The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1907-09-05
About Coal OIL Bills .


r-s-74- 1r regard to tE- e1al 0il l-E.-
Istr- 5a-l1z tr-fr1Ee-r1r F-rE1-5n'
st--rr6 sF-slto1- TIE 11ro- ltloa Ray
urrf1Iy ard -ls,iei11sly stated fa--=-
Rod. iu regard 70 the zast er- 8heg
rave slated thsss fsi-ea1od. % deceive
tta 1-r-le I'D order 20 gam vgi~-
tr-aazh frzud Tts fzcts are - fol-
rz. Waen F@rE1-0n became gJser-
1ar - Ds.shec-z- there Uas lEr1 tEt
1zi8fe buok. ~ oil lzW is "a.
rraii lsw Ir zllowHd big fees ior iu-
..@rt5g- W-i-h weni 10 the pocket q,
tle 5r.p.aesor. h1- 10 furnished ~ pro
teet0- % the Territory Under thaf
LaE. dauEsr14s ole cgl g - shipped
into t1e T=rrit0g Eifhout restraint
During tie fr.s year q FerEg.01's ~
u.lDf.iratigu a. governor - Dsla1Cmz
tEenty- -four s-cdents were reported
from 90 eEpiDsi0as Five % the ca-e-
ra-sli. 80 in ce4En- Tire Territory epiB-
rs.1~=d s1it against q 2 0ii COMPANIES
Several Individuals commenced stut
against rtl- Oh companies i0r oamaEe-
D1rInE she .@senth legislative assembly
fh- 2tioru1y zrEerzl u Oklahoma )
& Ro8s,--t.. EEs requested b she goy
ernor FerzlsDnJ o. draw up an 0..
bI Mr R1bt@rt- spent several week,
10 securing Information lie sent a.
I0Fa Nebrssia Kansas. Missouri aul
several other states Tor c.Vies of CO..
oii iaN 10 Those states He also wrote
- the attorney general u each state -
point cot whatever defects the Law of
t1e state might contain ~ a. to avoid
any such defect 10 the bill which wa
g. b. WnltsB Tor Oklahoma After se-
curing al the information possible Mr.
Roberts pregared his biIi and IL wa.
introduced IN She legislature The bill
DID not pass A. prepared by Roberts
Tire Legislature changed ii in good
many places II was not a partisan
measure n VA. yotet for by a. many
DemocFatsas by Republicans II there
are any defects IN the present law, it
vas just a. much the product Of Demo
crats ~ Republicans because it received
~ many Democratic IA Republican
vptes II WAS not wholly Robberts
measure. because they changed his bill
Mr. Rpbbcris first thought 81 putting
the fash test At 10, bot some of the
states advised against it, declaring that
il was ursafe and the fash test wa
placed At 10
Tho measure was not just what Fer
gus0n wanted II wa not what Rob
berts wanted bat IL Was much better
than the old law and when it wa. passed
hy the legislature. it was signed by
Ferguson a. governor lei i. the best
las that the Territory ever had II
protects against the intrusions Of dan
gerous oil into the Territory II also
turned into the Territorial treasury
thousands Of dollars each year A. in
spection fees which had formerly been
gong into the pockets Of inspectors
While the bill which is now the oil
law Of the Territory Was pending in the
legislature Of 1893, bill was intro
duced and passed repeating the old law
without cnacting a new one The at
torney general had several eases pend
ing against the oil companies under
the old law He claimed that if the
old Law was repealed without enacting
new one his cases in court would be
legislated out. That was why that bill
repeating the old law without enacting
new one was vetoed Remember
thtt during the legislative assembly Of
1903 there were Two bills introduced
One was the bill 20 do away with all
oil inspection This was vetoed be-
cause it inyalidated prosecutions
against the oil companies. When that
bill 10 abolish the oil law was intro
duced, the bill which il now the law.
was pending and il was generally known
that it would pass The only result OF
the bill 70 abolish would have been 10.
knock out certain Territorial eases
then pending against the oil compa-
nies
The legislative assembly Of 1905
teighthJ came on A Mcbride was
member from Blaine county Heas a
merchant vas dealer in oil Mr.
Mcbride concluded % introduce an oil
bill io studied the question very
closely for several weeks He went 10
The governor Fergusopj and told him
that the reason why the independent
companies were not getting their oil |
into Oklahoma was because Of the fash |
test being too high Mcbride said
that he had consulted many authorities I
and that IN hi. Judgment the fash test
at 10, the same a. the Kansa. law, was /
sufficient 10 insure safety and at the 4
same time let IN the independent COM
panies. Ferguson stated 10 Mr.. 1
Mcbride fhat all be- a.ked iu regard Ia