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 39
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7 President Roosevelt's reply to the letter of the president of the Constitutional Convention was not published.
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librarian of the territorial library, whose death had occurred May 7th, during the recess, after which the officers and delegates signed the constitution in its amended form and the convention adjourned.
THE ELECTION PROCLAIMED
On the 24th of July, Governor Frantz issued a proclamation, giving due notice that, on Tuesday, the 17th day of September, . 1907, a general election should be held for the purpose of giving the duly qualified electors of the proposed State of Oklahoma an opportunity to adopt or reject the constitution which had been formulated and submitted by the convention elected therefor; for the adoption or rejection of the separate proposition for state-wide prohibition of the liquor traffic; and for the election of state, dis- trict, county and township officers. The text of the proclamation of Governor Frantz was as follows :
ELECTION PROCLAMATION.
To the Public, Greeting :
Whereas, Pursuant to an Act of Congress entitled : "An Act to enable the people of Oklahoma and of the Indian Territory to form a Constitution and State Government and to 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 to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states," approved June 16, 1906, and hercinafter referred to as the "Enabling Act," Delegates were duly elected ; and,
Whereas, Said Delegates so elected did, on the second Tuesday after said election, meet at the City of Guthrie, the seat of Govern- ment of said Oklahoma Territory, and organized as a Convention ; and,
Whereas, After such organization said Delegates in Convention assembled, did declare that they adopted the Constitution of the United States on behalf of the people of the proposed State of Oklahoma ; and,
Whereas, Said Constitutional Convention did, by ordinance irrevocable, accept the terms and conditions of said Enabling Act : and,
Whereas, Said Convention did thereupon form a Constitution and State Government for said proposed State of Oklahoma; and.
Whereas, In pursuance of a resolution of said Convention, the said Constitution of said proposed State of Oklahoma engrossed and enrolled upon parchment, signed by the officers of said Con- vention and certain members thereof, and attested by the Secretary of the Territory of Oklahoma under the Great Seal of said Territory
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of Oklahoma, was on the 22nd day of July, A. D., 1907, filed in the office of said Secretary and is now on file in said office; and,
Whereas, Said Convention did, after said Constitution and State Government for said proposed State of Oklahoma had been so formed as aforesaid, provide by ordinance, as amended on the 15th day of July, A. D., 1907, entitled :
"An ordinance providing for an election at which the proposed Constitution for the proposed State of Oklahoma shall be sub- mitted to the people thereof for ratification or rejection, and sub- initting separately to the people of the proposed State of Oklahoma the proposed Prohibition article, making, substantially, the terms of the Enabling Act uniformly applicable to the entire State for ratification or rejection, and for the election of certain State, District, County and Township Officers provided for by said pro- posed Constitution, and for the election of members of the Legis- lature of said proposed State of Oklahoma, and five Representa- tives to Congress," for submitting said proposed Constitution to the people of said proposed State and for its ratification or rejec- tion at an election to be held at a time fixed in said amended ordi- nance, to-wit, on the 17th day of September, A. D., 1907, at which election the qualified voters for said proposed State shall vote directly for or against said proposed Constitution, and for or against any provisions separately submitted ; and,
Whereas, By said amended ordinance it is provided, that at said election a separate provision adopted by said Convention, that is to say, a proposition as to whether or not the manufacture, sale, barter, giving away or otherwise furnishing intoxicating liquors shall be permitted in said proposed State for a period of twenty- one years from the date of its admission into the Union, and here- after until the people of the State otherwise provide by amendment of said Constitution and proper State legislation, the said proposi- tion being, "Shall the provisions for Statewide Prohibition be Adopted ?" and,
Whereas, It is provided by said amended ordinance, that, at the time and place of said election for the ratification or rejection of said proposed Constitution, there shall be held an election for officers for a full State Government, including all the elective State, District, County and Township Officers, provided for by the pro- visions of said Constitution, members of the Legislature and five Representatives to Congress ; and,
Whereas, Said amended ordinance, certified by the President and Secretary of said Convention, was on the 22nd day of July, A. D., 1907, filed in the office of the Secretary of said Territory of Oklahoma and is now on file in said office; and,
Whereas, Section twenty-one (21) of said amended ordinance makes it the duty of the Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma to issue proclamation giving the public notice of the time and place of holding said election,
Now, therefore, I, Frank Frantz, Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma, by authority of said amended ordinance, do hereby make
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proclamation giving notice that the elections hereinbefore men- tioned and provided for will be held in each and all election and voting precincts in each and every County and District in and throughout the said proposed State of Oklahoma, on Tuesday, the 17th day of September, A. D., 1907, at and between the hours of said day fixed by law, at which elections the qualified electors for said proposed State of Oklahoma shall vote directly for or against the said proposed Constitution, and for or against the separate provision separately submitted as aforesaid, and for any and all of the elective officers for a full State Government, State, District, County and Township, and members of the Legislature and Repre- sentatives to Congress hereinbefore mentioned.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the Territory of Oklahoma to be affixed thereto, at the City of Guthrie, County of Logan, Territory of Oklahoma, this 24th day of July, A. D., 1907.
