OKLAHOMA:
THE
FOBiy-S
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»KLAHOMA, “the Land of
Now,” (embracing Okla
homa and Indian Terri
tories), entered the union
as a state on November 15
with a population of about
1,500,000. The government
censis (four districts missing) shows a
population of 1,408,000. In addition to
the persons residing in the four miss
ing districts, a number of Indians not
reached by the census takers are be
lieved to have been omitted from the
government census total.
The Indian is passing out of the
7Ife of Oklahoma into its history. But
he is still as much in evidence in
Oklahoma as the negro is in a number
of northern states. Records believed
to be ultra-conservative show that the
new state of Oklahoma contains 72,
000 Indians. Only about 10,000 of
these, however, are more than three
quarter blood. The wild Indians of
Oklahoma exist only in history. The
redman of the present is adjusting
himself to the white man’s civiliza
tion.
“Oklahoma” is a Comanche Indian
word, signifying the “Land of the Fair
God.” Surely the fair god could not
select a more comfortable place for a
home. For instance, everything good
to eat which that distinguished per
sonage might desire is obtainable
from Oklahoma soil. Upon a single
Oklahoma farm can be seen growing
simultaneously the products that
grow in all the states from Maine to
California. Corn and cotton thrive
aide by side.
Amazing Natural Resources.
Within its borders Oklahoma is
known to have vast stretches of coal
lands; natural gas, also, is abundant,
while the state's resources in salt, as
phalt, oil, granite and marble, building
stone, zinc, lead, copper, gold and tim
ber, place it among the most desirable
sections of the country for investors.
Eighteen years ago this great new
state was a cattle range and Indian
hunting ground.
The first rush into Oklahoma was
on Monday, April 22, 1889. On the
morning of that day Oklahoma City,
the present metropolis of the state,
then known as Oklahoma Station,
consisted of half a dozen small build
ings, the Santa Fe station, section
Lieutenant governor, George Bellamy,
of El Reno; secretary of state, ‘‘Bill”
Cross, of Oklahoma- City* whose
friends say he would not. .be recog
nized it referred to as “William
Cross:” treasurer, J. B. Menefee, of
Anadarka; attorney general, Charles
West, of Enid, and chairman of the
commissioners of corporations, J. J.
McAlister.
The state in primaries has selected
to represent her in the senate the first
blind man who has ever sat in that
body. He is T. P. Gore, who lost his
sight when a boy in Mississippi,
where he was born. He has served in
the territorial legislature. Robert
Lee Owen, who will be elected as the
other senator, is a totally different
type. Born in Virginia, he is one
eighth Cherokee Indian, and is looked
upon as an extreme conservative. He
distinguished himself as a lawyer by
earning a fee of $150,000 in a single
case. Both these men have been
chosen by the Democratic primaries,
which is equivalent to their election
by the legislature. Of the representa
tives Bird S. McGuire, Arr some years
territorial delegate from Oklahoma, in
congress, is the only Republican of
the five elected. Others are E. L. Ful
ton, a brother of Senator Fulton, of
Oregon, Second district; James S.
Davenport, Third district;. Charles D.
Carter, Fourth district, rand Scott
Fairns, Fifth district.
Metropolis of New State.
The largest city on the Oklahoma
side is Oklahoma City, with a popula
tion of 30,000 and 40 miles of asphalt
pavements. Muskogee, in the Indian
Territory has a population of 25,000,
which represents a growth from 3,500
people in 1900. The new state will
have 700 banks, of which 275 are na
tional. the latter with deposits of $50,
000,000; 23 cottonseed oil mills, more
than a hundred flour mills, 50 daily
papers and more than 400 issued
weekly.
Oklahoma alone had in 1906 86,908
families, of which more than 60,000
owned their homes, and of these 50,
000 were free from mortgages. The
average price for Oklahoma land in
1906 was $18.25 per acre, an increase
of $3.25 from the previous year. The
new state has thousands of acres of
l unappropriated public domain, coal
PROMINENT MEN OF NEW STATE.
\
President of Constitutional
Convention.
Governor,
house, United States quartermaster's
house, stage office, and a small build
ing used as a hotel. Between noon
and sunset of that day Oklahoma Sta
tion became a town of 5,000 people.
Within a month 1,169 buildings, many
of them ugly, temporary affairs, were
erected.
