The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-10-14
10y Leo Hsrris)

Through the courtesy OF YOUR pa
per present the following argu
mont regarding the school and other
/ public lands of the state.
First. want TO give you some
OF the history Of the preference
/ right lcssccs who are living upon
these lands. In 1889. when the fed.
oral government opened up the
/ Cherokee strip for homestead settle.
mont, men came there from "a mum.
/ bor o. states To draw q home.
/ \ great many of them were sue
| crsslul foo the drawing, but there
/ were thousands of men who failed
to draw home. at which time
/ Governor steel. thc fitts governor
OF oklahoma territory. ISSUED bis
famous proclamation. saying TO
those disappointed men. GO settle
ON good quarter sections Of school
land. and work and care for them
as your own. and when they are
sold you shall have them tor your
homes"
out Of this proclamation Of Gov
crnor Steele Is where the lessees
organizations sprung from. and dur.
ing the contest for statehood they
kcpt a lobby in Washington for
the purpose of having put into tn,
enabling act the preference right
clause, in which tncy were success.
lul, and the delegates in writing thr
constitution were compelled to
adopt this preference clause. In or
der to get statehood. There Is to
day between eight and nine thous.
and of the preference right les.
sees living and holding pr ference
right leases on this land. mostly
the common school land. and un-
der the terms of the enabling act.
approved June &c. 1906, and the
constitution. approved November IL.
1907. all the public lands cmbrac
ing sections lG and 36. H. and 30.
and an other indemnity lands are
to be- appraised at their reasonable
cash value, also the lasting valu-
able Improvements thereon; and
under the terms of the proposed
refer, udum bin providing for the
sale of these lands, the preference
righ, lcssees gets them at the high
est bid and IL there is no bid on
them then the pref renee right les
secs get them at their appraised
/ value. There Is 3.lOO.N75 acres OF
these lands situated In the follow
ing named counties. all of which Is
tory part OF the new state: Lo.
gan oklahoma. Cleveland Payne.
Noblc, Kay. Pottowatomie, Lincoln
/ Pawn,c, Garfield. Grant. Canadian,
hIugrishcr stephens. jefferson, Grr
/ d. Caddo Couauchc, Major, Alfalfa
ulano. Wood. Tilman. KioWa. Wash
la Custer. Dewey. Woodward, Jack
son, Harper. Greer, Bcckham, Roger
Nls, Ellis. Cmarron. Texas and
Beaver.
Every voter Ia the state will bc
called upon ON the 3rd day OF No
ycmDrr. 1905, to cast his vote eth.
err for or against the sale of these
lands. aud il is the duty of every
citizen i'm the state To study thi,
question thoroughly before YOU cast
Your vote either for or against the
sal. of these lands, as this is by
lar the most important question that
You will ever be- called upon to
pass upon. Every citizen should
have a civic pride In his state and
the public institutions of his state,
ANA remember that this Is all the
endowment that this state will ever
get, and We should look at this
question from the standpoint of pub,
| lie policy. as IL Is public policy In
/ which every man, woman ana child
is vitality interested in. as it is
/ yours.
some argue that these lands
should bee sold at once In order ia
| build up q state OF home owners
/ IN the place of tenant system
which is good logic and good argu
mcnt lmt the question is. which
/ is the best public policy, to sell
these lands at the present time or
| To hod them for five or ten years
| wish to submit YOU the follow
/ ing figures, showing you the net
rentals derived from these lands
since 1891:
/ 1891 .,..,,...............S i,5S6,s2
| lS92 '''..'..,,,..,. 2l,3i6.l3
| 1898 ........ ~....,,..,.., 1866