The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-23
.OKLAHOMAN TALKS OF STATES FUTURE C. N. Haskell Will Be the First
 Governor DEMOCRATS IN CON TROL Four Men Are Asplrants for Senate. Muskogee Man Lauds State Which
 Is Assured Bright Future
 By Great Resources.
DEMOCRATS IN CONTROL

|
 richest states ever admitted, and what
 is eminent satisfaction to those of us
 who have helped to build this great state l 1t will be overwhelmingly democratic.' | Thus Dr. H. c. Rogers of Muskogee l.
 T., who was at the Morris hotel last
 night. spoke of the accomplishments of
 the people of the west, who in a few
 short years have molded a commonwealth l from a bare prairie. Dr. Harris Is
 Tennessean who married In Alabama, and while he is proud of his native state and l also that of his wife, is tremendously
 enthusiastic over his adopted state which
 shall soon be admitted to the Union on
 equal terms with the older states.
 "The people of the two territories are
 waiting with impatience for the election
 of June 8, when they shall ratify the new
 constitution, and thus complete the work
 which was So well done at tho consti- 1 tutional convention that we believe we 1 shall have a model government There
 are some dsgruntled republicans who are 1 opponents of the new constitution, but | they are in such a small minority that 1 their votes will not cut any figure in the
 result They are the 'pieaters who have 1 long fed at the territorial pie counter, 1 governmental appointments. Statehood
 will clean out these barnacles and make
 them go to work or get out.
 Many Republicans Support 1t. Numbers of staunch republicans are
 earnest supporters of the new constitution
 and can be depchded upon to give honest 1 support to the new state government, and | they have the confidence of the demo-
 cratic leaders.
 1 "Of course there are nrmbers of people | in these territories who are chance talk CTS with the gambling spirit that Is ai-
 ways found in the rapidly growing sec l tions of the west, but these do not con- l stitute our citizenship and will either set l tie down and become good citizens or ml- grate to new fields. The rush of set l clement upon the opening up of the ter ritories brought this class of people and | they brought with them that reckless 1 ness of purpose which has caused cloud l ing of land titles which has caused so | much trouble in the new country. The
 ratification Of the constitution and the
 establishment of state law will clear up l all the land titles. and all future settle
 ment vii be untrammeed by wearyina
 and costly litigation.
 "Another important thing that the rati- 1 fication of the constitution VIII do IS that l it will remove restrictions from the ln-
 dians so that they can sell their surplus | l good citizens which the state wants and | will receive with open arms
 ''Who is likely to be your first gover- | nor?' was asked.
 Haskell to Be First Governor. "C N Haskell, without doubt" re- piled Dr. Rogers "He is a dyed-in-the-
 wool democrat. a native of Ohio and IS l a born leader. While he was not the
 chairman of the constitutional conven- | 1,f On- vention work and his word was an oracle 1 in the democratic ranks Haskell Is the
 most pouplar democrat in the state and
 he will have hardly any opposition for ! the position of chief executive"
 How about the Jim Crow law in your new state?"
 Jim Crow Is Dead Letter.
 That's dead letter. so far as the con- | stitution is concerned. All democrats
 went to the convention pledged to put a
 Jim Crow clause in the consultation. but l the Brownsville trouble arose and the at- | titude of the President being shown in 1 that affair caused the constitution mak- l CTS to drop that issue and leave the | state to work out the problem after ad-
 mission to the union. The negroes in the l territory are very objectionable and were l more so before the constitutional dele | gates were elected, but the defeat of the | republicans dealt severe blow to the
 hopes of negro domination and they are
 not so insolent as they once were. The democrats have districted the 1 new state in such a manner that the par | ty will retain power for years to come, | but they only asserted their rights in | this act in retaliation for the reckless | gerrymandering engineered by the repub | lican politicians who had charge of the l districting when they prepared for the | election Aof the constitutional delegates. | Judge Haskell told these republicans in | the convention just what the democrats | proposed to do and they had to take their | medicine. AspIrants for Senate.
 There Is not the same certainty re- garding the two United States senators from Oklahoma there Is about the governor, for we have four prominent candidates for these two places. Of course I. as resident of the Indian Ter
 ritory. favor the candidates from my
 section. but the Oklahoma side also has two strong men. Our candidates are
 Morton Rutherford and Robert L. Owen,
 while Roy Huffman and another man will represent the Oklahoma side of the state in the race. cannot recollect the name of the fourth candidate, but he is
 blind man, former Mssissippian, long
 a resident of Texas and an able man. State's Wonderful Resources. Tt is when one begins to investigate the resources of this great state of OklaA homa that wonder is excited, for nowhere in the Union can be found such diversity | of soil, climate and products and the im- | mense riches that are yet hidden in this wonderful country will not be fully de- veloped for many years. As fine crops of cotton and corn are raised in this
 state as are found anywhere, and there is really no other state that can boast of raising a fine crop of cotton and an equally fine crop of corn. Minerals are abundant, and we have quantities of granite, zinc. lead, asphalt, coal, asbestos and oil. Oklahoma is one of the few states which can live independently of other states, its inhabitants subsisting entirely upon home products. Speaking of oil," continued Dr. Rogers, "a big strike has just been made near Muskogee. One well has just been sunk | and at depth of 1700 feet a fine flow has | been struck Another well Is being sunk l and with the rush that has started there will be 100 wells sunk within forty days. | This Is a genuine strike, not a mere sur l face flow, and all agree that a fine field | has been opened up. Borings were made | here a few years ago, but none of the wells was more than 1000 feet deep so l the project died out and only a few clung 1 to the idea that an oil field existed here. | These few are now reaping their reward Guthrie will be the capital of Okla homa, for term of years at any rate This was agreed upon, although Oklaho-