And so Oklahoma City has contin
ued to grow until it now claims a pop
ulation of 45,000, modern schools edu
cating 9,484 children this year, as
against 7,375 last year; buildings (in
cluding ten-story skyscrapers) aggre
gating in value $15,000,000; banks
having an aggregate capital and sur
plus of $1,060,834, and deposits aggre
gating $6,549,000; post office receipts
in 1906 aggregating $141,509, and
freight tonnage into and out of Okla
homa City in 1906, 1,228,246,902 tons.
Factories are springing up. Oklahoma
City this year has 2,347 factory em
ployes, a gain of 531 over last year;
and 1,176 jobbing house employes, a
gain of 230 for the year.
State Is Democratic.
Oklahoma will probably be Demo
cratic in politics for some time to
come. The governor-elect, C. M. Has
kell, of Muskogee, received a majority
of 27,000 votes. The state will cast
approximately 250,000 votes, of which
number from 10,000 to 15,000 are by
negro voters. The majority for pro
hibition was about 20,000. Of the 12
Republicans in the constitutional con
vention six came from each side of the
new state.
Gov. Haskell is one of the newer
residents of the state, having gone
there from Ohio. Other officers are:
lands of wonderful capacity, oil wells,
asphalt beds of great worth, and all
of these practically undeveloped, to
say nothing of the vastness of her op
portunities to the tiller of the soil.
The story of the rise of two dozen
other Oklahoma cities with popula
tions exceeding 10,000 is almost
synonymous with that of the rise of
the metropolis. Such cities as Guth
rie (the state capital), with 25,000
population; Tulsa (in the center of
the oil fields), with 20,000 population;
Muskogee, Ardmore, Lawton, Shaw
nee, Enid, South McAlester, Vinita
and El Reno are battling enthusiasti
cally for commercial supremacy, and
present indications are that all these
cities will grow and prosper, §ach
supported mainly by those farm ldnds
for which it is the natural 'outlaf® to
market. The casual reader may won
der how so many large cities can be
supported by mere farms. The fact
is that Oklahoma has 250,000 farms,
most of them worked by their owners,
for hundreds of thousands of Ameri
cans have invested their small sav
ings in Oklahoma land and are getting
rich with the state by tilling the soil.
Six out of every ten farmers in Okla
homa own their own homes. Most of
them live upon the land them home
steaded. Landlords are rare in OUa
homa.
Drawn from All States.
Probably not more than 200,000 of
Oklahoma’s 1,500,000 residents are na
tive Oklahomans. This new state is
not typical of any particular section
of the United States so far as its pop
illation Is concerned any more than It
is as far as its agricultural products
are concerned. Northerners, south
erners, easterners and westerners
mingle harmoniously there, all grow
ing prosperous together. Every state
in the union is represented by at least
500 natives.
A substantial evidence of the intel
lectual worth of Oklahomans generally
is the number of modern dally news
papers which they support. Further
more, they have good schools, libra
ries and churches.
Oklahoma has a modern public
school system supported by the in
come from a $35,000,000 public school
fund and local taxation. The “35,000,
000 fund” consists of 3,100,875 acres
of land, valued at $30,000,000, the in
come from the rental of which
amounts to about $600,000 per year;
and $5,000,000 paid into the school
fund by Indian Territory in lieu of
land, all of the 3,100,875 acres being
in the former Oklahoma territory.
The original act opening Oklahoma
territory to settlement reserved in
all that section of the territory then
thrown open sections 16 and 36 in
every township for the benefit of the
public schools of the future state.
Each successive act provided for simi
lar reservations and the statehood en
abling act made additional grants to
the higher educational institutions, re
sulting in the big total above named.
The state will decide whether the
school lands shall be sold. All pro
ceeds from sale of the school lands
must be turned into the school fund
and forever remain intact.
Fine State University.
The head of the public school sys
tem of Oklahoma is the state univer
sity, located at Norman, open to fe
r
earner*. These plants Include flour
mills, oil mills, cotton gins, broom
factories, brick and tile works, salt
works, cement factories, woodenware
and carriage works.
Oil Fields Are Rich.
Some of the richest oil fields in
America are in Oklahoma. The Glenn
Pool oil district, south of Tulsa, be
tween Red Fork and Mounds, has be
tween 450 and 500 producing oil wells,
with a total capacity of 100,000 bar
rels a day. The first of these wells
was sunk in December, 1905. Pipe
lines have been constructed for the
transportation of this oil to the Texas
seaboard and to the refineries at Whit
ing, Jnd. More than 110,000,000 has
been invested in tanks, pumping sta
tions, and pipe lines in Tulsa county.
