0
OKLAHOMA.
Till: "i;i:autjful land," KlCii and
prosperous, is not yet ready
FOR STATEHOOD.
Washington. Feb. 33. The "ISeautiful Land*—
in the InJiar tcngue, Oklahoma is in many re
spects the most extraordinary section of this
country. especially with regard to its wonderful
record of progress and prosperity within the
tingle decade since it was thrown open to set
tlement, The story of that brief period roads
almost like a charter of the Arabian Nights, yet
the conquests of the last ten years, in the
opinion of its leading men, only foreshadow still
greater advance, more marvellous achievement
and more rabid strides In th. near future. The
Territorial Governor, C. M. Barnes, in his latest
report to President McKlnley, declares that
another "year of abundant crops for the farmer;
of Increase in value and number of the herds
of the stock grower; of expanding business for
the merchant; of building vi» of manufacturing
industries; of extension of railways; of general
growth in financial lines; of development of the
Tilt: r*iTT«»N V AIM' ' • i \ i ••\! A ' Ii V
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There are tin. ¦ ..th. i sii »itar ¦'. ¦ < : ... ih< . ;.,
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILU'STKATEI) STITLEMFAT.
education obtainable for every y.jun^ man or
woman; with 7<H> churches, I.o<M> Sunday schools
and i"> (> newspapers; with an area gn it> r lhaa
thai of the six States of Vermont. New-Hasss>
.shir<>, Maasaehusetta, Rhode Island, New-Jer
sey and Delaware; with a rapidly tncreaatos]
taxahlf valuation and decreasing tax rate; with
all lines of busiri' ss in a prosperous eonditl :.
manufacturing Industries growing rapidly and
fjroat natural resources on every sMt Invtttng
development, Oklahoma offers Inducements to
the capitalist, the laborer, the professional man,
the farmer and 1 1 1 • - home seeker unequalled any
where."
The M..- of the Territory. 2A.000L000 acres,
corn spends t-> that >~t Ohio; it is in the latitude
• •!' Tennessee; its surface averages l,r><*> feet
;.\ . v the y.i; its population is about 400.000;
n j.j.. '.>.:>>¦< l last >• II ;:»»,(>in >,<*«? bushels Of
wheat, >."i.i**!.ii. n> worth of cotton and the single
it. '.i of rattle in it-; iiv_> stock industry ihk.
gat« 1 a million h«*ad. Its public school enrol
rm nt is *><mhhi pupils: it supports a number of
hixht-r institutions of learning, including three
universities with '"« IMI Btudents; it enjoys the
smalU-si percentage "f illiteracy of any State or
Territory in th I'nion its bank reserves are
larger than those of .1,.;. State, and, In fact, the
superlative mu^t l>e used in tilling of any of
MAP ol- OKLAHOMA TERRITORY.
Its conditions, except that ol < rime. In this
particular it n I •niy be said that last y. ar
th>'tf> was n"t a s.nj :¦ att< mpt -it dk '•¦ vl
there ha.s been t. all out ita militia
In its ten y.-.irs of ci md there I
only one convict f<>r each I,!* j:. , « j- !•». a. r.if
llo\V MM'l.l.s UlloW IN l.« •< JAN i'o| \I 'i OKI UMMA
less than that of New-York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana, Kansas and many other common
wealths, indeed nowhere in the United Ma
an life and property more secure.
Of Oklahoma's social and religious status,
Governor Barnes says in his report:
Peopled with the most enterprising people
from all of the States of the Union, there is no
reason to believe that the social condition of
Oklahoma should be different from those of
the States of which all the people have lately
been residents, and yet there seems to '• a
widespread conception throughout the East that
Oklahomans are a kind <: Strange beings, dif
ferent from the general run of mankind, and sit
national conventions and assemblies of ail kinds
the delegates from Oklahoma are gazed upon
with great curiosity, and ten there seems to
be disappointment over the fact that they an
but ordinary men and women.
With a code of laws the equal of any State
and enforced better than in many, with as small
a per cent of Illiteracy n i any portion of the
Nation, with their magnificent higher educa
tional institutions, with a schoolhouse on every
hilltop, and a church in the valley, why should
not the social and religious life of the people of
Oklahoma be on as high a plant! as in any St it.
of the Union?
All of the leading religious denominations
have representatives In the Territory, and are
doing progressive work; young people's religious
societies and Sunday schools are found every
where, and the reports of their work create sur
prise and enthusiasm 'ln every national gather
ing;. All of the fraternal bodies hay* good mem
bership, every community baa Its newspaper,
tha Caaotaao.ua Boctoty, nurarjr circle, and
musical cr reading clubs are to be found la
every town; a sore or more of women's clubs
compose an active Territorial Federation; public
libraries and reading rooms are found in the
leading town'; the towns have r.iore church
buildings to the population th< • the majority of
the States; toe people m- r in social functions
of all kinds, a« do the pt '^le of the communi
ties from where they taw, and the visitor
from any part of the l*nit»-d Stite.s nil] find here
the a -ill life, th.- educational a-lvaruiises, and
•he religious opportunities to which ho or she
has been accustomed.
Th<> mineral deposits of the Territory, yet
: barely pros pec let?, are rich and ...iriod. th«
•¦¦¦¦¦ * v .. • -
manufacturing Interests are increasing tenfold
annually, and already there are 1«> daily, 122
weekly and IS monthly papers profitably pub
• lished and circulated. With her wheat going to
I
all America and Europe, her flour to all parts
of this continent and by cargo direct to Liver
pool, her cotton to the spinning mills of New-
England. Mexico, England, and even far oft
Japan; her hogs and cattle In the markets and
slaughter pens of the Nation, and to Cvb to and
South America; cedar Ings to the pencil fac
levies of Germany; castor beans to the oil
presses of the old World, and fruits .-.ad melons
to the city markets of the North. tostther with
clothlnpr. dljailllits, groceries, implements, ve
hicles, machinery, furniture, and other articles
of consumption coming in. Oklahoma has a
commerce which many communities live times
her age would be proud to attain.
Yet Oklahoma, already possessing a larger
population than Delaware, Idaho. Montana,
Nevada, Utah. North Dakota, Vermont or
Wyoming, is declared by its Uovernor to be un
ripe for Statehood. On this subject he .via
It is the earnest wish of a large number of
our intelligent and intluential citizens that a
State government be accorded to Oklahoma
without further delay. The platforms of all
political parties at their latest conventions have
declared In favor of Statehood upon such terms
and with such boundaries as Congress may la
Its wisdom see tit to prescribe, and. tested by
the standards that have heretofore prevailed in
the admission of new States Oklahoma ia cer
tainly entitled to all th. rights and privileges of
a State government. No fair minded man can
read of the opening, settlement an*! develo;-