The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-24

longer in this or any other matter pay
tribute to two towns. We have been
, put off again and again with promises OF
E a ''new district and, although the
southwest is Overwhelmingly for that
proposition, as our delegation well know,
nothing has ever come Of it; and the sit
uation is more irritating and inconveni-
ent than ever.
But there is one thing than can be
done; it can be done at this session of
congress-; it can be done in ten days time
if the gentlemen whom we have been
keeping in Washington year after year
simply have a mind to attend to our
wishes. If we cannot have a new court
in southern Kansas we can have and
should have without delay regular terms
of the circuit and district courts held in
Wichita for the accommodation Of south
western Kansas. Wichita has every
necessary accommodation for these
courts in the new public building here,
and there IS not a shadow Of an excuse
for refusing our demand.
Petitions for this have already gone
forward to Washington from Judges,
lawyers and business men in fifteen or
twenty different counties-some of them
among the most populous and richest
counties in the state-and all setting
forth the injustice of the present system
and demanding in unmistakable Ian
guage a change. The Bar Association Of
this city has passed earnest resolutions
on this subject, and at a meeting of the
directors of the Board of Trade on Mon
day the following brief but pointed reso-
buttons were unanimously adopted and
copies forwarded to Washington:
Whereas, The present arrangement of
the Federal courts in Kansas Cwhereby the
entire civil business of these courts is
/ transacted in two cities at the extreme
northeast corner Of the state) is inequita-
bic, unfair and Oppressively inCOnvenient
to the people in the great southern and
western portions of the state; and,
Whereas, Every consideration Of justice,
economy, public convenience and regard
for the rights of the people in this great
section of the state demand an immediate
change; therefore,
Resolved, That this board hereby earn
estly request the Kansas delegation in con-
gress, and especially Senators ingalls, and
Plumb and Hon. 5. r. Peters and Hon. B.
w. Perkins to make every possible effort
to secure, at the present session of con
gress, the passage Of a bill providing for
the holding of regular terms of the L. S.
Circuit and District courts in Wichita for
the transaction of business arising in this
section of the state.
The EAGLE begs leave to urge upon the
gentlemen at the other end of the line
that they viii do well to heed these re-
quests. The judges, business men and
lawyers who have signed these numer-
Gus petitions and framed these resolu- |
tons are thoroughly in earnest. They
feel that southwest Kansas is wronged
by the present system. They are tired, |.
very tired, Of perpetually paying tribute |.
to two cities in a remote corner Of this /
state. The little business that the dis /.
trict court does here once a year in try I
ing criminal cases from the Indian terri
tory viii come to an end with the organ /
ization of oklahoma, and the court has .
doubtless sat here for this purpose for the
last time. The value of regular sessions
of the circuit and district courts for the /
transaction of both civil and criminal .
business and the convenience to both
lawyers and business men in this whole .
section of the state viii be very great. \ /
few law firms in the northeast cor
ner of the state now reap an
immense revenue from the business which
comes to them because they live in a
neighborhood where the courts sit., and
a large part of this business legitimatelv
and properly belongs to the lawyer. all
over the state. Liugants, witnesses and
jurors are dragged hundreds OF miles
from their homes to pay revenue to the
railroads and to maintain boarding
houses and hotels in Topeka and Leaveu-
worth. Yet no one seeks 10 take any
thing from these places which fairly or
properly belongs there. But the deter
mination to have something done, and
done quickly, TO remedy the injustice Is
now apparent on every hand.
The people of southwest Kansas have
been sat upon for the last time, They
ask nothing unreasonable. They merely
demand that their legitimate requests be
attended TO; and a knowledge Of the ex-
listing situation enables Us 10 say that if
this matter Is not attended t.. and if the
gentlemen who are just now running
things in Washington still persist in al
lowing two towns in one corner Of the
state 10 levy tribute upon the entire state
for the benefit of a few political pets. the
gentlemen who refuse the remedy can
hereafter look exclusively To these politi-
cal pets for their entire political surrorr
and southwest Kansas VIII ask leave u
take care Of herself.
D-----~----
The Wichita EAGLE. unmindfuI az pra-