FRANK FRANTZ,
(SEAL) Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma. Attest :
CHAS. H. FILSON,
Secretary of Oklahoma Territory.
THE CONSTITUTION
The constitution framed by the Oklahoma convention was, and is, in many ways, a remarkable document. As it was finally sub- mitted to a vote of the people for ratification, it consisted of twenty- four articles and the schedule and contained in all no less than 346 sections, some of which contained several paragraphis each.
It was generally regarded as one of the most radical instru- ments of its class that had been yet formulated and adopted, as well as one of the most comprehensive, containing about 45,000 words in all. It embodied much matter in detail that, in other and older states, was covered by statutory legislative enactments. One of its most important features was and is Article IX, which deals with corporations in general and with the duties and powers of the State Corporation Commission, in particular. This com- mission is clothed with supreme authority in all matters pertaining to public service corporations. The rights of the initiative and the referendum were reserved to the people of the state, both in legislation and in constitutional changes, and to the people of the various municipalities in the matter of local ordinances or charters. The eight hour day was given constitutional recognition in all public work and in the mines of Oklahoma. It was provided that the defense of contributory negligence should be a question of
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fact to be determined by the jury. Practically all of the state officers are elective. There were many other features which might have been regarded as decidedly novel in most of the conservative older states. That the constitution may have gone too far in the matter of detail in some matters seems to be evidenced by the numerous and costly efforts that have since been made to have it amended or modified in some particulars. Yet most of the men who helped to frame it were sincere and it represents their ideals as nearly as the same could be reduced to concrete form. At best, all state constitutions have been the results of compromise. Actual experimental application and administration of the basic law of Oklahoma have indicated that modification of some of its provisions may be desirable, yet, on the whole, it has been as satisfactory in its operation and effect as have those of any of the older states which have been on trial for much longer periods.
The new state was divided by the Constitutional Convention into seventy-five counties, their boundaries defined and their county seats designated. Of these, eighteen were identical in all particulars with the organizations existing in Oklahoma Territory under the Organic Act. The names of seven other counties in Oklahoma Territory were also preserved, but changes were made in their territorial limits and areas, while the name of old Day County disappeared from the map. By division and reconstruc- tion, eight new counties were added in that part of the state which was formerly embraced in the Territory of Oklahoma in addition to which the Osage Nation was constituted a county. That part of the state which had been included in the former Indian Territory was divided into forty counties. Among the limitations and re- strictions that were imposed by the Enabling Act, the subject of counties-county lines, county seats and county names-was not included. It was asserted at the time that had the Enabling Act provided that recording districts in the Indian Territory should be considered as counties and be designated by number until after the adoption of the constitution, that court towns should be considered as county seats and that no changes of county lines, county seats or county names should be made by the Constitutional Convention, there would have been much less politics in the convention. As it was, the county seats, county lines and county names were all used in the manipulations and maneuvers which were being made for the control of the dominant party in the campaign for the nomina- tion for state officers which was to follow. No less than eight counties were named for delegates sitting in the convention, a
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mark of distinction to which some of the personalities involved were scarcely entitled. But, after all, it was doubtless well that the convention did make counties and plenty of them, as Oklahoma has been remarkably free from county seat wrangles such as have given an unpleasant distinction to some other western states during the period of county organization.
In addition the constitution and the separate proposition re- lating to the prohibition of the liquor traffic, the Constitutional Convention also adopted a resolution to adopt the Constitution of the United States, an ordinance accepting the provisions of the Enabling Act, and an ordinance providing for the election on the adoption of the state constitution and the choice of state, district, county and township officers.
