USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II > Part 30
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"You allow the arid end, Oklahoma, to locate the State capital, to locate all of the public institutions, the penitentiary, the State colleges, to get all of the benefits, and then you graciously admit hereafter these people in the other end to come in as wards in chancery, or as subjects to pay taxes. To support such a scheme is an outrage. Therefore, I never will vote for the statehood bill as it is now presented to us, and when people claim my vote, I want them to understand that it belongs to me, and I stand here as a representative of a State which believes in equality and justice and decent treatment of white people at least."
In the second session of the Fifty-eighth Congress-House Bill No. 10,010, by Representative James M. Robinson, of Indiana; House Bills Nos. 14,671 and 14,749, both by Representative Edward L. Hamilton, of Michigan; and Senate Bill No. 3,625, by Senator Matthew S. Quay, of Pennsylvania. The Robinson Bill was intro- duced for the purpose of enabling Oklahoma and the Indian Terri- tory to be admitted as one state, as were also Mr. Hamilton's first bill and the Quay Bill in the Senate. Mr. Hamilton's second bill (House Bill 14,749) was an omnibus bill in that it sought to
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provide joint statehood for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory and joint statehood for Arizona and New Mexico. There was comparatively little opposition in the House on the proposed union of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory in the formation of one state, though Mr. Moon, of Tennessee, did manifest grave concern over the proposed proceeding because it did not offer to the people of the Indian Territory an alternative vote on the matter. Most of the debate over the bill was on the proposed union of Arizona and New Mexico in the formation of one state. After extended debate and a number of amendments, this measure, commonly known as the Hamilton Statehood Bill, passed the House of Rep- resentatives, April 19, 1904.
When the Hamilton Statehood Bill was sent to the Senate, it was referred to the Committee on Territories, which did not render any report until after the beginning of the last session.
THE OMNIBUS STATEHOOD BILL TALKED TO DEATH
Doggedly persevering, Senator Quay continued to make a fight for a vote on the Omnibus Statehood Bill. Always some senator would object that he had not yet "concluded speaking" on the question. And so, from day to day the motion to set a date upon which a vote could be taken on the measure was deferred. As the end of the session drew near, important appropriation bills con- sumed a relatively larger proportion of each day in the Senate until, finally the Omnibus Statehood Bill was crowded out alto- gether. It may be said that the attempt to force the Omnibus Statehood Bill through the Senate, and that, too, early in the session and practically without debate, indicated the highwater mark of the separate statehood movement in Oklahoma. To be sure, other separate statehood bills were destined to be introduced in Congress but with small expectation that they would receive any serious consideration.
Another convention, in the interest of single statehood, was held at Shawnee, July 24, 1903. At this meeting a permanent organization, known as the Single Statehood Executive Committee, was effected. This committee, of which Charles G. Jones, of Okla- homa City, was chairman, and Henry P. Robbins, of MeAlester, was secretary, kept up a continuous organization from that time until the passage of the Enabling Act, nearly three years later.
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STATEHOOD IN THE FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
In the first (special) session of the Fifty-eighth Congress, three bills proposing statehood for Oklahoma were introduced. On the first day of the session (November 9, 1903), Representative Stephens, of Texas, introduced a bill (House Bill No. 24) "to provide for the Union of Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory and to enable the people thereof to form a constitution and state government, and to be admitted into the Union as the State of Oklahoma, on an equal footing with the original states, and to make donations of public lands to said state." On the 18th of November, Delegate McGuire introduced House Bill No. 4,078, which was a single statehood measure. On the 23d of November, Senator Quay introduced Senate Bill No. 1,693, which was also designed to provide for separate statehood for Oklahoma Territory alone.
When it was reported, it became the subject of extensive amend- ment and debate. It finally passed the Senate in amended form, providing for the admission of Oklahoma and New Mexico but elim- inating all reference to Arizona. The House of Representatives nonconcurred in the Senate amendments and statehood legislation was deadlocked for the time being, Speaker Cannon refusing to permit any change in the House rules.
The last statehood convention was held at Oklahoma City, July 12, 1905. It was a comparatively harmonious gathering, as there was little reason for anyone to hold further hope for the possi- bility of separate statehood. In December, following, a delegation of nearly 100 representative citizens went to Washington, where several weeks were spent interviewing members of the Senate and House of Representatives in the interest of Statehood for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory.
