The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-02
CKLAHOMA'S GREATNESS.

| Governor Barnes Advances Reasons l Why Statehood Should be Granted. | Seated in an easy chair in the lobby of the Planters yesterday afternoon, Gov ernor Barnes entertained circle of friends with stories of Oklahoma's s
 greatness. Why" said he, I've have
 he material for a state equal in area to Ohio, and a population of three hum dred and fifty thousand, of whom nne- ty per cent. are of the Anglo-SaXon race Our citizenship was drawn from the best elements of the neighbofing states, and that is one reason why we hhave advanced so rapidly. Oklahoma raised everything that grows in the temperate zone, and the prospects for
 next years crops, by the way, are bet ter than ever. The farms are well inn
 proved with buildings of all kinds, and
 stocked with the best cattle and horses
 to be had. Travellers tell us that there
 is very little difference between our
 country and the best part of eastern
 Kansas.
 We have a school system consisting
 of twenty-six thousand school districts,
 each with a first-cass schoolhouse and
 four higher institutions, with an aver
 age attendance of about two hundred
 and fifty students each. These higher
 institutions are the University of Okla
 ot ,,. ha Normal school
 at Edmond; the Agricultural and Me chanical college, at Saltwater, and the new Northwestern Normal, at Ava The aforementioned is in that part Of the territory formerly known as the Cherokee Strip, and building is now nearing completion there that will cost eighty-six thousand dollars, and will be the finest of it's kind west of the Mis- sissippi river.
 All of the towns in the territory did a splendid business this year, and many Improvements of a substantial character are under way One peculiar thing you will notice about Oklahoma" continued the governor, in answer to q question put by an eastern man con- cerning the nature of the building, Sc,
 and that is that nearly all the build ing being done there is of a permanent character. It is not put up for to-day, to be abandoned tomorrow. Tn the principal cities we have fine brick and stone blocks that would do credit to any community.
 Manufacturing in Oklahoma is yet in it's infancy. New cotton congresses and cotton-seed oil mills were built last year at Oklahoma City and Guthrie. while plants of the same character have been in operation for that time at Elreno and Norman. One of the great est industries of the territory Ia cattle- raising, and packing houses could be made to pay in any of the important towns. We also raise a great many hogs, and the stations along the Santa Fe road, understand. ship on an aver age four cars of hogs each per day.
 Tn the matter of ra lron,ls, the rapid growth of the territory and it's marvel ous development made the needs of cer- tain lines imperative. We are pretty well supplied with north and south lines, and the greatest need is for more branches and cross lines The Sapulpa road is already proving great bless ing, and when the gap between Little Rock and Mister Junction is filed 1 which will be very soon, the Choctaw road will have through line from | Memphis to Weatherford, way out in | the western edge of the territory A | branch of the Missouri Pacific which | at present does not enter the territory, should be built from Coffeyville to eth- CT Guthrie or Oklahoma City, and l would prove paying investment all around"
 Governor Barnes, although in favor of statehood on any terms. believes that | the Indian territory should be included in Oklahoma in the new state. In the Indian territory are about six hundred thousand people, and taxable property much greater than that of Oklahoma. were it not for the fact that much of he