Eastern Oklahoma, which is not so
uniformly even as the western portion
of the state, produces more than
3,000,000 tons of coal a year, for
which its mines receive about $6,000,
000. The coal field extends from the
vicinity of Tulsa on the north to the
Texas line on the south, and is more
than 100 miles broad. The state con
tains about 150 coal mines, employing
about 10,000 operators.
The principal rivers of Oklahoma,
all of which flow toward the south
east, are, naming them from north to
south, Arkansas, Salt Fork, Cimarron,
North Canadian, South Canadian,
Wachita and Red.
The government acquired what is
now Oklahoma more than a century
ago under the terms of the Louisiana
Purchase. Early in the century the
government set this land apart for
the segregation of the various Indian
tribes, then being driven west by the
advance of white settlers. Hence,
w'hile Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Ne
1
male as well as male students, and
comprising a college of arts and sci
ences, a school of medicine, a school
of applied science, a school of pharm
acy, a school of mines, a school of fine
arts, and a preparatory school. The
campus, consisting of 60 acres, lies at
a slight elevation, overlooking the
South Canadian river. University
hall was built five years ago at a cost
of $70,000. Science hall is a new
building, 63 by 125 feet, of gray
pressed brick. The university is also
provided with a library building given
by Andrew Carnegie, and a gymnasi
um, 55 by 100 feet. There are four
other buildings, two of wood, devoted
to engineering work, and two devoted
to the anatomical laboratory.
The other advanced public educa
tional institutions of Oklahoma are an
agricultural and mechanical college,
three state normal schools, a univer
sity preparatory school, a colored
agricultural and normal university,
and a school at Chilocco, on a reser
vation containing 8,900 acres of agri
cultural land, for the education of In
dian boys and girls in the higher
branches of learning.
Color Line Drawn.
The supervision of instruction is
vested in a board of education, of
which the state superintendent of pub
lic instruction is president and the
governor, secretary of state and at
torney general are members ex-officio.
A color line is drawn on negroes in
Oklahoma, separate schools being pro
vided for negro children, but with the
same accommodations as the schools
for white children. Education is com
pulsory.
The Chilocco Indian school is one
of the most interesting educational in
stitutions in Oklahoma. About 3,000
of its 8,960 acres are in cultivation,
the rest being in meadow or pasture
land. This school has 700 to 800 stu
dents. 70 instructors, more than 40
buildings, and is known as the best
institution in the Indian service for
imparting practical agricultural
knowledge to Indians. In addition to
agriculture, stock raising, dairying,
etc., all other lines of industry are
taught at Chilocco.
Oklahoma has more than 1,200
manufacturing plants, representing in
vestments aggregating $25,000,000,
and giving employment to 10,000 wage
FACTS ABOUT OKLAHOMA.
Oklahoma is larger in area than Indiana and Ohio combined.
Oklahoma will be the twenty-third state in the union in point of
population.
Oklahoma has 5,500 miles of railroads, 700 banks and 50 daily news
papers.
Oklahoma's metropolis, Oklahoma City, has forty miles of asphalt
pavements.
Oklahoma's constitution is the biggest in the union, being made up
of sixty thousand words.
State wide prohibition is provided in the constitution.
The “initiative and referendum” are in the state constitution and
extend also to municipalities.
Oklahoma has 24,669 full blooded Indians and 50,670 part Indians.
Many of them are highly civilized.
Oklahoma is a "corn state,” raising 150,000,000 bushels last year.
braska, Colorado and other Louisiana
Purchase states were being populated,
Oklahoma remained for 80 years a
wild Indian camping ground.
Passing of the Indian.
As recently as 35 years ago the
American people generally knew of
Oklahoma only as a haunt of Indians
and a hunting ground for big game.
Early in the eighties white settlers,
who had overrun Kansas and the new
middle west states, began to investi
gate Oklahoma. They found the new
territory rich and appealed to the
government for the opening of it to
settlement. The government did not
readily act upon the request, and
many of these whites, becoming impa
tient, entered the reservation forcibly
and set up their homes. They were
driven out, but repeatedly renewed
their efforts, and many clashes with
soldiers occurred.
But these pioneers, then looked
upon by the government as outlaws,
finally persuaded congress to open
Oklahoma to settlement. Hence, the
names of these same "outlaws” have
been immortalized in Oklahoma his
tory.
At the time of the opening all of
Oklahoma, except that portion taken
from Texas in the Greer county bound
ary dispute and the narrow strip be
tween Kansas and Texas, extending
to the Colorado and New Mexico lines,
was included in the Indian Territory.
