schooled in the intricacies of the law
i and liave.sonie say in determining what
i t means. Taws for tlieir benefit are
very meagre at best. But ^when'they sit
as jurors they have some’sav in the en
forcement of that law, however inad
•
aquate that law may be. In the present
Jury, the sliovelstiff that works in the
drift is very conspicuous by.his absence,
and that we are informed gives “general
satisfaction” to the Fairbanks attorneys.
The thing to be considered by the
wage-alive, at present, is not who made
j the laws,. but to see that [they, are en
j forced impartially against those v ho
1 have an interest in defeating, with the
aid of their political henchmen, such
laws as are on the statute books. Many
of the makeshifts of laws that we,have
would do better service than they do
I at present if ithey were strictly enforc
i ed. They have always been strictly en
j forced against^the working class. Who
j are the ones entrusted with the enforc
: ment ? Not the working m e n
but tlieir masters,
DAN MCCABE.
VAUTT, ATASRA.
I
! On the method of drawing the Grand
Jury which our correspondent takes
excdption to, we quote from AMER
! ICAN LAW/AXD PROCEDURE or
wliat is known as the common law : “A
grand jury is the grand inquest of the
j county (here/the/judicial division),
which should not only inquire into the
] general subject o f. crime, but should
keep a keen watch upon pubfic instit
utions and public officials. As a general
rule, it should consist of representative
I men, selected from the county at large.
; Blackstone says, they should be picked
from the countv at large, ‘ ‘some out of
:
every hundred (4 Bl. Com. 302.). Gener
ally the grand jury is impaneled at the 1
opening of a term of court, and is
given a few general instructions by the
judge, as to their powers and duties ; j
after which they retire t o their own ’
room,), and j proceed in a great degree j
independent o f the court. The sessions i
of the grand jury are secret. None other '■
than themselves and the witness test
ifying should be present, except the 1
prosecuting attorney, who by their con- |
sent may be admitted, into the grand i
jury room to advise them as to the law !
or to examine witnesses. He should not;
express his opinion on the evidence, |
aiul he should always retire before- they |
discuss the evidence or take a votej
(Gitcliel v. People, 146 111. 175.). The j
practice o f prosecuting attorneys i n j
entering a grand jury room without an i
invitation, and remaining there through
out the deliberations and y.oting, is a :
pernicious one. Plis presence, in itself,
may have a prejudicial effect, and re
strict freedom of discussion among the
jurors. Although^ there may be some i
conflict of opinion, it is the better rule
that any indictment discussed or voted
upon in his presence should be promptly
quashed by the court.
Of late years, proceedings before
grand juries are coming to be regarded I
as matters of form. Indictments are of
ten voted on hearsay testimony, or up- I
on formal proof at the request of the
public prosecutor. Accumulation of
business is alleged as an excuse for the I
undue haste with which cases are con
The elections i n the states do not
show up as well for the Wilson Admin
istration as it hoped for. The Democrat
party is certainly welcome to all the
comfort it can derive from the results of
the elections held on Nov. 5th.
Our local Democrats are rejoicing over
their escape from the predicament of
their Nome bretlierh. The}” are careful
not to mention the big Mogul who was
the main spoke in the wheel that enable
the Valdez convention pledges to be
carried out in the Fourth division. The
t
big Mogul was left out in the cold to
shift for himself after, it is said, receiv
ing a solemn pledge to allow him to
share in the political spoils providing he
would get off the path himself and keep
others off so that the hungry ones_could
get to the hominy pot.
Old man McGowan can easily call
himself the Democratic party of the"
Fourth Division. A glance at his vote,
as an independent Democrat for the
Territorial Legislature conveys the im
pression that he can poll more votes
running alone than if he had the Dem
ocratic party behind, which they are in
Alaska. Of course there are some demo
crats who will continue to vote for Wick
as long as lie lives whether he is a can
didate or not, all the same Andrew Jack
son.
The Republicans are such an insignif
icant quantity that they refuse to stand
up and be counted since the only repres
entative they had in the Valdez Conveu- j
tlon could not stomach Gilmore and
went over to Jennings. The G. O. P.
seems to have gone the way of Big Bill j
Taft, where none can see the pearly ;
gates of Heaven but the Supreme Court
and Bill.
