Valdez daily prospector., 1917-03-13
LARGE ATTENDANCE
 AT MASS MEETING
COMMITTEE OF FIVE NAMED
Will Submit Data to Department of Justice and Protest Against Court Removal- Seward Has Already Forwarded Protest.

The mass meeting held in Moose
 Hall last evening to protest against the moving of the seat of the district court from here to Anchorage, was largely attended. much interest being manifested by the townspeople in the matter, even the ladies turning out in numbers. President Merritt of the Chamber of Commerce. opened the meeting,
 giving a brief statement of the object Iof the gathering and called upon those present to express their views.
 Attorney John Lyons made very spirited talk. He announced he was against the proposition as every other resident of Valdez was and should be- He declared the movement to trans fer the seat of the court from Valdez to Anchorage originated with town
 site boomers at the latter place. The
 town, he said, was populOus now be
 cause of the railroad construction work going on in that vicinity, bu.
 what it's future would be neither we nor the people of Anchorage could tell. The town was shut off from the outside except by a long overland trip several months each year, and to move the court there would seriously hamper judicial action. To move the court at this time to Anchorage, he lSli hn frn
 town and upon the entire judicial di- vision. He ridiculed the contention of the administration that the farm ing communities along the railroad would furnish large population. One or two farmers in the vicinity of the town or the larger mining camps might make a living by disposing of their prices to these camps at the good prices which usually prevail. but fifty
 farmers. he said, would flood the limited market and the farmers would starve to death. even if they could raise anything. which was extremely doubtful. He further declared that
 Valdez was in the center of the dis tricts and the natural resources so far developed. Prince William Sound and the Copper River Valley afforded at this time the greatest known re- sources. What might later be devel- oped along the line of the government railroad was problematical, and the moving of the seat of the court at this time would be absurd and most unjust not only to the people of the town but to the people of the whole judicial division. His address was en- Enthusiastically applauded.
 w. N. Cuddy. of the Valdez Mer- cantile Company. was the next speak Ter. He believed that speedy action should be taken to head off the pro posed removal. He believed that Val dez was the logical point for court headquarters at this time, and that they should not be removed until it had been demonstrated that the re- moval to Anchorage or some other town would benefit the people to . greater extent than at present. He suggested that the chair appoint committee to draw up a strong pro test to the Department of Justice against the removal and furnishing the department with a statement of facts upon this point.
 E. B. Wheat of Blum & Co.,. spoke in favor of appointing committee to secure and compile the necessary data and made a motion to this effect. The motion was carried and the chair ap- pointed Messrs. Cuddy, Wheat, Mar tin, Ritchie and Dimond to carry out the will of the meeting.
 MT. Ritchie stated that having been appointed upon this committee he would suggest that Seward and Cor dova be enlisted in the fight to re- tain the seat of court here. He be- lieved that both of these towns would willingly join with Valdez in her ef- forts to prevent the removal at this time. as both were aspirants for the honors which Anchorage was now seeking, when the time should be ripe to make such a proposition, and if the court was moved at this time to Anchorage their chance would be gone for many years. MT. Ritchie insisted that the removal of the court to An chorage at this time would be de- cided detIiment to the entire division.