Oklahoma territory, which was held
by the government for the use of the
Indians, but had never been assigned
to any tribe, consequently consisted
in those days of only about 2,000,000
acres. There occurred the first great
rush for homes, which brought Into
existence Oklahoma City. From time
to time the government transferred
other portions of land from the Indian
Territory to Oklahoma territory for
settlement by whites, until, when the
Oklahoma-Indian Territory statehood
bill passed, all that remained of In
dian Territory were the reservations
of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Chero
kee, Creek, Seminole and Quapaw
tribes.
Above Sea Level.
The mean height of land above sea
level, according to the most scientific
geographers, is 2,500 feet. The mean
depth of the ocean is 12,480 feet.
FAVOR CENTRAL BANK
Financiers Believe That a Strong Cen
tral Institution Would Solve Pres
ent Money Crisis.
Washington, Nov.—Details of many
new projects for improving the cur
rency arc being submitted to the presi
dent and Secretary Cortelyou. and are
receiving such attentions as the other
exigencies of the financial situation
permit. Measures which are being
discussed among bankers and mem
bers of Congress may be roughly
groupedunder four heads: A central
bank of issue; a central organization
of the existing national banks; the
issue of additional circulation against
various classes of bonds other than
United States bonds; and the issue of
circulation upon general assets with
the security of a guaranty fund. The
project of a central bank based upon
the general outlines of the Bank of
France or the Imperial Bank of Ger
many, has apparently been attracting
more attention of late than at any pre
vious time in recent years.
Senator Hansbrough of North Dako
ta, who is a member of the Finance
Committee, has announced that he will
introduce a bill for such an institution.
Mr. Wexler, vice president of the
Whitney Central National Bank of
New Orleans is openly in favor of a
central Bank and says the New Or
leans press is generally with
him. Those who favor a central bank
point to t-e recent crisis as the best
evidence of the aid which it could
have afforded had it been in opera
tion.
Their view is that the national banks
would have been able to re-discount
their paper at such an institution and
obtain its notes to any amount neces
sary to relieve the strain. It is con
sidered somewhat significant in some
quarters that Mr. Ridgely, the control
ler of the currency, had just declared
for a central bank of issue after having
in previous reports recommended only
a general credit currency for the exist
ing banks. The utterances of Mr.
Ridgely are not, however, considered
to commit the administration.
It is so long since a central bank
existed or was even seriously discuss
ed in the United States that there :
much difference of opinion as to the
details of the organization. Those who
advocate it generally insist, however,
that the secretary of the treasury and
the comptroller of the currency should
be ex-officio members of the Board
of Directors and that the president
should appoint or approve the selection
of the head of the bank.
Teachers Needed.
Washington, Nov.—The Bureau of
Insular Affairs has received a cable
gram from the governor general of
the Philippine Islands indicating that
probably 300 teachers will be required
at the beginning of the next school
year, which opens in .Inne. These
teachers will be selected from among
those passing either the "teacher” or
“assistant” examinations, which are
held semi-annually by the United
States Civil Service Commission. The
“assistant" examination is a higher
grade than that for teacher, and ap
peals more to those having the benefit
of college or university training. Spe
cial examinations will be given during
the Christmas holidays. This exami
nation will be open to the wives,
fiances or other women who are near
relatives of those already in the ser
vice or candidates for positions as
teachers. The age limits are 20 and 40
years. The bulk of the appointments
will be made at the entrance salary
of $1,200.
Fifteen Billions.
Washington, Nov.—Fifteen billions
of dollars represent the value of the
annual production of manufacturers in
the United States. After careful es
timates made by experts Col. John
McCarson chief of the Bureau of Man
ufacturers, was able to make this
statement in the annual report of the
operations of his bureau, made pub
lic Saturday. The figures do not rep
resent finished products entirely, but
Include products in various stages of
progress. The exports of cotton cloths
declined more than $21,000,000, this
loss being entirely in the cotton trade
with China.
New Mexico Favors Canal..
Chicago, Nov.—“With New Mexico
admitted to the Union as a state by
itself, the project of a ship canal from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico
will be advanced by the votes of its
United States senators and congress
men,” declared Governor Curry of
New Mexico. The governor, who is re
turning from Washington, left for the
Southwest. “Statehood for New Mex
ico seems a very near fact,” he said.
“I am assured that President Roose
velt favors our coming into the Union.
The chief obstacle is the opposition of
Speaker Cannon, who, I am told,
thwarted onr desires last winter.”
