Oklahoma State Register. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 1908 Page: 1 of 8
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Oklahoma State Register.
GUTHRIE, OKLA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1908.
#1.00 PE1; 7EAR
SEVENTEENTH YEAR NO. 39
i i: < l s I o >
SH l l l'IM
TO PAY *4,000,000 A MONTH
Massachusetts Ballot a New
Movement for Intelligent
Voting and Popular Control
Prospective political gossip has it
that amendment of the election laws
will be one of the principal measures
that will occupy the attention of the
next legislature. Republicans specu-
late that the attempt will be made to
enact the "grandfather" clause and
other indirect correctives intended to
restrict the franchise of the negro
voter, and there is no doubt but many
plans are being prepared to control
districts that have shown weakness
at the last election. But in the long
run that party will hold control that
will continue to protect the interests
of the majority of the people than the
control of party, no matter at what
expense. That was the error of the
Republican party, in control under
the protection of federal patronage
and this will be the mistake the
Democrats will make it they pay more
attention to party success than the
prosperity of all the people
The inconvenience of the ballot was
greatly felt at the last election, and
it is agreed on all hands that an im-
provement would not be unwelcome
This same movement is felt all over
the country. William Allen White
thinks the Massachusetts ballot is the
next step to the freedom of the voter
and it may be a guide to the Okla
homa legislature, lu an article to the
Kansas City Times, Mr. White gives
this opinion:
A most marvelous growth in gov-
ernment by the people—fundamental
democracy—has occurred in America
during the past twenty years.
First came the secret "ballot, abol-
ishing direct, crass, raw bribery of
the voters, and with that bribery of
public servants has grown less and
less frequent. Then came publicity
of campaign expenses, which has be-
come so national in scope that the
people of any county and state may
know as well what it costs the can-
didate and the parties to conduct
every campaign as the people of the
nation know what it costs and where
the money comes from to conduct na-
tional campaigns.
The secret ballot and the purged
party are now national achievements,
and the direct primary for the nomi-
nation of every officer troin road over-
seer to United States senator is now
an accomplished fact in twenty-seven
American states—Oregon, Washing-
ton, North and South Dakota, Kan-
sas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Okla-
homa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan
Ohio, New Jersey, California (which
has just adopted a constitutional
amendment requiring it), Virginia,
North and South Carolina, Tennessee
Kentucky, Georgia. Florida. I/Juisi-
ana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas
and Texas.
The xt Step.
In the Northern states the primary
is compulsory. In the Southern
states the Democratic party makes it
universal. Here, then, in America, we
have the people coming into direct
control of their government. They
have broken the power of money in
Mall-Carylne Compensation Formerly
Was Quarterly.
Is Made by
t'nited States Supreme
Court.
ent voter. For that is the fact today.
The party that holds out the best in-
ducements for the support of inde-
pendent voters wins. For in every
North American state now the inde-
of power.
Yet for all his power he Is rankly
discriminated against by the Ameri
can ballot laws. Independent voting
is made difficult. The ballot is con-
structed to put a premium upon un-
intelligence. Emblems and circles at
the top of the ticket help the moss-
back yellow dog partisan and hinder
the Intelligent man who thinks for
himself. Many a man who desires to
cross his party lines fears that he
may invalidate his ballot by doing so,
To hold the voter to a party, wheth-
er in the Republican party or the
Democratic party, is to hold him in
political slavery. It is undemocratic;
it clogs the progress of a full and
free expression of the people's real
sentiment.
Equality in tlie Sew Ballot.
And in Massachusetts they have de-
vised a ballot which puts all men up-
on an equality. This Massachusetts
ballot does not put a premium upon
Independence; yet it does not fine it
and imprison it under an eagle or a
rooster or a pair of clasped hands or
in a circle. But this Massachusetts
ballot does make all men equal in the
booth and gives every party a chance
and every candidate a chance. For
it abolishes voting a whole ticket in
a circle.
It makes every man, whether he be
Republican, Socialist, Prohibitionist
or Democrat, pick out his party s can-
didates and vote for them, if he cares
to "vote 'er straight," and if he cares
by the second assistant postmaster
general. Heretofore it has been the by,
practice of the postofflce department
to make a quarterly payment for such
ice, but the railroads contended
that as a matter of right and justice
setlements should be made monthly ■
For some time past the Rock Island
system has pegotiated with the de-
partment to this end with the result
that notification was received yester-
day that, beginning January 1 next,
monthly payments would, be made.
The aggregate amount involved each
year is over $48,000,000, and the new-
ruling will have the effect of putting
in circulation a considerable sum
each month.
