The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1878-03-28
Protecting Emigrants.

Protecting Emigrants.
Hon. w. T. Jewett, an old and re-
spected citizen of Sedgwick county,
Kansas, wants to know if it is crime
to be caught in the public places of
Kansas City distributing in quiet
sheet describing the lands, minerals,
climate, markets, towns, public inn
provements and other attractions OF
his county. There is very little rail
road land in that county and no great
corporation is pouring emigrants in
to it. But its people concluded that
many Of the excursion parties carried
by the railroads to other sections of
the State might return dissatisfied
with the railroad land showed to
them, and might be retained in Kan
sas if made acquainted with the at
fractions of the country around Wich-
tia. They therefore sent Mr.. Jewett
here, duly accredited as their Emil
grant Agent, and provided with a
printed sheet descriptive of their
county, and giving statistics of its
population, wealth, products, etc. AS
soon as he arrived and began opera
tons, however, he was warned that if
he was caught delivering that sheet
to any person about the Union Depot,
be would be arrested under the fol-
lowing ordinance, which is printed
and conspicuously displayed there
about:
BE 1t ordained, ETC.:
SECRIoN /. 1t shall be unlawful for
any person in the depot or on the de-
pot platform or upon any walk con-
nected with any depot platform OF any
railroad passenger depot in the City
of Kansas to solicit or carry out for
passengers or baggage for any hotel,
railroad. steamboat, Inn, boarding
house or other public places, or for
the carriage of such person or bag
gage in any dray, wagon, cart, hack +,
hackney, carriage, omnibus, cab or
carriage or other vehicle.
SEC. 2. Any person violating this
ordinance shall be deemed guilty OF q
| misdemeanor.
OF course such an arrest as Mr..
Jewett was threatened with under
this ordinance would be an outrage
which would not be tolerated, even if
any policeman could be found willing
to perpetrate it. The ordinance pro-
| hibits something different from the
| harmless and proper work in which
| Mr. Jewett is engaged.
But we understand that the rail-
| roads take the position that Mr.. jew
ett's business is an Infringement of
| their private rights, that the depot
| premises belong to them, and that
| thew have the right to estop him from
| using those premises to divert to 9TH
err sections Of the State the immigrants
they are gathering up and bringing
to Kansas to settle on their lands.
How far this position is correct, and
| how they propose to enforce the right
| they claim, we are not advised; but it
| is no probable that there has been or
is likely to be any special legislation
| enacted for that purpose; and 1t is
| probable that, if Mr., Jewett is dis
| posed to stand up for his legal rights
in the matter, they will find it rather
difficult TO restrain him from handing
his sheet to any one in the depot who
is willing to accept it.-Ransas CITY
| Times.
The Times is right in condemning
any action on the part of the railroad
companies in trying to prevent Mr..
Jewett from distributing printed in
formation, in the form of a newspa-
per, of the lower Arkansas Valley and
while the railroads are entitled to the
greater part of the immigration Tor
IL . en- ,.ch ha. rls ,,
transportation and induce great
many of them to come to Kansas, yet
hundreds of people are coming 10
Kansas through other agencies than
those devised by railroad companies
and it is certainly, to say the feast,
hogish in the extreme for them not
to accord to us the right of circulat-
ing few cheap circulars. If they
have as fine lands as they claim to
have, and are offering them at such
uncommon low prices, we cannot i'm
inc why they object to other locali-
ties doing a little blowing, even on
their grounds, and we should think
the Atchisou, Topeka & Santa Fe
company would be too broad gagged
to raise all objection, for every settler
that comes 10 this valley adds to her
wealth and prosperity. We hope
they will consider the matter well be-
fore they take ANY decisive action to-
wards choking our man Jewett off.