Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-28

emf F3E-tfme music Btt8CHlUsiis dhd y
daughter who can quote Emerson and play
Schubert and Chopin.
Culture and Education.
There is a good deal more than sarcasm
in those remarks. refined taste has
touched the farming community well as
the city people. and you find It's influence
everywhere you go. No part of the United
States has a higher average OF culture.
There is no house into which "a newspaper
does not go; and at most of them the rural
free delivery carriers leave or moro
magazines ~ the beginning OF each month.
of the threc-quarters of a million popula-
tion only per cent illiterate. Few
states In the Union have so high an aver-
age of intelligence, and none has better
school system or rich an educational
endowment. The school fund of Oklahoma
Is thirty millions OF dollars and the pro-
ceeds are being wisely expended.
There are more than 5000 schools in tho
territory, and according to the last report
there were ISIS school houses valued at
Visit ,2l3. Last year sl.26627S was paid
out In salaries for teachers. and nearly
every one of the 2nea children in tho
IN almost every town. MIR Carnegie has
been generous toward the larger cities and
In the smaller towns you will find neigh
DorhOOd libraries in the school houses that
are well patronized and appreciated.
Oklahoma has twenty-eight daily news
papers. 30 weeklies. % monthlies and o
semi-monthlies. Each seems to be well
supported. The Oklahoma City and Guth-
RE papers are up to date with telegraph
news from all over the world. and | do
not know where you can hear more INTEL
ligent comments upon the Russo-Japanese
complications than among the farmers or
this section. There is board OF strait
egy in every town and village. and the
approach OF the Baltic fleet toward Vladi-
vostok furnished topic for controversies
more exciting than have occurred in this
section since the ''Sooners' were expelled
from the Land of the Fair God
A Church Going People
You will be surprised at the church sta-
tistics. Some eastern people have a very
incorrect idea of the wild and woolly
west, and l do not suppose they VIII be-
lieve me when l say that the ratio Of
church membership in oklahoma is higher
than ii is in the New England states. In
lB4, when the popula ton OF the territory
was probably about COCOON the actual mem-
bership of the various churches was 100 694.
and there were 5000 scholars in the Sun
day schools. II you will make a slight
mental calculation you Will find that this
Is very high proportion; and if you VIII
compare ii with the returns from other
states the result will be surprising hut
these figures are more surprising than
may be found in the statistics of crime.
Oklahoma has no penitentiary. She has to
borrow one from Kansas, and during the
last year she sent up only 1876 convicts, OF
whom seven Were women. l doubt If any
of the Older states can show a better pro>
portion.
On the LIST of January, 1905. Oklahoma
had nearly 5000 miles of railway, the
greater part of which had been constructed
IN four years The revenues FOR fire ght and
passengers collected at Oklahoma City
alone for 1904 were 81, T540l2.
The increase of wealth has been quite re-
markablc The farm lands returned for
taxation in 1900 had an area of I57o4.
In 1904 this area had increased to S.661 94J
acres. The valuation o. the different kinds
of property increased with equal rapidity.
The figures are as follows.