The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-11-24

Special to Daily Leader.

Special TO Daily Leader
Washington, D. c., Nov 24.-The
report Of the secretary Of the interior
was made public today The report
comprise $50 pages. The document
contains the full report Of Governor
T. B. Ferguson Of Oklahoma This is
the first message issued by Governor
ferguson since he became governor
All territorial governors were request.
ed to make ther messages brief and
conci =. In few pages Governor
Ferguson tells Of Oklahomas progress
and advoca'es the territory's admis-
sion to the union of states.
The annual eport of the governor,
Thompson B. Ferguson, is a compre
hensive presentation OF the growth,
progress. and resources OF the terri
tory. The area of the territory is ap-
proximately 3S.s3O square miles Geo
graphically It is a Southern country;
the habits and occupations of the peo-
pie, however are more like thise 0f
the North. The climate closely re.
sembles that Of Tennessee and the
agricultural products are similar 20
those Of southern Kansas. The soil in
most portions is a rich red. very
productive, prairie predominating, al
though the1s 81 a vast amount Of
valley and river bottom land that is
unsurpassed in richness. The popula-
tion as ascertaincd by the census o.
1900 is 99S,3S1; the assessors returns
of the different counties of the terri-
tory for the past year fixes the popula-
tion at 541 .4S0 gain over the returns
of the year 1901 Of 1919 or nearly
SO per cent. This enumeration indi-
Gates an average Of IA persons 20 the
square mile of territory.
In 1901 the lands now embraced in
the counties Of Kiowa. Caddo ana Co
manche were opened to settlement
These three counties have now n COM
bined population of 73 SS3, embraei3g
psrrons from every state in the Union
as well as from some foreign coun-
tries The people in We territory are
essentially American the per ceni Of
foregn born. according to ;na census ni
1900. being but per cens. They are
also intelligent and well educated, the
entage Of iliteracy being only 81
per cent. This, the governor sta'es
compares well with the Northern and
Ea tern states, and is much lower tla !
any other commonwealth in the same
latitude
The value of properly as re'urnea
for taxation for 1902 was: Farm
lands. s22 ,614.65O; town property, S1lt
629.19s: railroads. sG.339 i62; moneys
and credit, sS,OGS,27S: other property
s2s.O25 s39, aggregating s72,677,42S. IN
dicating, az compared with the Tar
vais ation OF SEQ, AGA, ,696 for 1901, an in
crease Of s12.212,727
With a territorial tax levy this yeal
Of 1920 mills as compared with 7k
mills last year, the total amount o.
territorial revenue viii be $566.S5O.9'
for 1902 This is an increase of rev
enue Of S113, 3,S9S.69 over 1901.
The amount Of cash in the territoris
treasury to the credit OF several fundl
aggregating S54287OS7, Of which
S4O8. .9O2.17 was on deposit with thu
Capitol National bank territorial de
positary and s1ss,46s7o with tn
Guthrie National bank, also a teiri
torial depository. The indebtedness
of the ter. .itory during thar period wa
s466. $50 43. which is only about s
cents per capita. This amount In
cludes the bonds issued for educa'iona
purposes some years ago, aggregatin
in value S4s. 600 The condition Of IN
revenues Of the territory, however.