SWEEPING ORDER
ABOUT ACCIDENTS
Less of Life on Railroads Must Be
Telegraphed Commission.
Washington.—A ruling of vast lm-1 Washington, D. C-The supreme
portance to the railroads carrying ■ court has held that Secretary Hitch-
United States mails has been made cook had no right to strike from the
rolls of the five tribes John B. Golds-
Chlckasaw, and Ida B. and
George A. Ailisan. Cherokees, on
March 4, 1907, just as Secretary
Hitchcock retired and after these
Indians had been enrolled and had
selected their allotments. At toe
same time fifteen rnudred others
were stricken fro mthe rolls in the
same manner, it is expected that
the decision made today will cause
all of these to bring suits to be rein-
stated on the rolls, as their status is
the same. This decision reopens the
tribal rolls of the five tribes to all
such persons who were once enrolled,
but will not reopen them to other
applicants.
Cottonwood Cleaning
Will Stop West Side Flood-
Movement to Cle. h
OLD SOLDIERS PLAN
CAMP FIRE SESSION.
Members of 0. A. R. and Affiliated
Organizations to Convene
Periodically.
A comprehensive order in regard to
the reporting of railroad" wrecks and
accidents was issued Wednesday by
the state corporation commission. All
railroads and street railways are re-
quired to report by telegraph all ac-
cidents resulting in the loss of life or
limb or serious injury of the passen-
gers or employes; all derailment of
passenger trains, locomotives or cars
in passenger trains; all collisions in-
volving freight or passenger trains,
whether resulting in loss of life or
not; all explosions of boilers and ac-
cidents resulting in death or serious
injury to any perscon,* all bridge fail-
ures.
These reports must include the ex-
act date and place of the accident and
to cross his party lines it makes it the number killed or injured.
just as easy to do that as it is to
vote 'er straight.''
The per cent of straight ballots in
the Kansas or Missouri ballot box at
An additional report is required to
be made by mail, on forms furnished
by the commission, whether report
is made by wire or not. Mail reports
the last election was less than 30 per; only are required on accidents on rail
cent The mass of the people scratch roads or divisions used Jointly by two
their tickets. And as a result of our j or more roads, to be reported by the
Clumsv ballot laws the invalidated i company whose superintendent has
tickets caused by scratching is scan- direct supervision of the road or di-
dalously large. The few who vote vision in question; also on collsions
straight have the great advantage | as at crossings, of trains on two dif
over those who vote Independently. | ferent roads and on accidents of pri
This is not democracy. It is not vate siding or private tracks, to be
honest politics. It is unfair that 30 reported by the company whose en-
per cent should have their interests1 gine was on the track at the time,
considered ahead of 70 per cent of the
voters. And the Massachusetts bal-
lot, which is now one 'of the issues
upon which Governor Hughes of New-
York is making a fight, Is In the In-
terests of the masses at the polls and
against the classes.
What the Ballot Is.
Briefly, that ballot is this.
tickets are abolished. All candidates
for governor are placed together lr.
alphabetical order with their party-
designation after them. Thus in Kan-
sas the names of Stubbs, Bodkin and
the Prohibitionist and Socialist can-
didates would be placed one under the
other, and at the end of the line fol-
lowing each name would be placed the
candidate's party. Next to the party-
would be a square. And to vote for
RESULTS OF THE MASS
MEETING ON CONVENTION
Last Sunday afternoon about 3
o'clock, to the surprise of everyone,
the Cottonwood got out of its banks
and the West Side was more or less
flooded. There were none of the har-
rowing narrow escapes took place,
nor disasters happened the newspa-
pers gave out. The stopping of the
river channel by bridge tiling and
driftwood was mostly responsible
for the overflow, and the railroad
tracks happened to spread the water
over a wider area, while at the same
time it prevented a terrific current.
There was but one life lost. Be
cause he wished to be with his wife
who was sick, A. J. Whitney, superin-
tendent of the Farmers Cotton Seed
Oil Mill, after a hard day's work at-
tempting to save cotton from the
flood, made himself a raft out of two
barrels and a board at 7 o'clock and
The citizens mass meeting called in
the district court house, Wednesday
night to inquire after the progress of
building the Convention Hall, found ' SYNDICATE
Party 0ut the following facts:
The building will be completed in
time for the legislature.
Enid News.
Mrs. Vampner, state president of
the W. R. C„ of Guthrie, was in the
city yesterday in an official capacity.