THE PASSAGE AND APPROVAL OF THE ENABLING ACT
In the Fifty-ninth Congress, a number of statehood bills were introduced during the first session. Senate Bill No. 1,158, by Senator Beveridge, proposed joint statehood for the Oklahoma and Indian Territory and joint statehood for Arizona and New Mexico. In the House of Representatives, three bills (Nos. 183, 441 and 3,186) were introduced by Representatives Frank Clark, of Florida ; Stephens, of Texas; and Hamilton, of Michigan. Mr. Hamilton subsequently introduced two more statehood measures (Nos. 10,719
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and 12,707) both of which were omnibus bills, proposing statehood for Arizona and New Mexico as well as for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. House Bill No. 12,707, popularly known as the Hamilton Statehood Bill, passed the House of Representatives after debate and amendment, January 25, 1906. Thence it went to the Senate, where practically all of the debate related to Arizona and New Mexico. On March 9, 1906, the Senate voted to strike out all reference to Arizona and then voted to admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory as one state. The House of Representatives refused to concur in the amendments and three months were spent in the deadlock on statehood legislation. After several conferences, each house receded from some of the disputed points upon which there had been insistence and agreement was finally reached, on the 14th of June. President William H. Taft approved the Hamil- ton Statehood Bill as finally passed, and the end of the protracted state of political tutelage was at last in sight.
PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF THE BILL
The Hamilton Statehood Bill consisted of forty-three sections, the first eighteen of which related only to the proposed State of Oklahoma. The whole measure was drawn up in such a way as to conform as nearly as possible to the language of previous enabling acts and contained many provisions that had been common to most of them, together with such additional provisions as were found to be necessary or expedient because more recently enacted laws, Indian treaties or peculiar local conditions.
The constitutional convention of Oklahoma was to be composed of 112 delegates. The constitution to be framed was to conform to the usual requirements in that it was to be republican in form and was to be submitted to a vote of the duly qualified voters for approval or rejection, and the state was to be formally admitted into the Union by proclamation of the President of the United States.
The state was to be divided into two Federal judicial districts and was to be attached to the Eighth Judicial District. Provision was made in the usual way for pending causes in the Territorial courts and for the transfer of unfinished business therefrom to the State courts at the proper time.
Five seats in the National House of Representatives were ap- portioned to the new state, and the Congressional districts were established and their boundaries defined to remain unchanged until
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after the next decennial Federal census should be available as a basis for a reapportionment. The new state was to assume and pay all outstanding indebtedness due from the territory.
Proper provision was made for the maintenance of a system of common schools. The state was to be given two sections of non- mineral land in each township within the limits of the Territory of Oklahoma for the support of the common schools, which were to be non-sectarian in character. The sum of $5,000,000 was also to be given to Oklahoma in lieu of similar lands which could not be set apart in the Indian Territory because of Indian ownership and because of the great expense to which the state would be put in establishing schools where none existed prior to the establishment of the state government.
The capital of the state was to remain at Guthrie until 1913 after which time it might be located elsewhere by vote of the people. The sum of $100,000 was appropriated for the purpose of defray- ing the expense of the constitutional convention.
The sale of intoxicating liquor in that part of the State which had been comprised in the Indian Territory and unopened Indian reservations in Oklahoma Territory was to be prohibited for a period of twenty-one years.
OKLAHOMA ENABLING ACT
The text of the Enabling Act, as it applied to Oklahoma, was as follows :
An Act To enable the people of Oklahoma and of the Indian Territory to form a constitution and State government and be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States; and to enable the people of New Mexico and of Arizona to form a constitution and State government and be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of all that part of the area of the United States now constituting the Territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, as at present described, may adopt a constitution and become the State of Oklahoma, as hereinafter provided: Provided, That nothing contained in the said constitution shall be construed to limit or impair the rights of person or property pertaining to the Indians of said Territories (so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished) or to limit or affect the authority of the Govern-
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ment of the United States to make any law or regulation respect- ing such Indians, their lands, property or other rights by treaties, agreement, law or otherwise, which it would have been compe- tent to make if this Act had never been passed.