—
The working class will be alive to the
!
opportunity which is presenting itself,
and will have a strong candidate but not j
of the O Connor stripe or any one that'
plays henchman for him under the guise
of being labor’s friend. It is time for j
the working class to wake up, if they j
don’t the phiiistines of Gath will be up
on them. Think of O’Connor pretending
to represent the working class and fight
ing the cause of democracy in the Val- j
dez convention. He was put u p, it is |
said, solely for the purpose of breaking j
up the labor party in Alaska. He and J
liis henchmen failed to deceive any one 1
but themselses.
- I
The Preamble Address
And
The Power And Weakness
Of Trades Unions
will be sent to anyone on receipt of
twenty five cents.
----i
sidered, but if the grand jury cannot
properly dispose of all the business upon
its docket, it should do wliat it properly
can and leave the responsibility with the j
court, to impanel an extra grand jury, j
or to discharge the prisoners awaiting1
action. The graud jury system properly
conducted, stands between the people
and unjust prosecutions ; and is the
means to investigate fraud and official
corruption.' ’
i
BLACK JUSTICE
Frank McLain Of Olness
Discovers That His Cabin
Has Been Robbed Seeks
Out Commisioner Weiss To
Get Justice, And Gets It—
“In The Neck”
Petty Thieves Enter and Steal Two
Cans of Cream—all He had in the
World, Weiss, by his Conduct, Shows
Great Contempt for Worker's Home.
Ill a slow drawling manner Frank Mc
Lain of Olness, woodchopper and Christ
ian Science student, on Wednesday,
Nov. 12th, told before Commisioner John
Dillon^ at Fairbanks how his cabin had
been broken into and two cans of cream
all he had in the world, stolen, how
lie had gone to Chatanika to swear out
a warrant for the guilty parties,
how the commissioner had told him he
would look into the matter, and, under
the pretense of looking into the matter,
fixed up with the assistance of those
who have a grudge against McLain, a
warrant charging him with being in
sane. v
Mchain, according to his ..statement
on the stand, was brought into Fair
dan ks under the impression that lie was
going to sign-'the warrant for the app
rehension of those who broke into his
cabin, but instead of the warrant being
produced for liim to sign he was thrown
into jail and told he was crazy..
It is not every day that such things
happen outside of the pages of story
books, and the manner in which some
of the witnesses testified and tried to
testify, along with what is known to
outsiders gives it the earmarks of a con
spiracy.
To be the owner of on!j- two cans of
two cans of cream is bad enough, and to
be robbed of them is certainly worse,
but to be thrown in jail and told that
HICKS WRITES FROM
TANAKA CROSSING
Oct. 25, 1913
We arrived here
24 days from Fairbanks aftei a fine trip
the only drawback being shallow water.
yon are crazy into the bargain,-if that
is not enough to drive one crazy, it is
hard to say what would. It is said that
there is another party at Olness besides
i those who appeared against Mchain,
| that has been busy circulating evil re
1 ports about him but this party works in
the background.
[To Weiss, who, besides being the hold
er of extensive productive private prop
ert\-,~is allowed to graze, not only in the
Federal bread basket, bnt also in the
i Territorial, the theft of two cans of
j cream probably seems like a light mat
! ter, and more so when it is only a work
| er’s cabin that is entered.
Let us see what the Compiled Laws of
■ Alaska say about it. We quote :
Sec. 2382. That when complaint is
made' to a magistrate of the commission
of a crime he must examine the infor
mant under oath, and reduce his state
ment to writing and cause the same to
be subscribed by him, and also take the
depositions of any witnesses that the in
formant may produce in support thereof.
Sec. 2383. That thereupon, if the
magistrate be satisfied that the crime
complained of has been committed, and
that there is probable cause to believe
that the person charged has committed
it, lie must issue a warrant of arrest.
The law docs not say that the warrant
should be issued iminadiateiy if the com
plainant is rich, and withheld if he is
poor. Commissioner Weiss should be
investigated.
Van Bibber and his partner, Cox decid
ed to prospect seme around here. Bill
Maher and his partner are living in a
cabin close by. The Episcopal Church
has a mission here, conducted by Miss
Graves, fer the benefit of the poor Indian
who, in this particular part, is a firm be
liever in the potlatch system, you to do
the potlatching. Miss Graves has keen
a big help to the people who have beep
here this }ear. G. HICKS.