Shot Two.
Kansas City, Nov.—No charge has
yet been preferred against General R.
C. Horne, the stockholder and editor
ial writer of the Kansas City Post,
who Saturday shot and wounded O. D.
Woodward, president of the Post Com
pany, and H. J. Groves, managing edi
tor of the paper. General Horne is be
ing held at the police matron’s office
of the city hall, awaiting the outcome
of the injuries suffered by his victims.
Women as Well as Wien Are
Miserable by Kidney ami'
bladder Trouble.
Kidney trouble preys upon then,- ,
discourages and lessens ambition • 1
--MSU *-s vigor and cheerio
ness soon disan*1"
when the kidneS
5f“i" «£
that it is not unci ”
™on for a child U U
_ born afflicted j!
—=““ weak kidneys if a
child urinates toooften, if the urine vYu
the flesh, or if, when the child reached
age when it should be able to controhi?1
passage, it is yet afflicted with bed
ting, depend upon it, the cause of theriiffi
culty is kidney trouble, and the fi
step should be towards the treatment n
these important organs. This unpleasant
trouble is due to a diseased condition „
the kidneys and bladder and not to°
habit as most people suppose. a
Women as well as men are made miser
able with kidney and bladder trouble
and both need the same great remedy’
The mild and the inimediate effect of
Swamp-Root is soon realized. It issou
by druggists, in fifty- f&P'' U
cent and one-dollari
size bottles. You may |
have a sample bottle
by mail free, also a Home or sriuup-Ro*
pamphlet telling all about Swamp-Root
including many of the thousands of testi'
momal letters received from sufferers
cured. In writing Dr. Kilmer & Co
Binghamton, N. Y., be sure and mention
this paper. Don’t make any mistake
but remember the name, Swamp-Root’
Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root, and the ad
dress, Binghamton, N. Y., on every
bottle. 7
Ingenious, But Unavailing.
Wilton, the flve-year-old son of
Lackaye, the actor, has inherited the
brilliant mind for which his father is
distinguished.
Not long ago Mr. and Mrs. Lackaye,
who spent the summer at Shelter
Island Heights, were invited to attend
a card party and the young son was
anxious to accompany them.
His mother insisted that he should
remain at home with Mary, his gov
erness, but Wilton persisted and as a
final argument he said:
“Mamma, I think Mary is a Chris
tian Scientist, and I might be taken
sick in the night.”
The argument was not effective.
Where Others Failed.
“Each spring for five or six years I
broke out with a kind of Eczema
which nothing seemed to relieve per
manently. Finally I tried a box of
Hunt’s Cure, which promptly cured
me. Two years have passed by, but
the trouble has not returned."
Mrs. Kate Howard,
Little Rock, Ark.
He Was Grateful.
David, a boy of four, was being
taught to express thanks when the
occasion demanded. When he neg
lected to do so the other members of
the family would ask: "What do you
say, David?” which would always
bring forth the desired results. One
evening recently David and the young
man who is to marry his sister were
sitting on the front porch.
“Well, David,” said the young man,
“I guess I'll marry Sue and take her
away. What do you say?”
“Thank you,” returned the boy po
litely. __
Don't Do It.
Should you have a cough, cold or
sore chest, do not rely on time and na
ture to cure. They may do so—they
may not. Use Simmons' Cough Syrup.
It is a balm for sore lungs and will
cure you at once.
Slow Growth of Oyster.
When an oyster is a fortnight old
It is not much larger than the bead
of a pin. At the end of four years
growth it is fit for the table.
One of the
J&f'fentiaU
of the happy homes of to-day :s a vast
fund of information as to the best methods
of promoting health and happiness and
right living and knowledge of the world*
best products.
Products of actual excellence end
reasonable claims truthfully presented
and which have attained to world-wide
acceptance through the approval of the
Well-Informed of the World; not of indi'
viduals only, but of the many who have
the happy faculty of selecting and obtain
ing the best the world affords.
One of the products of that class, o
known component parts, an r-thic
remedy, approved by physicians and com
mended by the Well-Informed of t8
W'orld as a valuable and wholesome fa f
laxative is the well-known Syrup of h'P
and Elixir of Senna. To get its benefi
effects always buy the genuine, nianu
factured by the California Fig Syrup
only, and for sale by all leading drugj,1*^
MARE .FOR SERVl®
IN THE ROUGHEST WEATHER
AND GUARANTEED ABSOLUTES
~ xWATERPR00F
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Kv SUCKERS
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and the word
TOWER on the
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