Sec. 2. That all male persons over the age of twenty-one years, who are citizens of the United States, or who are members of any Indian nation or tribe in said Indian Territory and Okla- homa, and who have resided within the limits of said proposed State for at least six months next preceding the election, are hereby authorized to vote for and choose delegates to form a constitu- tional convention for said proposed State ; and all persons qualified to vote for said delegates shall be eligible to serve as delegates; and the delegates to form such convention shall be one hundred and twelve in number, fifty-five of whom shall be elected by the people of the Territory of Oklahoma, and fifty-five by the people of Indian Territory, and two shall be elected by the electors resid- ing in the Osage Indian Reservation in the Territory of Okla- homa; and the governor, the chief justice, and the secretary of the Territory of Oklahoma shall apportion the Territory of Okla- homa into fifty-six districts, as nearly equal in population as may be, except that such apportionment shall include as one district the Osage Indian Reservation, and the governor, the chief jus- tice, and the secretary of the Territory of Oklahoma shall appoint an election commissioner who shall establish voting precincts in said Osage Indian Reservation, and shall appoint the judges for election in said Osage Indian Reservation; and two delegates shall be elected from said Osage district; and the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, and two judges of the United States courts for the Indian Territory, to be designated by the President, shall constitute a board, which shall apportion the said Indian Terri- tory into fifty-five districts, as nearly equal in population as may be, and one delegate shall be elected from each of said districts; and the governor of said Oklahoma Territory, together with the judge senior in service of the United States courts in Indian Ter- ritory, shall, by proclamation in which such apportionment shall be fully specified and announced, order an election of the delegates aforesaid, in said proposed State at a time designated by them within six months after the approval of this act, which proclama- tion shall be issued at least sixty days prior to the time of holding said election of delegates. The election for delegates in the Terri- tory of Oklahoma and in said Indian Territory shall be con- ducted, the returns made, the result ascertained, and the cer- tificates of all persons elected to such convention issued in the same manner as is prescribed by the laws of the Territory of Okla- homa regulating elections for Delegates to Congress. That the election laws of the Territory of Oklahoma now in force, as far as applicable and not in conflict with this Act, including the penal laws of said Territory of Oklahoma relating to elections and illegal voting, are hereby extended to and put in force in said Indian Territory until the legislature of said proposed State shall
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otherwise provide, and until all persons offending against said laws in the election aforesaid shall have been dealt with in the manner therein provided. And the United States courts of said Indian Territory shall have the same power to enforce the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma, hereby extended to and put in force in said Territory, as have the courts of the Territory of Oklahoma : Provided, however, That said board to apportion districts in Indian Territory shall, for the purpose of said election, appoint an elec- tion commissioner for each district who shall distribute all ballots and election supplies to the several precincts in his district, receive the election returns from the judges in precincts, and deliver the same to the canvassing board herein named, established and define the necessary election precinets, and appoint three judges of elec- tion for each precinct, not more than two of whom shall be of the same political party, which judges may appoint the necessary clerk or clerks; that said judges of election, so appointed, shall supervise the election in their respective precincts, and canvass and make due return of the vote cast, to the election commissioner for said district who shall deliver said returns, poll books, and ballots to said board, which shall constitute the ultimate and final canvassing board of said election, and they shall issue cer- tificates of election to all persons elected to such convention from the various districts of the Indian Territory, and their certificates of election shall be prima facie evidence as to the election of dele- gates : Provided further, That in said Indian Territory and Osage Indian Reservation, nominations for delegate to said constitu- tional convention may be made by convention, by the Republican, Democratic, and People's Party, or by petition in the manner pro- vided by the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma; and certifi- cates and petitions of nomination in said Indian Territory shall be filed with the districting and canvassing board who shall per- form the duties of election commissioner under said law, and shall prepare, print, and distribute all ballots, poll books, and election supplies necessary for the holding of said election under said laws. The capital of said State shall temporarily be at the city of Guthrie, in the present Territory of Oklahoma and shall not be changed therefrom previous to anno Domini nineteen hundred and 'thirteen, but said capital shall, after said year, be located by the electors of said State at an election to be provided for by the legislature : Provided, however, That the legislature of said State, except as shall be necessary for the convenient transaction of the public business of said State at said capital, shall not appro- priate any public moneys of the State for the erection of build- ings for capitol purposes during such period.
Sec. 3. That the delegates to the convention thus elected shall meet at the seat of government of said Oklahoma Territory on the second Tuesday after their election, excluding the day of election in case such day shall be Tuesday, but they shall not receive com- pensation for more than sixty days of service, and, after organ- ization, shall declare, on behalf of the people of said proposed
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State, that they adopt the Constitution of the United States; whereupon the said convention shall, and is hereby authorized to, forin a constitution and State government for said proposed State. The constitution shall be republican in form, and make no disinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, and shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. And said convention shall provide in said constitution-
First. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that no inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship, and that polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited.
