The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-11-19
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Lac osIahoma Lauraste.

The Oklahoma Laureate.
Says the St Louis Globe Democrat:
Oklahoma has celebrated her first
birthday as a state with banquets |
festivities and commemorative exer
cises OF various sorts In every part /
OF her territory The SURVIVING mem,n
ners Of the First Territorial Leisisls.
ture of Oklahoma were bsnquetcf at |
Oklahoma City In a hotel standing on |
the spot where the she wolf lay on |
the morning OF the day OF the great |
awakening. Both Oklahoma City and |
Guthrie look now. TO the pilgrim see
ing them Cor fhe FIRST time, like mod |
ern American cities. and thai is wi.at /
they are. But to all who saw the |
great awakening they seem as drBam |
cities. The great majority OF 4he men
in the First Oklahoma legislature
were I'm the great awakening. They
helped make the big noise which emil |
ed primeval silence and solitude and
made an awakening inevitable. Tney
know theN were awake then and have
been awake ever since. It Is we'll for
them to celebrate the birthday of
statehood and It would be better for
all Oklahoma TO celebrate the day OF
the great awakening itself
The date of the Oklahoma state
ilCod celebration was suspicious. II
came within less than two weeks after
Oklahoma hal stepped oft OF the list
OF hfie-bound party states and into
tho company of progressive common
wealths In the doubtful column. A
great state is never the property. in
politics. of any one political organiza-
dion. There Is not a state In all oi
the North wnich has not. at some
time or times within this generation,
changed its party government Penn
sylvania. always reliably Republican
on national lines, twice elected the
Democrat Pattison as governor, Mis-
souri, was for long the only state in
the Northern tier which could be
claimel as a one-party asset and now
Missouri is in the doubtful LIST to stay.
Oklahoma. waich seemed in giving
/ tremendous Democratic Z majority at
its first election, to have nut itself in
the yellow dog column to stay, re-
! doomed itself this year by reducing
| that majority so per cent and plant
/ ing itself squarely in the Independent
line.
This fact affords all the more Oe-
/ caslon for rejoicing at the FIRST an
/ niversary Of Oklahoma statehood It
means continued going forward. To
| think or Oklahoma going backward
would be Ike thinking Of the earth
turning back and reversing itself on its
axis. She comes to her first statehood
anniversary with a finer enthusiasm
because she has retained that indie
pendeuce of old traditions. customs
and shackles WITH which she began
her existence. O-atory alone can not
serve as d vent for all of the enthu-
glasm felt by Oklahomans at the sur
rey Of their past. present AMI future.
Two official historians and an official
orator figured in the procee ilngs at
Oklahoma City ami tVo poets also
contributed of their divine Are to the
making CT a fame which would burn
a hole in the heart OF the worlds
heart Successive poets bf annual
Oklahoma reunions may make the
hole bigger. but the heart itself is SO
big. ani Is growing so fast, that It
can lose nothing so long as II beats as
frecly MS now In response to its nigh
est aspirations out OF these meet
! Ings must inevitably a1se one su-
| IRENE aud crowned pcet laureate of
/
fallen upon the Hon Sijnev SugRs Of
Arjmore, but as a rank outsider we
can not presume too fa- upon the toll
eration OF people which has eXhib.
tied such a fine capacity for attend
Inc to its cwn business. All we can
say for Mr.. Suggs mas been said al.
ready and we can retract nothing
His merits as a raconteur mark him
AS the man to write the epic verse In
which alone the glory of oklahoma
can be rightly sung. Far De It from
us. however to seek to tear the laurel
wreath from any brow on which
Oklahoma may place IT, Oklahoma
holds the crown. AMI she knoHs what
head will Mt it best We would no
! more attempt debating the choice of
the Oklahoma laurc ate tnan we would
be willing to arbitrate the choice OF
official orato- between the Hon Henry
Asp OF Guthrie ami the Hon. Dan
pppry of III RCuO