Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-22
ISSUES IN OKLAHOMA
DELEGATE FLYNN TELLS WHAT
THEY WILL VOTE FOR.
Support Of the President and His Ad-
ministration, Statehood and Free
Text Books for the Schools.

Dennis T. Flynn, who represents Okla
homa in the House. left Washington today
for the territory, where he will take the
stump for the republican ticket Mr.. Flynn
has just completed stamping tour Oh
Connecticut, and came to- Washington to
attend to business at the departments. He
Is now serving his fourth term in the
House. He declined a reelection to the
Fifty-eighth Congress, and while he has not
made any public announcement on the sub
ject, the understanding in Oklahoma is that
he will be one of the senators elected when
the territory is admitted to the Union. Mr..
Flynn is at the head of the republican or
ganizaton in Oklahoma and will be In
charge of the campaign from now until
election. Interest in the Oklahoma electlons
will be centered chiefly upon the election of
a delegate to represent the territory in the
House. Mr. Flynn was elected to the pres
ent Congress by a majority of about nve
thousand but new issues have developed
in this campaign and politicians who are
interested in Oklahoma affairs agree that
the outcome is problematic. There Will be
elected delegate to Congress, a legislature
and county officers. The republicans expect
to win, although the democrats are making
the most vigorous fight they have made
since 1896. when they carried the territory.
In that campaign Delegate Flynn was de-
feated for reelection to the House by
small majority. He was overcome by free
silver and Methodist preacher. This year
the republicans have nominated for Con-
greSs Bird MCGUIRE, and the democrats
William Cross. MCGUIRE is young lawyer,
a very shrewd politician, with wide &C
quaintance and splendid organization at
his back. Cross Is strong the stump,
but he has been resident of the territory
only short time. He is a travelling man,
representing a Kansas City business firm.
His opponents contend that he is not res
ident of Oklahoma. and in support of this
statement they are exhibiting a Kansas
City directory which presents him a res
ident of that city.
Three Issues in the Campaign.
There are three issues in the Oklahoma
campaign, and nothing else enters into the
political discussions there said Mr.. Flynn
today. They are support of President
Roosevelt and his administration, statehood
and free text books for the school children.
Our critics in the states are saying that Ok
lahoma could not conduct a campaign with
out demanding something free. When l
was working for free homesteads some
years ago / asked Judge Tarsney, who rep
resented the Kansas City district in the
House, to vote for the free homes bill He
replied that he should do nothing of the
kind, not that he had any particular objec-
ton to the free homes project, but because,
as he said, If the people of Oklahoma were
given free homes they would follow with
demand for free lunches. We got the free
free lunches. we do ask for free school
books. We want the territory to pay for
the books our children study. The most
important issue, however, Is the statehood
issue. The statehood bill passed by the
House at the last session of Congress,
known the Flynn BILL provided for the
admission of Oklahoma to the Union with
out any special reference to the Indian ter
ritory beyond provision authorizing Con-
gress to admit, from time to time, as part
of the new state sections of the Indian ter
ritory, If 1t should see fit to do so. This
bill passed the House without a dissenting
vote. Every democrat voted for it. When
1t reached the Senate 1t was held up by the
committee territories until the friends
of statehood, headed by Senator Quay a
member of the committee. made a fight be-
fore the Senate, the result Of which was 1t
went over until the next session by an
agreement that it be made the unfinished
business and taken up on December 10
next. IN this campaign the republicans are
making the fight for statehood along the
lines laid down in the Flynn bill The
democrats are urging that Oklahoma and
the Indian territory should be admitted to-
gether state. In other words they
have declared for what is known as
single statehood bill
Effect Of Republican Defeat
THE defeat of the republican ticket will
be practically a defeat for the entire state
hood project, for the reason that the bill
now before the Senate in all probability
would he rejected lDoD the ground that