The Iola register., 1891-04-17
The Whites. Not the Negroes, Ask for Aid.
TOPEKA. April 13-Is Oklahoma re-


The Whites, Not the Negroes, Ask fer Aid.
TOPEKA, April 1a-Is Oklahoma re-
ally overrun with negroes and has there
been an influx Of the palper negroes
from the south9 So many conaiotingi
answers have been given In response I'd
these two questions that it vas ifnp04s
! sible to arrive at the truth. Thsseensus
taken there last summer was Of no use
in aiding to arrive at conclusions, fer
while Guthrie enumerated, so It Is said,
the horses, dogs and chickens, as we'll
as the regular" population, Okiahorna
and King6sher failed to count the mena
women and children, while Edmund
FL Reno and Lincoln are still in doubt
as to what and who were counted and
Kingston was not in existence. In or
der to determine the truth, the New
York Times representative determined
! to visit the territory and see what was
to be seen and learned from interested
persons-as much of the truth as they
could be prevailed on to surrender.
Those who have never attempted to
draw the truth from an Oklshomite, he
writes, ''can hardly realize the difficui-
ties that are presented. The territor1
was born in falsehpod, wss baptized Il
falsehood, and falsehood has been the
principal article of diet ever since that
Hateful 22d of April, 1889, when the
'sooners' became the leading citizens of
a country opened up to settlement tod
late in the year for the planting Of
crops, and to which the poverty-strick5i
en- were invited by speculators and i'm
pecuuious lawyers, who had been per /
mitted to enter beforehand by pig
headed administration, which could see
nothing good outside the sgue-strfoken
Wabash bottoms of Indiana.
Guthrie. being the headquarters of
the Afro-American colonization, has
naturally been the objective point OF
the negroes who have been induced to
migrate to Oklahoma. 1t is impossible
to ascertain how many of the black race
are In that city. Those who are op-
posed to negro settlement declare posi-
lively that there are not fifty in the
city. Those who favor the movement
insist that there are more than 1000 in
and about the capital. The latter il
probably more near the correct estis
mate.
''That all these negroes are not pau
pers is shown by their bank deposits
where they have sums ranging from
5000 to 81, ,0O0. In one bank alone sums
aggregating over S15, 900 have been dsa
posted by the negro settlers. Many
have gone to that territory
with nothing except the rags
they wore, but they never be-
came public charges. They have been
cared for by persons of their own race
until they were in such condition that
they could help themselves and help
others. At this time there are eight
families, aggregating forty-tive personsJ
crowded into an old over one year DID,
There they sit day after day waiting till
they can be scattered ana settled upon
some of the prairie claims. Probably
$50 would prove bonanza to the entire
outfit. They are fed by their more for
tunate brothers and some way they will
keep alive until summer, when they
will show that they are self sustaining,
for they will work and exist upon al
most nothing.
The appeals for aid coming from
Oklahoma do not come from the neg5
roes, but from the whites. They eXem-
plify the workings of the cooperative
plan. On claims may be found two,
fou, and sometimes eight families, all
working together and often living to-
gether, awaiting the time when more
land will be opened for settlement.