THE ELECTION
The several political parties put full tickets in the field. The democratic ticket, which was selected by a primary election, was headed by Charles N. Haskell, of Muskogee (who had been a leading figure in the Constitutional Convention, as he had been in the Sequoyah movement two years before), as the nominee for governor.8 The republican ticket, which was nominated by a state convention, was headed by Frank Frantz, the territorial governor. The republicans endorsed statehood while severely condemning the proposed constitution. The democrats used the constitution as their rallying cry. Leaders of national prominence were brought into the new state to try to influence the result-William Jennings
8 Charles N. Haskell was born in Ohio on December 13, 1861. At the age of sixteen he began to teach school, an occupation which he followed for a number of years. While teaching he took up the study of law. After his admission to the bar he began the prac- tice of law at Ottawa, Ohio. In addition to his legal business he became interested in railway construction. He moved West, locat- ing in Muskogee, in 1900. He first became prominent politically in the new state when he took an active part in the work of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, in the summer of 1905. In 1906 he was elected a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Con- vention. His subsequent nomination and election as the first gov- ernor of the new state gave him a prominent place in its history. Since his retirement from the office of governor. Mr. Haskell has lived at Muskogee. In 1912 he was a candidate in the democratic primaries for United States senator, and was defeated by Robert L. Owen.
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Bryan and William H. Taft, among others. The result of the election was the adoption of the constitution and the election of the entire democratic state ticket, four out of five democratic nominees for Congress and a heavy democratic majority in the Legislature and county offices of most of the counties.
The constitution was endorsed and adopted by a vote of 180,333 in the affirmative to 73,059 votes in the negative. State-wide pro- hibition was adopted by a vote of 130,361 votes in the affirmative to 112,258 votes in the negative. For governor, Haskell (democrat) received 137,579 votes ; Frantz (republican) received 110,293 votes, and Ross (socialist) received 10,646 votes.
The people of the State of Oklahoma, having thus complied with the conditions and stipulations of the Enabling Act, President Roosevelt issued an executive proclamation, of which the following is the text :
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S PROCLAMATION
"By the President of the United States of America-A Proclama- tion :
"Whereas, the Congress of the United States did by an act approved on the 16th day of June, one thousand nine hundred and six, provide that the inhabitants of the territory of Oklahoma and of the Indian Territory might, under and upon the conditions pre- scribed in said act, adopt a constitution and become the state of Oklahoma, and
"Whereas, by the said act provision was duly made for the elec- tion of a constitutional convention to form a constitution and state government for the said proposed state ; and
"Whereas, it appears from the information laid before me that such convention was duly elected and such constitution and state government were thereby duly formed, and
"Whereas, by the said act the said convention was further authorized and empowered to provide by ordinance for submitting the said constitution to the people of the said state for ratifica- tion or rejection, and likewise for the ratification or rejection of any provisions thereof to be by the said convention separately sub- mitted, and
"Whereas, it has been certified to me, as required by the said act, by the governor of the territory of Oklahoma and by the judge senior in service of the United States court of appeals in the Indian Territory that a majority of the legal votes cast at an election duly provided for by ordinance, as required by said act, have been cast for the adoption of said constitution, and
"Whereas, a copy of the said constitution has been certified to me, as required by said act, together with the articles, propositions and ordinances pertaining thereto, including a separate proposition
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for state-wide prohibition which has been certified to me as having been adopted by a majority of the electors at the election afore- said, and
"Whereas, it appears from the information laid before me that the convention aforesaid after its organization and before the forma- tion of the said constitution duly declared on behalf of the- people of the said proposed state that they adopted the constitution of the United States, and
"Whereas, it appears that the said constitution and government of the proposed state of Oklahoma are republican in form and that the said constitution makes no distinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, and is not repugnant to the con- stitution of the United States or to the principles of the declara- tion of independence, and that it contains all of the six provisions expressly required by section 3 of the said act to be therein con- tained ; and
"Whereas, it further appears from the information laid before me that the convention above mentioned did by ordinance irrevo- cable accept the terms and conditions of the said act, as required by section 22 thereof, and that all the provisions of the said act approved on the 16th day of June, one thousand nine hundred and six, have been duly complied with.
"Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States of America, do, in accordance with the provisions of the said act of Congress of June 16, 1906, declare and announce that the result of the said election. wherein the constitution formed as aforesaid was submitted to the people of the proposed state of Oklahoma for ratification or rejection, was that the said constitution was ratified together with a provision for state-wide prohibition, separately submitted at the said election; and the state of Okla- homa is to be deemed admitted by Congress into the Union under and by virtue of the said act on an equal footing with the original states.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this 16th day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirty-second.
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
"By the president : Elihu Root, secretary of state."
Vol. II-27
NINTH PERIOD
SINCE 1907
OKLAHOMA AS A STATE
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CHAPTER LXXIX
OKLAHOMA UNDER STATE GOVERNMENT
On the day appointed by the proclamation of President Roosevelt for the inauguration of the state government (November 16, 1907), a great concourse of people from all parts of the state gathered at Guthrie to witness the ceremonies incident to that auspicious occasion. The prescribed oath of office was adminis- tered to all of the newly elected state officers and, amid general rejoicing, the two territories were reunited to form a single state in the American Union.