The relief corps met at Masonic hall
at 3 o'clock and an Inspection was
held, after which a supper was served
to the members and their friends and
general good time enjoyed. Last
evening was the regular meeting
night of the G. A. R. and it was de-
cided to have an open meeting with
a program of short talks.
The speaker of the evening was
Rev. J. E. Wagner, pastor of the
First Methodist church, and his ad-
dress was listened to with interest
and highly appreciated. A reading
was given by Miss Gertrude Sproat
which was also well received. A
number of other features made the
program a regular old fashioned
campfire session.
The proceedings were presided over
by Commander Byran Covey, who. at
the close, asked for an expression as
to continuing the open meetings once
each month, and the unanimous vote
was in the affirmative.
Under this decision was also a pro-
vision that something to eat should
be furnished each time so that there
will be added attractions to the events
in the future.
In this a hope was expressed to in-
terest all of the G. A. R.. the W. R. C.
and Ladles of the G. A. R.. and also
the Sons of Veterans and Spanish
War Veterans in making the meet-
ings interesting.
years old and leaves a wife and three
children.
The barrels out of which Mr. Whit-
ney constructed part of his raft were
found lodged against the piers of the
D. E. and G. bridge Tuesday after-
noon. The plank which had been fas-
tened to them was missing. They
were identified by the employes at the
mill as having been used at the mill
for several weeks.
The hundreds of cattle reported
drowned at the Farmers Union Oil
Mill was reduced to one steer dead
from trampling under.
The rise of the river was slow and
everybody had a chance to get out, al-
though the water did great damage to
many residences and factories in the
bottom district.
The West Side citizens have de-
cided that the channel of the Cotton-
wood has to be cleaned out and
straightened. The bridges all act as
attempted to reach the higher ground „
1 ,al_ dams to back up the water. The rail-
leading to the city, and was sw
lowed up in the flood. A watchman
at the mill saw the raft and its anx-
ious passenger sweep down the cur-
re tnfor almost a hundred yards and
then lost sight of it in the gathering
darkness.
Mr. Whitney's fate was immediately
reported to his friends in town and
every effort has been made to find the
body, but so far without success. The
cottonseed oil mill has ottered a re-
ward of $25 for the body, and parties
are searching all along the banks.
A. J. Whitney came to Guthrie from
Garnett, Kan., in 1905. He was 32
I road bridges have too much piling'
and the city bridges are too narrow.
Even the new Fifth street bridge isn't
long enough, as the flood had to cut
the banks outside of the piers on both
ends, in order to get by.
The movement on the West Side is
to vote bonds to clean all this up. If
it were done the river would not get
out of the banks once In a century,
and the millions of dollars worth of
property would be saved by the ex-
penditure of a few hundred.
LATER:—Whitney', body was found
in the drift under the strtet car bridge
OKLAHOMA CITY HAS A FLOOD
Oklahoma City Times.
The first call of distress in Okla-
homa City from the great December
flood came from Superintendent Van
Dyke of the poor farm, who tele-
phoned Commissioner Carrico that the
farm was cut off from all communi-
cation with the world on account of
the rising tide of the Canadian.
The superintendent asked that boats support Dunn's candidacy in prefer-
be sent to his relief, which was done, j ence to that of the other candidates.
The entire poor farm is covered j It is said that the governor seems fa-
with water and most of the crop has jvorablv inclined to Dunn's candidacy,
been swept away, just enough being \ although he has not yet promised to
left to carry the county poor through support him.
Ex-Speaker Murray is using all the
influence at his command to land Mc-
Calla as speaker. McCalla was one
chair.
The business Interests of Oklahoma
City are backing Ed Dunn for speaker
of the houae and are trying to enlist
the support ot the other parts of the
state for him Mr. Dunn Is a promi-
nent real estate man of that city and
was formerly president of the real
estate exchange. Several delegations
of Oklahoma City citizens have called
upon Governor Haskell urging him to
BUYS
BIG
the winter.
Such floods are entirely unusual In
winter, and very few of them have
been recorded since the great Pauls
Valley flood of ten years ago last Jan-
LAND TRACT.
politics. The rich man has no e ^ ^ candidate, the voter simply marks
chance now than the poor man. j ^ that square Following the four
corporation candidate at last s a_ ^ j gubernatorial candidates is the list
disadvantage. The part} s> s Qf candidates running for secretary-
through which corporations wor e | q{ 8tate in alphabetical order. Fol-
of old to control the people is n j lowing them the four candidates for
becoming an organ of the peop e. treasurer, and so on down the line.
