752 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (OREGON.) 



attempted to lynch a man for murder in Noble 

 County, but was prevented by a sheriff. 



Statehood. A special committee of the Legis- 

 lature submitted to the President and Congress 

 a memorial in which they said : " We represent 

 a constituency of nearly 500,000 people, increasing 

 with unexampled rapidity, who inhabit nearly 

 40,000 square miles of fertile soil, and who own 

 $150,000,000 of wealth produced in a single decade 

 from the wild prairies and the wilderness. They 

 have built and are supporting more than 2,000 

 common schools, 6 great institutions of learning, 

 and more churches according to population and 

 wealth than anywhere else in the world. They 

 are a law-abiding and a law-enforcing people. 

 We submit that such a people ought not to be 

 longer held in political subjection, but are and of 

 right ought to be entitled to immediate admission 

 into the American Union." 



Political. The retirement of Cassius M. 

 Barnes, the fourth Governor of Oklahoma, and 

 the inauguration of William M. Jenkins, the 

 fifth, marked a period of deep interest to the peo- 

 ple of the Territory. During the three years of 

 Gov. Barnes's administration there had been re- 

 markable development in all directions, and the 

 new executive entered upon his office at a moment 

 when opportunities were to be still further en- 

 larged, and when the prospects of Oklahoma were 

 particularly bright. 



OREGON, a Pacific coast State, admitted to 

 the Union Feb. 14, 1859 ; area, 94,560 square miles. 

 The population was 13,294 in 1850; 52,465 in 

 1860; 90,923 in 1870; 174,768 in 1880; 313,767 in 

 1890; and 413,536 in 1900. Capital, Salem. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1901: Governor, Theodore T. Geer; Sec- 

 retary of State and Auditor, Frank I. Dunbar; 

 Treasurer, Charles S. Moore; Attorney-General, 

 R. D. N. Blackburn; Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, J. H. Ackerman; Adjutant-General, 

 C. U. Gantenbein; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Charles E. Wolverton; Associate Justices, 

 Robert S. Bean and Frank A. Moore ; Clerk, J. J. 

 Murphy all Republicans. 



The term of the State officers is four years, and 

 they are elected in June of even-numbered years, 

 alternating with the presidential elections. In 

 June of all the even-numbered years members of 

 Congress, the Legislature, and a justice of the 

 Supreme Court are elected. The Legislature holds 

 biennial sessions, beginning in January of odd- 

 numbered years, and continuing forty days. It 

 consists of 30 Senators, elected for four years, and 

 60 representatives. 



Population. According to a Census Office bul- 

 letin 56.3 per cent, of Oregon's population are 

 males. The males number 232,985 ; females, 180,- 

 551; native-born population, 347,788; foreign- 

 born, 65,748. The population consists of 394,582 

 whites, 10,397 Chinese, 4,951 Indians, 2,501 Jap- 

 anese, and 1,105 negroes. The white population 

 is mostly native, 256,125 being born of native 

 parents and 84,596 of foreign parents, while the 

 foreign whites number 53,861. In the city of 

 Portland there were 34,777 native and 18,351 

 foreign-born males, and 29,773 native and 7,525 

 foreign-born females; 9,138 colored males, all 

 Chinese and Japanese, except 458 negroes and 

 763 colored females. 



Finances. The fixed, or current, expenses of 

 the State amount annually to nearly $620,000. 

 To raise this sum annually a levy of 5.16 mills 

 upon an assessed valuation of $120,000,000 is 

 necessary. The Treasurer reminds the taxpayers 

 that the revenue needed will increase from year to 

 year, and makes recommendations for raising it. 



The receipts of the treasury for 1900 were $1,- 

 894,004.59; disbursements, $1,690,697.62; balance 

 Dec. 31, $944,623.40. 



The Treasurer's report for the six months end- 

 ing June 30, 1901, gives the receipts for that 

 period, including the balance at the close of 1900, 

 as $2,053,123.54; disbursements, $958,185.43; bal- 

 ance July 1, 1901, $1,094,938.11. The receipts of 

 the general fund were $615,980.17, and the dis- 

 bursements $465,878.58. The receipts of the com- 

 mon-school fund were, principal $246,849.28, and 

 interest $79,619.14; disbursements from the prin- 

 cipal, $297,497.10, and from the interest, $7,704.01. 



From the report of the Treasurer for the six 

 months ending Dec. 31, 1901, it appears that the 

 receipts, including the balance of July 1, were 

 $1,759,246.46; disbursements, $930,949.21; balance 

 Jan. 1, 1902, $828,297.25. The receipts of the gen- 

 eral fund for the second six months were $170,- 

 403.09, and the disbursements $391,653.77. The 

 receipts of the common-school fund were, princi- 

 pal $285,321.65, and interest $103,306.48; dis- 

 bursements from the principal $270,531.30, and 

 from the interest $175,903.97. July 20 the 

 aggregate of funds loaned to the counties on 

 account of the common-school fund was $2,210,- 

 400.57; Agricultural College fund notes, $131,556.- 

 37; university fund notes, $83,997.31. In 1901 the 

 loans from the common-school fund made a net 

 gain of $218,000, representing the increase of the 

 interest-drawing fund whereby the revenue of the 

 common schools was increased about $13,000 a 

 year. The total amount of outstanding notes of 

 the school fund, Dec. 31, was $2,308,371.49, 

 against $2,090,623.32 the preceding year. 



The revenue of 1901 was $670,000. Under an 

 act of the Legislature of that year, each county 

 will hereafter contribute to the expenses of the 

 State in the proportion of its average assessments 

 to those of all the counties for five years past. 



Education. Statistics for the year ending 

 March 4 showed a school population of 135,818, a 

 gain of 2,637 over 1900. There were losses in the 

 northwestern counties, which were more than off- 

 set by the increase in the southern and eastern 

 parts of the State. On the basis of the school 

 population the Treasurer, Aug. 1, made the an- 

 nual apportionment, distributing $165,697.96, the 

 proceeds of the irreducible common-school fund, 

 among the counties. In 1900 the per capita was 

 $1.56; in 1901 it was $1.22. The amount dis- 

 bursed in 1900 was unusually large, owing to the 

 fact that in order to secure a reduction in the 

 rate of interest on their loans, borrowers had been 

 paying up arrearages of interest. The rate of in- 

 terest was cut from 8 to 6 per cent., and this 

 accounts for a part of the decrease in the amount 

 disbursed. 



The State University, at Eugene, in June com- 

 pleted the twenty-fifth year of its work, and com- 

 memorative exercises were held. The number of 

 instructors during the year was 62; number of 

 students, 456; graduates, with the bachelor's de- 

 gree, 31; volumes in the library, 15,000. A new 

 light and power station was provided for by the 

 last Legislature. There were substantial addi- 

 tions last year to the corps of instructors and to 

 the general equipment. 



The Agricultural College, at Corvallis, had an 

 enrolment of 430, and an average attendance 

 larger than in any previous year. The graduates 

 in June numbered 34. A new business course has 

 been established. The new mechanical hall is 

 finely equipped. The regents made arrangements 

 early in the year for carrying out the act of the 

 last Legislature for establishing an experiment 

 station at Union. Six hundred acres of branch- 



