The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-04-19


covers that mineral, let him pay into
the state treasury a given per cent
of its output that is PROVIDED in the
law of the state, then the state is
always assured of getting the per
cent out OF that public property as
ii is taken from the soil. That is
bette. believe than leaving it to
board that might. or might not De
honest That Is better than all the
declaration you might make in the
law as TO the Standard Oil company,
at the same time put in your section
against the Standard oil, but leav.
ing it to the citizens to go ahead and
execute contracts whereby il they dis
cover 1t Immediately the state gets
its royalty without any further eff
fort than to collect IT, In my opinion
that is the way to collect that roy
atty, not reserying 1t to one quarter
section, but to all puulic land over
the state Certainly known mineral
land can not be now sold under the
constitution.
The proposition is. when he gets
the land, have reservation in the
lease that in the event he discovers
such oil or gas or other mineral. a
certain per cent shall go to the state as
royalty from all minerals. | would
do that for this reason: For in
stance, If you sell or lease-and make
such reseryation--a man mikht be
afraid to investigate for mineral be.
cause you would hamper his prem
ises.
II want to say, gentlemen. in con
clusion, in my judgment we should
go into this law and If we cannot
then safe guard the sale OF these
lands so as to prevent their going
into the hands of a few individuals
or corporations. because If you per
NIT them, these men will put men
on the land for the purpose of get
ting control. knowing that they can
be bought in few years as provid.
ed In that bill, which will result in
one man buying large bodies by
proxy. What we are after is to pre-
vent the purchase by proxy. want
10 say to you in that connection, that
by putting that period of time not
less than ten years and providing for
an actual residence of three years. IL
stockmen or the corporation to set a
fellow down and file on a piece of
land in his own name. When Texas
sold her lands, after she had given
away thousands and millions of acres
to the university, in point of land It
has the greatest land legacy of any
university on the face of the earth
then, after sNe A"d given three mil
lion five hundred thousand acres of
land to build a state capital, and
then after giving away four leagues,
after she had given away alternate
sections of land TO the railroads to
bring the railroads, they still had
enough to belt the earth at the equa-
tor and form a zone five miles wide.
That gives you some comprehension
of the immensity of the lands of the
state of Texas to support her schools.
She has do one thing, she has in
vested them wisely, but a few years
of experience has changed her policy.
But in that sale, they provided for
the sale of four sections to any one
man; they limited the settlement un-
Ill the time was very short. The
stockmen in western Texas took four
| sections, he hired some MeXicans
from Mexico, and each of them took
four sections for him, he put them
10 work and in the end, he owned
1t all. That same policy could be re-
peated in Oklahoma. Do you want IT
repeated? DO you want these lands
to be in the hands of a few indiyid.
uals or do you want the tendency to
be to divide them among the home
owners or let our farmers be ten
ants?
Il repeat again, 1t would be better
to let the state of Oklahoma be the
landlord than TO let the corporations
be the landlord OF our citizens"
Notice TO Creditors