USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I > Part 96
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Mr. Link was born in Louisville, Ken- tucky, in 1860, and after being educated in that city became identified at an early age with mercantile pursuits, being located for several years in St. Louis and Kansas City. For eleven years he traveled in the interests of the Cudahy Packing Company, also several years for the McCord-Collins Company, wholesale grocers. His territory
was Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and other portions of the southwest, and the acquaint- ance formed with the substantial business men of this section was a very important factor in his success when he took up in- dependent business. He gave up all other business connections in 1905, in order to devote his entire time to the promotion of his mining interests in Colorado. He had made exhaustive study of mining, not only from the geological and scientific stand- point, but from the standpoint of the prac- tical business man conducting mining on a legitimate basis the same as any other busi- ness. He has applied strict business prin- ciples and management to every feature of his business, from the work of the pros- pector to the organization of the company, establishing the plants and installing ma- chinery, and as a result his enterprises have proved financially successful and have brought a large number of investors to pin their faith in his sound judgment and methods. He has a high standing in the business circles of Oklahoma City.
At Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Link mar- ried Miss Delphine H. Howard, a native of Minnesota, but who was reared in Wis- consin. In their pleasant home in Okla- homa City they have a family of four chil- dren : Hortense, Della, Louise, Harry H.
CHARLES NATHANIEL HASKELL was in- augurated the first governor of the state of Oklahoma, at high noon, November 16, 1907. He was then forty-seven years old, a lawyer by profession, but during most of his active career had been identified with more constructive enterprises. Until his entrance into the field of politics, and his rapid rise to prominence during the state- hood movement, he was probably the most active promoter of large industrial and business affairs in the city of Muskogee. One of the current bits of news concerning the governor is to the effect that when he arrived in Muskogee in 1901 he found the capital of the Creek Nation a dry, sleepy village of four thousand five hundred peo- ple, but that immediately on his arrival, the town took new life, business blocks were constructed (the governor built the first five-story business block in the Territory),
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street car lines and railroads were pro- moted, and through his influence Muskogee grew to be a center of business and indus- try with twenty thousand inhabitants.
Governor Haskell impresses the stranger who is unacquainted with his identity as governor, first of all, by his evident busi- ness ability, and this distinction of practical and astute executive capacity is more prom- inent than some of the less valuable charac- teristics that are often associated with statesmanship. In dealing with Mr. Has- kell, either in official or business affairs, one would expect straightforward, incisive handling of the subject under consideration. Circumlocution and specious argument would be out of place in the governor's office.
Governor Haskell had been identified with Indian Territory nearly seven years before he became governor. He came to Muskogee in March, 1901, as a railroad contractor, and has the honor of having organized and built all the railroads run- ning into that city with the exception of the M., K. & T., these being the O. & C. C., now part of the Frisco, the Muskogee Union and the Midland Valley, formerly the Muskogee Southern. It is said that he built and owned fourteen brick buildings in the city.
By birth and early training he was identified with the old state of Ohio. Born at West Leipsic, Putman county, in 1860, the son of a cooper who died when the boy was three years old, he had to begin life at an early age and worked hard for all he has attained. He became, when ten years old, hired boy to a farmer named Miller in Putman county, and grew towards manhood and developed strength and ca- pacity during the eight years that he con- tinued that relationship. Too much work interfered with regular attendance at school, and in studying books he experienced diffi- culties similar to many described in the careers of other eminent Americans. At eighteen he had fitted himself for the re- sponsibility of teaching district school, and for three years he taught in his native county. By 1880, having studied law in connection with other duties, he had be- come one of the successful lawyers of the
county seat, Ottawa, and was also an in- fluential Democrat in that section of Ohio. To that profession, in 1888, he added the practical phases of general contractor work, and for about sixteen years his business career brought him into close touch with this important department of American in- dustrialism.
The political career of Mr. Haskell in- cluded as its first important event his active membership in the Sequoyah convention, in which he wrote a large part of the Se- quoyah constitution. With this he became a permanent power in the politics of Indian Territory. For the constitutional conven- tion called in response to the enabling act of June 16, 1906, he was elected a delegate from the seventy-sixth district, including Muskogee, by the largest majority of any member in the entire new state. Mr. Has- kell owned the New State Tribune, and through its editorial columns advocated certain specific propositions for the new constitution, most of which he eventually saw, in substance if not in form, incorpo- rated in the basic law. Among these pro- visions were some that affected the labor problems, and which had been advocated by representatives of organized labor. It is said that Governor Haskell, during his busi- ness experience covering many years of handling and dealing with the various classes of labor, was particularly successful in avoiding difficulties, and never had a strike among his men. In 1905, when all the contractors of Indian Territory were having trouble with the labor unions, he immediately signed the scale and his men lost not an hour.
As constitutional delegate, Mr. Haskell was present at every roll-call and voted on every proposition during the eighty-seven days of the session. At Tulsa on March 26, 1907, during the recess before the final adoption of the constitution by the con- vention, was held the big Democratic ban- quet and love feast, attended by five or six hundred of the leading Democrats of the new state, at which the first campaign was formally inaugurated. It was during the course of that evening that Charles N. Haskell was presented by his friends for the honors of the gubernatorial candidacy.