But another step is needed tojna^ ^ Every voter will have to vote for
one candidate in every list of offi-
cers, clear down to township officers.
the party more efficiently active for
the people. That step will be taken
when the party recognizes that its
success must come from the independ-
ANOTHER BLOW FOR BOSSES
Taft to Cary Out Civil Senile Ex-
tension to Postmasters.
Washington. Dec. l.-It was with
the hearty concurrence of Mr. Tart
that President Roosevelt placed the
fourth class postmasters in fourteen
states under civil service rules to-
day. The action was calculated as a
blow to the machine politicians.
Today's order is only a forerunner
of tfther orders that will place all the
fa(irth class postmasters of the coun-
try within the classified service and
lrtiake their tenure of office dependent
'solely upon ttielr efficiency an(l thelr
(good behavior. Mr. Taft is pledged
Oo continue the extension of the clas-
sified service after he has become
President. The states included In the
President's order today are Pennsyl-
vania, all of New England. New York,
Nevy Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana.
WiFconsin and Michigan
The Scope of the Order.
Tl)e number of postmasters affected
Is n.488 out of 54,312 In the fourth
clast, in the country
He can't simply pick out the rooster
and vote for a rooster, or do his pa-
triotic duty by voting for a spread
ing eagle. The ballot is not for chil-
dren. but for thinking citizens.
But, on the other hand, no man can
invalidate his ballot. He can't lose
his vote by Ignorance. If he votes for
two men for the same office, he sim-
ply loses his vote on that one office
He doesn't have his intention ques-
tioned and his ballot thrown out
It is all so smiple and so direct and
so sensible that there can be no ar
gument against it
Moreover the cost of the ballot
would save every county from $200 to
$400 at every election. For the ballot
is much smaller than the one now In
ogue In Kansas and that In Missouri
The Massachusetts ballot as it
printed Is ten by sixteen inches except
in presidential elections when it
•sixteen by eighteen, or about half the
size of the Kansas or Missouri bal
lots. The saving in printing is a real
item in the cost of elections, and
should be considered.
It Abolishes Party Slavery.
But even if the Massachusetts bal
lot cost twice as much as the ballot
(Continued on Page 8.)
I State Officers Organize to Open 130,-
It will be only able to hold the Su-
preme Court, the criminal appeal
court, the attorney general, the pub-
lic library, commissioner of labor,
commissioner of charities.
The basement of 100 by 80 feet, un-
der the center auditorium, is not to
be finished into rooms.
The people were informed there
was never any intention of giving
them an auditorium to hold large aud-
iences. The paotition dividing the
two legislative rooms, that they
thought was to be temporary, has
been made permanent, at a cost of
$5,000 with galleries and marble
stairways.
The $30,000 voted for paving, curb-
ing, and sidewalking around the Cap-
ital square, and laying approaching
walks to the building, will not be |
available in time to make these im-
provements. Temporary cross-
ings will be made by the city.
So far there has been no arrange-
ments made to run the street car line
up to the square.
J. R. Cottingham was chairman, H.
F. Ardery secretary.
A. O. Farquharson, Felix Adler,
John Golobie, Mayor Barnes, Coun-
cilman Wm. Spurlock, Councilman
E. A. Douglass, H. W. Pentecost. W.
T. Walker, D. R. Cotton, Judge John
H. Burford, Ed C. Petersen, J. M.
Brooks, F. H. Greer, Walter Warren,
F. H. McGuIre, E. F. Shinn, J. R.
Cottingham discussed the various fea-
tures of the controversy.
000 Acres in Texus.
HIGH SCHOOL TAKES
GAME FROM OTOES
The Logan County High School
football team defeated the Otoe In-
dians by the score of 5 to 0 in an
exciting game at Electric park on
Thanksgiving day. The high school
outclassed the redskins in team work
and systematic working of new fea-
ture plays, making good gains by
punting and forward pass plays.
Leo Meyer, assistant secretary of
state, has confirmed the rumors of the
transfer to a syndicate of Oklahoma
capitalists of 130.000 acres of land in
Presidio county, Texas, being a part
of the estate of the late Milton Toole,
of St. Joseph, Mo. The land has been
conveyed by Col. J. D. Cameron, of
Kansas City, Mo., who bought it from
the Toole estate some years ago, to
Mr. Meyer, as trustee for the new-
company. ,
Mr. Meyer is himself one of the
heaviest stockholders in the new-
company, which Includes several oth-
er state officers, among them State
Superintendent E. D. Cameron, Roy
C. Oakes, secretary of the state bank-
ing board; John M. Hayes, auditor
of the school land department, and
Robert E. Lozier, dispensary superin-
tendent. Col. J. D. Cameron, of Kan-
sas City, who has Just sold his hold-
ings to the syndicate, and Hathaway
Harper, of Oklahoma City, are also in
on the deal. Supt. E. D. Cameron is
to be the president of the new com-
pany.
