The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-09-07
TAs 10000 Ell.
Governor Fersuson's Statements About
legislation Challenged.
(Commnnlcat,6l


A statement made by Governor Tom
Ferguson in an address at Sparks. in
Lincoln county during the past week.
is attracting the attention at present
Of the people Of the two territories.
probably more SO at this time because
.of the near approach of statehood.
To illustrate a point IN his address.
the governor said. AFTER the Okla.
homa legislature closed last spring.
Ia politician Of prominence in the ter.
rnory asl.e me for my reason for
vetoing a certain bin which had passed
both houses Of the legislature. I an.
swered Because &C was conceived
ip iniquty and brought forth in sin.
The man then told me that It cost
$4,000 to pass that bin through the
legislature"-Daily Paper
The governor does not say what bin
he means. but we remember that he
vetoed but one bill and that was the
quarantine bill This same BIN was
passed by the legislature in 1903 and
vetoed by the governor. The demands
.of the people were such that the last
legislature again passed the bill.
Ninety-nine per cent Of the people of
Oklahoma and the Usage nation de.
manded this bill IL was passea and
again the governor vetoed the bill.
This very bill the governor had recon.
mended in his message to the legisla.
ture. However, Hitchcock. the great
power at the White House when il
comes to making governors. wired the
governor to veto the bill; that it con
flicted with the interests of certain
cattlemen who had leases in the
0saga astiun. The legislature could
not see fit to stand by a little private
graft Of Hitchcock and preaptly pass.
ed the bill over the governors veto.
Now when the governor knows that
the quarantine bill is a just bill; that
the people Of Oklahoma unanimously
demanded 1t; when he remembers that
he himself recommended IT.: when he
realizes that the people know that he
vetoed the bill, sacrificing the inter.
ests Of the people over whom he rules
in order to save his political neck and
hold his job. as he realizes these
things. It seems that the governor has
missed another mighty good chance to
keep st.ll and not refer to the bin
that he vetoed.
Or it may be that the governor re-
fers to some Of the bills that he did
not veto, as stated in the article. but
failed to sign and allowed TO die after
the legislature adjourned. Those who
know the bills which passed the legis.
lature and which the governor allowed
to die, will have hard time finding
bill that was worth twenty thousand
dollars or even one-half that sum. to
any interests organized, in the terri
tory, or one which it could be expected
that any such sum as twenty thousand
dollars could have been raised 10
lobby through the legislature. The
statement looks ridiculous. Further
more, H. as the governor says, the bin
was conceived in iniqu'ty and born
IN sin, and he knows enough about it
TO veto the bill. why does he not let
the public know something about IL.
who the grafters are. and how they
operate If these things are true. why
does he not have his attorney general
OF the county attorney institute an in
vestigation and bring the guilty before
the court? In other wMds. do more
aud talk less.