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Thomas Doyle, of Perry, and Lee Cruce, of Ardmore, were already in the field for the governorship, and with the primaries set for June 8, Haskell had only brief time to present his cause to the people. During the campaign, Mr. Haskell make eighty- eight speeches in forty-five days, and reached nearly every county, while the lieu- tenants of the respective candidates were vigorously working the school districts and securing support in every community. The intensity of the campaign will long be remembered by those who passed through it. Haskell's victory in the primaries was gained by over four thousand majority, and he immediately confronted a new opponent in the opposite party, the Republican terri- torial governor, Frank Frantz, who was nominated at Tulsa. A former Rough Rider, a friend of the president, and with the federal prestige and support backing him, he was the strongest candidate the party could have presented. There were several interesting features of the cam- paign between the two candidates. Mr. Haskell challenged his opponent to joint public discussions throughout the state, and every problem concerned with the admin- istration of the new state came up and was debated during the campaign. It is claimed that the large corporate interests of the country joined in the opposition to the Democratic candidate, and that material support was furnished Haskell's opponent by the railroads and other trust interests. It is of interest to recall that both Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft spoke during the cam- paign, and the latter's disapproval of the constitution and his advice that the people vote against it undoubtedly reacted in favor of Democratic success. After Mr. Haskell's election and the approval of the constitu- tion on September 17, a Republican ap- proached the governor-elect and is reported to have said, "You have so written the con- stitution and carried on this fight in a way that the Republicans can't get anything in the state for fifty years." Mr. Haskell's eyes had a twinkle in them when he re- joined, "Well, that's soon enough, isn't it?"
It is too early to summarize the work of the first executive of the state, but it seems just to state that above the confusion and
small talk of party and factional politics, an observer can recognize an increasing sentiment and belief that the governor is a strong and effective leader, an organizer of variant factions when possible, and a fighter when necessary, and that besides be- ing successful in the game of politics, he has also shown the qualities of fearlessness and initiative that mark statesmanship and devotion to the public welfare. It will be interesting to know how closely future his- torians will identify his name with the con- structive legislation and administration of the new state.
Mr. Haskell was married October, 1881, to Miss Lucye Pomeroy, of Ottawa, Ohio. The three older children are by this mar- riage-Norman, a Muskogee lawyer; Mur- ray, a bank cashier; and Lucie. Their mother died in March, 1888, and for his present wife, Mr. Haskell married Lillie Gallup, also of Ottawa, Ohio. Their three children, Frances, Joe and Jane, are charm- ing young folks in the younger social set of the capital.
J. R. BAILEY .- The rich agricultural dis- trict of Oklahoma furnishes excellent op- portunity to the grain raiser and to him who places the products of the field upon the market. J. R. Bailey is now well known as a grain merchant of Enid, who for eight years has resided in the city. He was born in Springfield, Illinois, October 6, 1868, a son of J. I. and Minnie (Van Pelt) Bailey. The father was a native of Ohio and in early life accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois. In the late sixties he removed to Iowa and is now re- siding at West Branch, that state. He qualified in early manhood for the prac- tice of medicine and surgery and has at- tained more than local prominence as a physician, while a liberal patronage is ac- corded him in professional lines.
J. R. Bailey was educated in Iowa and Kansas, removing to the latter state in his boyhood days to live with his grandpar- ents. Early in his business career he was in the employ of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company for eleven years as agent and operator in Kansas, his capabil-
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ity being indicated by the fact of his long retention in that service, for it is well known that the railroads demand unfaltering fidel- ity and ability on the part of their repre- sentatives. In 1899 he came to Enid to ac- cept the position of manager of the J. Rosenbaum Grain Company of Chicago for the state of Oklahoma, including both Oklahoma and Indian Territory. This is a very extensive business, in which connec- tion Mr. Bailey controls the largest expor- tations of grain in the state. He is also vice president of the Choctaw Mill & Ele- vator Company. On coming to this place he entered upon a position of executive con- trol, and has subsequently bent his energies to organization, to constructive efforts and to administrative direction. Possessing broad, enlightened and liberal minded views, faith in himself and in the vast potentiali- ties for development inherent in his coun-
try's wide domain and specific needs along the distinct lines chosen for his life work, his has been an active career in which he has accomplished important and far-reach- ing results contributing in no small de- gree to the expansion and material growth of this section of the state and from which he is also deriving substantial benefits.
In 1889 Mr. Bailey was married to Miss Minnie Keith, a native of Hiawatha, Kan- sas, and they have one daughter, Mildred. Mr. Bailey belongs to the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and other socie- ties, and his fellow citizens recognize in him an enterprising, progressive man, who pos- sesses a determined spirit that enables him to overcome all difficulties in his path, and, while promoting his individual interests, to also advance the general welfare.
Vol. I.
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