Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-02-20

truth as God gave me light to see the
truth.
conditions did so arrange them
selves that II proved suitable to my
seif and family TO move from the
west side of oklahoma into "a town
IN the east side called Tulsa. While
! say east side and west side | use
the expression not to convey section
alism, for ] am but one Democracy.
united and vigilant.
The change from the west side to
the east side witnessed no great
change in my conception of the peo-
pie The pioneer still predomnated.
Inc same spirit with broke the soil
OF the western prairie again mani
rested itself in its relentless search
for the hidden treasures of nature,
sometimes thousands of feet below
the soil
a Wonderful Industry.
The problems Of the country in
which | am now located fast became
a study for me The daring of the
investor, the skill of the workman as
he sent his drill down thousands of
rect into the earth, all seemed Won
derful to me. The wonderful industry
or the people and the total lack of
labor trouble among the great indus
try interested me. l have been told
that there has never been a serious
disturbance among the laborine'
classes of the oil industry of Okla
homa One-half of the money eX-
pended within the oil country repre-
sents pay rolls for the employment
of labor ] found the farmer with his
team receiving from So to So a day,
and the average day laborer $2.50
per day. Skilled labor. such as drill
npG nd
50 to SS day. | saw great machine
shops rise up and he filled with labor
paid as high as 81 a day. saw
thousands of cars of oil well material
hauled over the railroads to add to
the earnings of the railroads, to be
responded to by increas sed taxes to the
state and railroad equipment and
earnings. l saw cities spring into be
ing, and the freight from thousands
Of homes bear testament that these
people have come to stay. / saw
hundreds of big iron tanks filled with
oil, and have daily seen the contents
grow until Oklahoma now has stored
within her borders over seventy mil
lion barrels of OIL on which taxes
must be paid in addition to the gross
production tax at rates from to 3
per cent. Oil is now worth S1.30 per
barrel. / saw millions and millions
of dollars given to the white farmer
and the Indian allottee in exchange
for a lease upon his lands. ] saw
hundreds and hundreds of thousands
of dollars invested in drilling holes
which proved absolutely dry and un-
profitable. / saw hundreds of thou
sands of dollars invested as rentals
which never has paid back one dollar
on the investment and which never
Will. l have seen mortgage after
mortgage lifted by reason of the
bonus money of the oil man. and
have seen these advance royalties and
advance rentals pay the taxes on the
farmers land and help educate his
children. ! have seen men grow rich
by reason of town lot promotion,
railroad building to remote oil fields
discovered only after hundreds of
thousands of dollars were first spent
by the oil men in repeated failures.
! saw great pipe line companies build
their trunk lines until the taxable
property represented by these pipe
lines amounts to "nroXimately 500
100000. Then did I ask, Does this
industry bear its true burden of gov
ernment? What about their taXes?'
Life and Property.
"Mr. Speaker, the two most poten-
tial powers of government are the
right to make its citizenship bear
arms and the right to make Its citi-
zenship pay taxes. One involves the
right to take life. and the other in
wolves the right to take property. The
great Judge Marshall when supreme
Justice of the United States made the
declaration that "The power to tax
carries with it the power to destroy"
lie fixed a responsibility upon the
taxing powers Of this government
bidding them to pause and think as
to their procedure. Let us well imi-
tate his prudence and conjecture
where we are now shifting.
"Mr. Speaker, should we raise the
taxes on the oil operator and the In
dian land owner and the farmer in
some instances 100 per cent? Should
we do this without the decency of
giving them hearing? This is not
only undemocratic, but it is unameri-
can. When this revenue bill origi-
mated in this house we had placed
upon 1t per cent gross production
tax and / heard no complaint that
the tax was too low. The senate has
kept the bill ten days and has re-
turned 1t with a tax about double,
and there are those present who de-
sire 1t railroaded through this body
without the mere formality of debate.
MT. Nptdhtl, tiiiS hoI tiiN ~ coi
which my Democracy stands for.
Again ! say that this is unamerican.
There can be tyranny in taxation now
as there was tyranny in the days of
the dawn of the American republic.
Principles Of good government remain
the same. A set of incorrect figures
should not excite us into crystallizing
injustice upon the statute book to
leer in the face of ambitious Democ-
racy for the months to come. Let us
analyze this matter. Mr.. Speaker,
let us reason together.
Average Production.
"Mr. Speaker, there are approx
mately fifty thousand oil wells in the
state of Oklahoma. The present pro-
duction of these wells is two hundred
and ninety thousand barrels Of oil
per day. This is less than six barrels
to the well. BY eliminating the
Cushing and Healdton fields the av-
erage daily production Of wells out
side of that district Is less than two
barrels per we'll The cost of drill
ing an oil well runs from $1,000 in
the Nowata field to $4,000 in the
Kay county field. Millions of dollars
have been invested in undeveloped
leases on which quarterly rentals are
paid by the oil men to the Indian
g.. l,,t