One of the first official acts of Governor Haskell was to appoint and commission Robert L. Owen and Thomas P. Gore, the demo- cratie nominees for United States senator, as senators from the new State of Oklahoma. When Congress convened two weeks later, however, the Senate refused to recognize the appointments thus made, holding according to precedents previously established that governors of states had the right to fill vacancies occasioned by death, resignation or removal from office but not otherwise.
THE FIRST STATE LEGISLATURE
The first State Legislature of Oklahoma convened at Guthrie on the 2d of December, 1907. The election of United States senators was one of the first duties to which the Legislature had to give attention. The democratic nominees were Robert L. Owen and Thomas P. Gore, who had been chosen by the democratie primary election. The republican candidates, selected by the caucus of the members of the Legislature belonging to that party, were Charles G. Jones, of Oklahoma City, and Clarence B. Douglas, of Muskogee. Messrs. Owen and Gore, receiving the votes of the majority party, were duly elected.
The first law enacted by the Legislature was one which provided for the transfer of the $5,000,000.00 fund for the benefit of the public schools, which had been granted to the state by the terms of the enabling act. The session, which lasted nearly six months, was
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given over to the work of remodeling the territorial statutes and enacting new legislation to make operative and effective the various provisions of the state constitution. Among the various measures in the way of important new legislation, were the law providing for the state guaranty of deposits in banks operating under state charters, the law for the enforcement of the prohibition of the
4
CHARLES N. HASKELL
liquor traffic and provision for state dispensaries for the sale of alcoholic liquors for purposes not prohibited, an emergency tax measure, the law requiring separate coaches and waiting rooms for colored people, and many others of less importance. A general election law was also enacted and provision was made for the establishment and location of several additional state institutions, educational, elecmosynary, reformatory and penal.
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A notable visitor was William J. Bryan, who addressed the Legislature on the 21st of December.
A bill was introduced into the House of Representatives for the purpose of removing the capital of the state to Oklahoma City and, later, a memorial was presented in the Senate for the purpose of asking Congress to pass an act modifying the enabling act in
THOMAS P. GORE
such a way as to permit the people of Oklahoma to locate the seat of their, state government without waiting until 1913. Nothing came of either proposition, however.
The Legislature adjourned on the 26th of May, 1908.
THIE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1908
In the general election held in November, 1908, the people of Oklahoma were called upon to choose the membership of the Second
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Legislature, except the "hold-over" state senators, whose terms were for four years, and to elect representatives to Congress, as well as part of the members of the Supreme Court and the Cor- poration Commission to fill the vacancies occasioned by expiring terms. They were also privileged for the first time to participate in the election of a President of the United States by choosing presidential electors. The election resulted in a democratic victory, the Legislature being strongly democratic, the republicans however gaining one seat in Congress. Thomas P. Gore 1 was the democratic nominee for the United States senate to succeed himself, Dennis T. Flynn being nominated by the republicans. The first electoral vote of the state was cast for William Jennings Bryan for Presi- dent of the United States.
THE SECOND LEGISLATURE
The Second Legislature convened in Guthrie in January, 1909. Among the measures passed were those for the establishment of several additional state educational institutions. The general elec- tion law was overhauled and remodeled and comprehensive insurance and revenue laws were enacted. The session lasted from January 5th to March 12th.
The Second Legislature was convened in special session Jan- uary 20, 1910. The session was principally given over to the con- sideration of measures which were of local concern. However, the election act of the session of 1909 was repealed and a new general election law was enacted. A law was passed providing for the submission of amendments to the constitution by suggestion of the
1 Thomas Pryor Gore was born in Webster County, Mississippi, December 10, 1870. After receiving a common school education, he entered the law school of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1892. Four years later he moved to Texas, and at the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche reservation to settlement in 1901, he located at Lawton, Oklahoma. The next year he was elected a member of the upper house of the Territorial Legislative Assembly. In 1907 he was nominated for United States senator by the state democratic primary, was ap- pointed United States senator by Governor Haskell, November 16, and elected to the same office by the Legislature, December 11, taking his seat in the Senate on December 16. In 1909 he was re-elected for the term expiring March 3, 1915. Senator Gore's achievements are the more remarkable because he has been totally blind since boyhood.
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Legislature. Later a concurrent resolution was adopted under the provisions of the act just mentioned, for the purpose of sub- mitting to a vote of the people a proposed amendment to the con- stitution which became commonly known as "the grandfather clause," the purpose of which was to exclude from the privilege of exercising the elective franchise all persons who were so deficient in mental or educational qualifications as to be unable to read and write sections of the state constitution except such as had been duly qualified electors prior to January 1, 1866, and their lineal descendants. The special session was adjourned March 19th, 1910.
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