The People's friend., 1894-08-31
WICHITA. KANSAS, FRIDAY AUG. 81. 1894.
AS TO OKLAHOMA.
ONE WRITER GIVES SOME FACTS AS TO
POPULATION.

The growth of Oklahoma has beer
one of the most remarkable i'm the histo
~ of American territories. A few
years ago it was barren wilderness
Inhabited only by savage Indians ant
lawlnss white men; to-day it is knock
ing at the doors of congress for ad
mission to the union as a state. Whel
it is admitted it will have a lar GER Afro
American population than any state o
its siza and population in the union
outside of the southern states. From
figures furnished the New York Sun
by Mr.. Peter Flynn Oliver, a reputable
lawyer of Ell Reno, who went to Okla
homa a few years ago from South
| Carolina, it is learned that the Afro
American population numbers $4,000,
there being 1866 in Blaine county, Ii,
600 in Kingfisher county, S,4O0 in Lin
coin county, 10000 in Logan county,
the remainder being scattered in all the
other counties. The total property hold
ingS of these people is S6,353, 1926 divi-
vided as follows: S5,4SS,19O represent
ed by 54S, ,8l9 acres of farm land; $37,-
400 represented by town property, and
$837, 1876 represented by personality.
Commenting upon these figures Mr..
Oliver says:
The land in Oklahoma is mostly raw
and the price | place upon it is extreme
ly low. Settlers have hardly begun to
build clabOrately, and the majority OF
the pioneers brought with them no per-
sonality worth mentioning save their
teams when they first came; some came
even teamless. The personality valua-
ton is, therefore very low. If you
could have seen this barren country
April y, 1889, then gone away and
drop down upon us to-day, you
would be wonder struck at the meta
morphosis. The dug-out, the sod
house and the shock are being rapidly
replaced'by beautiful and comfortable
homes f}r man and beast.
The estimates I have given you are
for Oklahoma, excluding otherportions
of the old Indian Territory. There is
a large Afro American population in
that portion Of the territory, many of
them worth their hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars. The Creek and Sem
mole nations have more African than
Indian blood i'll their veins, and Gov.
Brown, OF tie Greeks, shows his Afri-
can more than Indian blood. He is a
man of education and wealth. The
the KiOWa, the Comanche,
and the Apache lands are likely to soon
come in for settlement The ne xt move
will then be upon the five civilized
ribes who own their lands in common.
Then the whole Indian Territory will
nave been swallowed by the white
nan. May lots of black men help in
he swallowing. The Afro Americans
nave settled in some parts almosL to the
EXCLUSION o: the whites. Langston
Jity was founded by E. p. McCabe,
who was once auditor of Kansas,
nan OF great resource and energy. The
streets, evenues and boulevards of
4angstOn City are named in honor Of
prominent AfrO-Americans. 1t sup
'orts a weekly newspaper called the
Herald. Mr.. McCabe projected anoth.
r town, but it has not prospered as
veil as Langston City.
Most of the AfrO-Americans in Okla
oma went there from the southern
tates, Tennessee furnishing a very large
lumber, and these are constantly draw
ng others after them as is natural and
sual lii such cases, so that it is posi- I
lie that when the territory is admitted :
D the union it will have an Afro Amer
'an population of 100000. In in-
tances when these men have been me-
aced by unfriendly Indians and whites
ley have shown that the courage and
which carried them into
ne territory and enabled them to secure '
ONES i'll the wilderness were sufficient "
protect them and their property. q
The foregoing article is by Mr.. Peter n
lynn Oliver, the gentlemanly young J.
>lored lawyer who moved to this city
om Columbia, South Carolina il Q
'oS, and moved from here to Oklaho- -
ia when the first great rush for homes IL
ere took place.-ED.
1t is "A noticeable fact that in every e.
rtion held so far this year, the Repub-
cans have polled an increased number pl
votes, and we think it safe to predict cl
at they will continue TO do so until se
ey again get control of every branch =.
the Government. And when this hap.
rs, there will be such il chorus of an.
ovals 20 up all over this country as
Ill make the welkin ring from Canada
the Gulf. and from the Atlantic to the
Icitic.