The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-29


| Oklahoma with its present boundaries,
/ and to give to the new state the right to
annex portions OF the Indian Territory
| from time to time, by first securing the
! consent Of congress and of the Indian
and the half-breed inhabitants. This,
they say. would be a wiser plan than at
once to absorb all OF the country in
habited by the five great tribes.
Oklahoma as at present constituted is
patchwork affair. The original terri
tory only comprises a few of the present
central counties. In 1891 the first addition
was made. including the country of the
Sacs and Foxes and the Iowas. which
now forms the county of Pottawatomie.
In 1892 congress added the country of the
Cheyennes and AraDahoes, out of which
the counties of Blaine, Custer, Dewey,
Day and Roger Mills were formed In
1891 there was another addition compris-
ing the country of the Kickapoos, which
now forms the county of Lincoln, and in
1893 the big Cherokee Strip was added,
running along the entire Kansas line and
having a width of ifty-nine miles. This
was originally reserved for the Cherokee
tribe. in order that they might reach the
without going off their own land 1t con-
tains the best wheat land in the terri
tory and its immediate settlement on the
very day it was thrown open to occupancy
was the most remarkable and dramatic
feature of the great movement in west
ern migration in our own generation.
Now, say the advocates of admission,
we have a great, prosperous territory
that has been made w, by piece meal,
from districts formerly owned by the In
dams. Why should not this process go
on gradually, until the entire Indian
country is safely absorbed into our new
state? All that we require is a provision
in the act of admission permitting this
process to go forward It will certainly
go on more rapidly if Oklahoma becomes
a state than if it remains a territory. AS
a state, we can provide full representa-
tive government to the annexed districts
as fast as they came in, without depriving
any American citizen of his right to be
represented in congress and to vote for
presidential electors. Public discussion of
the question of admission is only just be-
ginning among the people of Oklahoma,
and will be pretty sure to become active
during the coming session of congress.
The territorial delegate, Mr.. Flynn, is in
favor of immediate statehood. and will
introduce a bill for that purpose. Cover
nor Barnes is opposed to admission until
the Indian Territory can be included in
the new state. On his side are nearly
the whole body of federal office holders,
who count upon holding on their present
places for another four years, in case Nc
Kinley is reelected.
The question of securing the electoral
vote of another new state at the next
presidential election is not directly TN
volved, for the politics of Oklahoma are
uncertain, and a close fusion between the
Democrats and PODulists would be likely
to defeat the Republicans. Populism
swept down from Kansas like prairie
whirlwind a few years ago, and, while it
is fast disappearing under the sunshine
Of the new prosperity, there is still
enough of it left to be a formidable ele-
ment in the contest of next year. The
doubt as to how the state will go at the
next presidential election will prevent the
Republicans in congress from making the
admission bill a party measure. That II
is a popular measure here In the territory
is certain, in spite of all that can be said
about the increased expenses of state
government and the danger of the Indian
Territory stepping in as a separate state.
The thousands of American voters who
have come into this new land and made
pleasant farms for themselves upon its
bare prairies, are not willing to be longer
deprived of the common privileges of
American citizenship. Government from
Washington may do, they say, for the
Porto Ricans or the Fi1ipinos, but it will
not do for them.