The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1905-07-14
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS.

! We the one thousand delegates,
repr ssenting the million and half
American citizens who reside in Ok
lahoma and Indian Territory, do
hereby declare. in convention assem-
bled. that said territories are enut.
led 20 and Of right ought to be i'm
mediately admitted into the Ameri.
can Union a. one free and independ-
ent state. on terms Of equality be
tween ourselves. and on equal foot
ing with the other states.
We have but one petition and one
request 10 present to the American
congress. and that Is that immediate
ioint statehood be granted to okla.
homa and Indian Territories, on their
own merits and without reference to
any right or claim Of other terrific
ries seeking admission 10 the Ameri.
can Union.
In support Of the foregoing decla.
ration We uner the following reas.
ons
Firs.. our area IS sufficient The
average area OF all states west of the
Allegheny mountains is $4,000 square
mnes; Of those states west Of the
Mississippi is $4,000 square miles
We AVE 10000 square miles
second Dur population is sufii'
cient. The population Of each terri
tory Is 100000 Our combined popula-
ton is 5O0.OOO-four times as many
As any state has had at the time of
its admission. and equal to the aver
age population of all the states now
in the Union, and we are, therefore,
entitled to seven members Of the low
er house OF congress.
Third. Our resources are sufficient.
We have property subject to taxation
worth q billion dollars. We have 500,-
000 acres OF coal lands and we produce
bitumnous coal of quality not sur
passed Ly any state in the Union. Wei
haye natural gas fields containing
single wells which produce 2G.000,0O0
cubic feet per day. We have very ex
tensiye oil bearing fields now contain
ing hundreds of producing wells. and
equal TO the celebrated fields Of Penn
sylylnia and Kansas We have noun
tains of granite and extensive beds
of excellent stone, asphalt and mar
BILE. We have developed mines Of lead
and Tnc. We have great areas of
untouched forests and millions Of
acres OF fertile plains which rival the
valley of the Red river Of the north
in its production of wheat, the delta
Of ;he Mississippi in its production of
cotton, the prairies Of Iowa in their
production of corn, and the Pacific
slope in the quality of its fruit And
we have 5000 miles Of railroad to
convey our products to market and
these traverse every county in both
territories.
The charact0 of our population
entities US TO immediate admission.
our fothers live in every state of the.
Union: we were born and bred in the
atmosphere Of American liberty and
dignity In 1900 the per centage of I'LL
Hteracy in Oklahoma was 5.5 and in
Indian Territory l6. the general av-
erage 1884 Since then the population
has nearly doubled and it is safe TO
as-urae that Gll the newcomers are
literate, because those who have the
pluck and energy to move have in
telligerce enough 10 read. 1t is now,
therefore, safe to say that in the two
territories the average OF illiteracy
is not over per cent OF our total
population only 100000 are Of Indian
extraction and of these only 27,0OO
are fullblood Indians and Of these
less than half are Alanket Indians,
and they are all citizens of the United
states