682 



OKLAHOMA. 



tal of $954,(iOO,000. Of the former 19 were or- 

 o-anized in 1898-99. In two years gains in de- 

 posits amounted to $1,523,223, a percentage of 

 103. The gain in cash was $1,086,372, a percent- 

 age of 146. No failures occurred in the two years. 

 The national banks show a gain in deposits of 

 $146,111, or 13 per cent, in one year. 



Loan Associations. Four of these are char- 

 tered, 2 of them very recently: the other '2 have 

 paid dividends from 12 to 20 per cent, a year. 



Insurance. There are 39 fire. 19 life, and I 

 accident and casualty companies licensed to do 

 business in the Territory. In addition to this the 

 various fraternal orders carry large amounts of 

 insurance. The business done by outside fire 

 companies is shown by the following statistics: 

 Written in 1898, $8,839,557; premiums received. 

 $167,680; losses paid, $18.002: losses incurred, 

 $24,638. Life companies wrote $1.738,307: re- 

 ceived premiums, $75.510; incurred losses. $58,- 

 842. 



Products and Industries. The cotton crop 

 of 1898 was about 140.000 bales, value about 

 $5,000,000. The crop of this year was estimated 

 at about >he same quantity. At the Omaha ex- 

 position Oklahoma showed the tallest stalk of 

 corn over 19 feet. The average yield of corn in 

 many localities is 40 bushels to the acre on up- 

 land, and 50 to 60 on bottom land is common. 

 The crop of castor beans was about 125.000 

 bushels. 



There are 79 grain elevators in the Territory, 

 with an aggregate capacity of 1,341.000. 



The assessments of live stock were as follow: 

 Horses, 216,971; mules and asses. 44.191: cattle. 

 849,767: sheep, 36,652; swine, 228,498. 



Thirty flour mills are in operation, with total 

 capacity of 5,100 barrels a day. The number of 

 manufacturing establishments is 138, the em- 

 ployees 1,921; the number of wholesale houses 

 D6, with 815 employees. 



Lands. The Indian reservations cover 0.949.- 

 715 acres. The school lands amount to 1, (575,840 

 acres, and the net proceeds from leasing them 

 amounted in 1899 to $133.047. There are still 

 {5,388,373 acres of Government land subject to 

 homestead entry. In the year ending June 30 

 entries were filed on 666,747 acres. 



Punishment of Lynchers. In June N. M. 

 Jones, ex-deputy United States marshal, was 

 convicted of taking part in the crime of burning 

 two Seminole Indians in 1898, and was sentenced 

 to serve twenty years in the Penitentiary. An- 

 other member of the mob received a sentence of 

 ten years. Others w r ere arrested. 



Political. A new party in Oklahoma, the 

 Socialists, was formed at a conference at Okla- 

 homa City, Oct. 14, and permanent organization 

 was effected, Dec. 27. The platform favors single 

 Statehood, universal suffrage, direct legislation, 

 compulsory education, inalienable school lands, 

 and public ownership of public utilities. 



Legislative Session. The fifth legislative 

 session began Jan. 10 and ended March 15. Hugh 

 McCredie was president of the Council, and A. 

 H. Huston president pro tcmpore-, Thomas J. 

 Reid was Speaker of the House, and W. H. Mer- 

 ten Speaker pro tempore. 



Among the measures passed were a general 

 election law; a general banking law; a law estab- 

 lishing a Territorial Board of Equalization; a 

 general game and fish law, permitting fish to be 

 sold for home consumption; and a general ware- 

 house law, creating a board of commissioners; 

 also creating the office of Chief Inspector of 

 Grain, and requiring warehouses to be licensed. 

 The office of Territorial Geologist was created. A 



ONTARIO. 



law was made for preventing the spread of con- 

 tagious diseases of domestic animals. The law 

 of 1897 creating a Territorial schoolhouse insur- 

 ance fund was repealed. Distribution of funds 

 arising from school-land leases was arranged for, 

 and the law of levying taxes for Territorial insti- 

 tutions was amended. It was provided that the 

 money received from Congress under the act of 

 1890 for agricultural instruction be divided so as 

 to give one tenth to the Langston Agricultural 

 and Normal University for colored students. 

 Certain notes and mortgages of building and loan 

 associations were exempted from taxation. Cot- 

 ton factories are to be exempted from taxation 

 for ten years after establishment. Other meas- 

 ures were: 



Regulating the insjM i ction and sale of oil. 



Regulating the practice of pharmacy. 



Permitting bodies of dead iwupers to be given 

 to medical schools and regular physicians. 



A bill looking to immediate statehood \\a> 

 passed, providing for a constitutional convention 

 to meet in the summer, composed of delegate* to 

 be chosen in June, after which an election should 

 be held to ratify the Constitution and elect State 

 officers: then admission was to be sought. The 

 Governor vetoed this bill, as it is his opinion 

 that Oklahoma and the Indian Territory should 

 enter the Union as one State. A bill aimed at 

 Christian Scientists was returned without ap- 

 proval on the ground that it was calculated to 

 interfere with religious liberty. 



ONTARIO, a province of the Dominion of 

 Canada: area, 220.000 square miles; population 

 in 1891. 2.114.321. Capital, Toronto. 



Government and Politics. The l^-Nature 

 was opened on Feb. 1, 1899, by Lieut.-Go\ . ^ii 

 Oliver Mowat with a spwch from the throne, of 

 which the following are the chief paragraphs: 



"The legislation of last year which provided 

 that all pine logs cut on the Crown domain a tier 

 the termination of the then existing timber li- 

 censes should be sawn in Canada has been made 

 effective by inserting the manufacturing condi- 

 tions in all renewals of licenses for the current 

 year. 



" The mining industry of the province con- 

 tinues to improve, and it is giving constantly in- 

 creasing employment to capital and labor. Since 

 your last session the province has assumed the 

 administration of the provincial fisheries. A ti-h 

 ery branch has been established, departmental 

 officials have been appointed, and the outside 

 service is being organized. 



"Experience has shown that the election laws 

 may l>e further improved, and a bill for that pur- 

 pose will be submitted to you. Among the oilier 

 measures to be submitted 'for your cii-ideration 

 will be a bill for amending the school la\\-. a 

 bill to authorize the Parliament of Canada to 

 pass an act confirming the survey of the bound- 

 ary between the provinces of Ontario and Mani- 

 toba; and a bill to improve the workmen's com- 

 pensation for injuries act/' 



Following up the policy of the Liberal party at 

 Ottawa as enunciated during the preceding year. 

 the Ontario Government gave notice of. and car- 

 ried on a strict party vote, a motion regarding 

 the Senate of Canada as follows: 



"That in the opinion of this llmi-e tin- pro 

 visions of the British North America act n-peet- 

 ing the constitution and powers of the Sen i 

 Canada are at variance with the well-understood 

 principles of responsible government, and should 

 be brought more into harmony with those prin- 

 ciples by an amendment to the said act. sulian- 

 tially providing that in case of disagreement be- 