Second. That the manufacture, sale, barter, giving away, or otherwise furnishing, except as hereinafter provided, of intoxicat- ing liquors within those parts of said State now known as the Indian Territory and the Osage Indian Reservation and within any other parts of said State which existed as Indian reservations on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and six, is prohibited for a period of twenty-one years from the date of the admission of said State into the Union, and thereafter until the people of said State shall otherwise provide by amendment of said constitution and proper State legislation. Any person, individual or corporate, who shall manufacture, sell, barter, give away, or otherwise furnish any intoxicating liquor of any kind, including beer, ale, and wine, contrary to the provisions of this section, or who shall, within the above-described portions of said State, advertise for sale or solicit the purchase of any such liquors, or who shall ship or in any way convey such liquors from other parts of said State into the por- tions hereinbefore described, shall be punished, on conviction thereof, by fine not less than fifty dollars and by imprisonment not less than thirty days for each offense: Provided, That the legis- lature may provide by law for one agency under the supervision of said State in each incorporated town of not less than two thousand population in the portions of said State hereinbefore described ; and if there be no incorporated town of two thousand population in any county in said portions of said State, such county shall be entitled to have one such agency, for the sale of such liquors for medicinal purposes; and for the sale, for industrial purposes, of alcohol which shall have been denaturized by some process approved by the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue; and for the sale of alcohol for scientific purposes to such scientific institu- tion, universities, and colleges as are authorized to procure the same free of tax under the laws of the United States; and for the sale of such liquors to any apothecary who shall have executed an approved bond, in a sum not less than one thousand dollars, con- ditioned that none of such liquors shall be used or disposed of for any purpose other than in the compounding of prescriptions or other medicines, the sale of which would not subject him to the payment of the special tax required of liquor dealers by the United
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States, and the payment of such special tax by any person within the parts of said State hereinabove defined shall constitute prima facie evidence of his intention to violate the provisions of this section. No sale shall be made except upon the sworn statement of the applicant in writing setting forth the purpose for which the liquor is to be used, and no sale shall be made for medicinal pur- poses except sales to apothecaries as hereinabove provided unless such statement shall be accompanied by a bona fide prescription signed by a regular practicing physician, which prescription shall not be filled more than once. Each sale shall be duly registered, and the register thereof, together with the affidavits and the pre- scriptions pertaining thereto, shall be open to inspection by any officer or citizen of said .State at all times during business hours. Any person who shall knowingly make a false affidavit for the purpose aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of perjury. Any physi- cian who shall prescribe any such liquor, except for treatment of disease which after his own personal diagnosis he shall deem to require such treatment, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished for each offense by fine of not less than two hundred dollars or 'by imprisonment for not less than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment ; and any person connected with any such agency who shall be convicted of making any sale or other disposition of liquor contrary to these provisions shall be punished by imprison- ment for not less than one year and one day. Upon the admission of said State into the Union these provisions shall be immediately enforceable in the courts of said State.
Third. That the people inhabiting said proposed State do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title in or to any unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian tribe, or nations; and that until the title to any such public land shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the jurisdiction, disposal, and control of the United States. That land belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the limits of said State shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the land belonging to residents thereof; that no taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property belonging to or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States or reserved for its use.
Fourth. That the debts and liabilities of said Territory of Oklahoma shall be assumed and paid by said State.
Fifth. That provisions shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of said State and free from sectarian control ; and said schools shall always be conducted in English : Provided, that nothing herein shall preclude the teaching of other languages in said public schools: And provided further, That this shall not be construed to prevent the establishment and maintenance of sep- arate schools for white and colored children.
Sixth. That said State shall never enact any law restricting
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or abridging the right of suffrage on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 4. That in case a constitution and State government shall be formed in compliance with the provisions of this Act the conven- tion forming the same shall provide by ordinance for submitting said constitution to the people of said proposed State for its ratifi- cation or rejection at an election to be held at a time fixed in said ordinance, at which election the qualified voters for said proposed State shall vote directly for or against the proposed constitution, and for or against any provisions separately submitted. The re- turns of said election shall be made to the secretary of the Ter- ritory of Oklahoma, who, with the chief justice thereof and the senior judge of the United States court of appeals for the Indian Territory, shall canvass the same; and if a majority of the legal votes cast on that question shall be for the constitution the governor of Oklahoma Territory and the judge senior in service of the United States court of appeals for the Indian Territory shall certify the result to the President of the United States, together with the statement of the votes cast thereon, and upon separate articles or propositions and a copy of said constitution, articles, propositions, and ordinances. And if the constitution and govern- ment of said proposed State are republican in form, and if the provisions in this Act have been complied with in the formation thereof, it shall be the duty of the President of the United States, within twenty days from the receipt of the certificate of the result of said election and the statement of votes cast thereon and a copy of said constitution, articles, propositions, and ordinances, to issue his proclamation announcing the result of said election; and thereupon, the proposed State of Oklahoma shall be deemed admitted by Congress into the Union, under and by virtue of this Act, on an equal footing with the original States. The original of said constitution, articles, propositions, and ordinances, and the election returns, and a copy of the statement of the votes cast at said election, shall be forwarded and turned over by the secretary of the Territory of Oklahoma to the State authorities of said State.
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