The land purchase is on the Rio
Grande. It has a county seat, with a
court house costing $150,000. and elec
trie lights. The land has coal and
quicksilver mines, and the Orient rail-
road runs through It. It Is 100 miles
south of El Paso. One hundred bush-
els of wheat to the acre was the sur-
prise that the Country Life Commis-
sion received when it reached El Paso.
The story came out of the Rio Grande
valley of which El Paso county is a
part. Oscar Snow is the name of the
farmer who startled t:ie commission.
Mr. Snow said that many farmers
were abandoning the growing of al-
falfa because the land was too valu
The water near Delmar gardens is
within four inches of the heighth it
reached last May and the river is still
rising, and at 3 o'clock this afternoon
promises to reach an inch of the May
water mark.
The river rose one ?oot this morn-
ing between 5 and S o'clock and four
inches between 8 o'clock and noon.
To the west of Oklahoma City the
waters seem to be at a standstill.
BLACKWELL
MAN-
DAMCS DISMISSED
The supreme court in a unanimous
opinion dismissed the mandamus ac-
tion brought by citizens of Blackwell
to compel Secretary- of State Cross to
relocate the geographical center of
Kay county and exclude the Chilocco
Indian reservation as a part of the
county, upon the grounds that the
suit was prematurely brought, there-
fore not considering the principal
point raised in the case, which is
whether the Chilocco reservation is a
part of Kay county or not. The court,
however, holds that the secretary of
state, under the county seat election
law, is not required to designate the
exact geographical center of the coun-
ty until after the election has been
held and a question then raised as to
whether the former temporary county
seat was within the six mile radius of
the exact geographical center of the
county.
PLAN TO HOLD THE
RADICALS IN (HECK.
of the favorites of the Murray orga-
nization last winter and was often
placed in the speaker's chair to pre-
side temporarily by Murray. McCalla
proved to be a man after Murray's
heart and ruled with the same arbi-
trary- severity as did Alfalfa Bill.
ti is said that Murray recently
wrote to Governor Haskell asking him
to get in line for McCalla for speaker
and threatening to dissolve all po-
litical alliances with the governor it
Haskell did not "head into" the Mc-
Calla band wagon.
Bert Tillotson of Nowata is popu-
lar with the oil met of the East side
and belongs to the conservative wing
of the Democracy. He was one of the
band of insurgents who last winter
rebelled at Speaker Murray's arbi-
trary rulings *ud his radical tenden-
cies and who framed up a deal to de-
pose Murray from the speakership.
This plan, however, was not carried
out, fearing that it Would injure the
party and block further legislation.
The only thing that handicaps Tillot-
son In his speakership race is the fact
that his seat is contested. This will
make the success of his candidacy
rather doubtful.
JAP NOTES MADE PUBLIC.
With the Agreement Are Letter*
from Mr. Root nnd Mr. Taknhira
They Must Not Be Allowed to Run
Rampant.
Kansas City Journal.
The conservative busines interests
of Oklahoma are making a united ef-
fort to secure the election of a speak-
er of the house in the coming legisla-
ture, a man who will not allow the
radicals to run rampant. The busi-
ness interests believe that the, time
has come for safe and sane legisla-
tion framed equally in the Interests of
able. This statement was so unusual au classes of the state, and will stren-
that the commissioners wished to 1 U0UBiy oppose the elevation of anv
Washington, Dec. 1.—The notes ex-
changed between the United States
and Japan "declaring their policy in
the Far East," which have been the
subject of correspondence between
Elihu Root, Secretary of State, and
Ambassador Takahtra for some
months, were made public at the
State department tonight.
Accompanying the declaration are
two letters, one from Mr. Takahlra
and one from Mr. Root. Mr. Taka-
hlra expresses the belief that a frank
avowal of the aims, policy and inten-
tion of the two governments in the
Pacific would not only tend to
strengthen the relations ot friend-
ship between the two nations, but
would matrlally contribute to the
preservation of the general peace.
Mr. Root says that "this expression ot
mutual understanding Is welcome to
(Continued on Page 5.)
I radical Democrat to the speaker s the government of the United States."
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Golobie, John. Oklahoma State Register. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 1908, newspaper, December 3, 1908; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc112626/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.