THE TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON. 357 



" All American male citizens above the age of twenty-one years, and all 

 American male half-breeds over that age, who have adopted the habits of the 

 whites, and all other male inhabitants of this Territory above that age ' who shall 

 *' have declared on oath their intentions to become citizens, at least six months 

 ^' previous to the day of election, and shall have taken an oath to support the 

 '' constitution of the United States and the organic act of this Territory, at least 

 *' six months previous .to the day of election, and who shall have resided six 

 '' months in the Territory and thirty days in the county next preceding the day 

 " of election, and none other, shall be entitled to hold office or vote at any elec- 

 *' tion in this Territory." 



This was amended by an act approved November 23, 1883, to read as above 

 with the word " male" stricken out, and thus was the political distinction of sex 

 obliterated. 



The law in regard to the qualifications of jurors reads thus : "All qualified 

 " electors shall be competent to serve as petit jurors and all qualified electors and 

 " householders shall be competent to serve as grand jurors within the county in 

 ^' which they reside and within any county or district to which such county may 

 ''^ attached for judicial purposes." 



At the spring meeting of the Board of County Commissioners the venire for 

 grand and petit jurors are made from the tax list. It is true that nothing in the 

 above compels the board to place women on either venire and it seems that cer- 

 tain influences were brought to bear to exclude them. The probable objections 

 being that jurors are already sufficiently uncertain, that impaneling women would 

 make them absolutely precarious; that men and women don't view things alike, 

 and that the lawyer would be apt while convincing one part to lose his case with 

 the other ; that woman by reason of her peculiar duties and conditions was not 

 fit to be a juror; that the association was in some cases improper, the testimony 

 unchaste, and that she would try to enforce impracticable ideas of morality. 

 These objections and many others too numerous to be known would probably 

 have had -their effect had not Judge Greene of this third judicial district notified 

 the board that he would quash any venire which did not include a fair propor- 

 tion of women. 



Judge Greene is a most excellent gentleman, an able judge, and an ardent 

 advocate of woman's rights. He proposes to give the experiment a fair trial, 

 and to that end to push its application to the furthest consistent limit; and, on 

 the principle that it is in the end best to enforce a law whether good or bad, he 

 is perfectly right, and judging from the character of the man he would do the 

 same thing if he happened to hold other views. Thus it happens that women 

 must sit on juries, at least in this district. This seems to have created a change 

 of heart on the part of some of the whilom advocates of the measure, and the 

 opposition are even now agitating for repeal. 



At best the innovation is yet an experiment. Men dread the censorious 

 tendency of woman in matters of morality, even when it cannot be emphasized 

 at the polls, and for this reason even some of those who were once in favor of 



