Mr. MCCLINTIC. Yes; they range from a half acre on up, and for that reason the Secretary of the Interior said it would be more desirable to give this amount of money to the State of Oklahoma in lieu of the land, if Congress thought we were entitled to it. Mr. HASTINGS. All of that is in the western part of the State, Mr. MCCLINTIC. Yes; practically all. I desire to place in the record a list of the States that have been admitted to the Union since the passage of the acts of 1862 and 1866, which will show, with the exception of one State, that all of them have received more land. than the State of Oklahoma, and we feel that inasmuch as there was no language in our enabling act that gave us any land in lieu of the land that should have been given by the acts of 1862 and 1866 that this legislation should be enacted into law. (Said list follows:) States admitted to the Union since 1862: Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Nevada. 1Of this amount 90,000 acres were in lieu of grants of 1862 and 1866. 2 In lieu of 1862 and 1866. 90,000 90,000 270,000 90,000 480,000 390, 000 240, 000 97, 682 330,000 210,000 210,000 210,000 360,000 240,000 120,000 210,000 330, 000 1 140,000 90,000 90, 000 150,000 210, 000 2250,000 990, 000 270,000 130, 000 630, 000 250.000 90,000 780,000 120,000 180, 000 Acres. 160,000 300, 000 180,000 2 200,000 150, 000 300,000 90, 000 South Dakota__ Vermont (scrip). Virginia (scrip) West Virginia (scrip). 150, 000 240, 000 90,000 The State of Oklahoma has, by proper legislative enactment, passed a joint resolution accepting the terms of these grants of 1862 and 1866, and while some may state that Oklahoma was given $5,000,000 yet it must be remembered that when this State was admitted to the Union one-half of it, the eastern part, was formerly Indian Territory, which had no public lands available for educational purposes, and that this sum of money was given in lieu of sections 16 and 36 for the support of the common schools of the State of Oklahoma. Mr. DAVENPORT. Was it not intended to cover the grant provided in the act of 1862 and 1866 Mr. MCCLINTIC (interposing). No reference was made to it. Mr. DAVENPORT (continuing). So as to equalize the eastern half of the State with the western half as to school facilities? Mr. MCCLINTIC. The statement that the gentleman makes is absolutely correct. With these few statement, gentlemen, I am going to ask that every member of the Oklahoma delegation address the committee, as they are vitally interested in this legislation. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM H. MURRAY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA. Mr. MURRAY. The Members of Congress from the west side of the State of Oklahoma have always been more familiar with the school land problem than those on the east side, as we have understood the Indian question best, and since there can be but one general, by common consent we have selected our genial colleague, Jim McClintic, to take the lead in this movement to recover these lands for Oklahoma school fund; nor is it my purpose to make an argument in support of this legislation. The argument made by Mr. Teehee, a former member of the legislature of Oklahoma and now register of the treasury, is an unanswerable one, as it convinced the Interior Department. I merely wish to say that we feel this is a just and a legel claim, and that we are entitled to this additional amount of public land. Oklahoma has many problems to consider, many burdens to carry, even for the Federal Government. This is due to the fact that we have more than one-third of all the Indians in the United States, encumbering our probate and other courts, requiring us to pay the costs of the courts all the way from justice of the peace to the supreme court of the State, and other matters growing out of these Federal questions. We do not ask this as a generosity or as a gratuity but as a matter of even-handed justice to which we are entitled under the law. I adopt the argument of Mr. Teehee, and recognize McClintic's efficient course so far. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM W. HASTINGS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA. Mr. HASTINGS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, it is not my purpose to argue this at length at this time. Mr. Teehee has prepared an exhaustive argument upon this subject and, in my judgment, an unanswerable one. I want to invite your attention, first, to the act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stats. L. p. 503), which provides as follows: That there be granted to the several States, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land to be apportioned to each State a quantity equal to 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which the State is respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860: Provided, That no mineral lands shall be selected or purchased under the provisions of this act. This grant is made for the use of colleges for agriculture and the mechanic arts, as the subsequent sections of the act indicate. This section based it upon the apportionment under the census of 1860, and it provides that there shall be no mineral lands included in the grant. I want next to invite your attention to the act amendatory of it, the act of July 23, 1866. It is found in 14 Statutes at Large, page 208, and it was approved July 23, 1866: That the time in which the several States may comply with the provisions of the act of July 2, 1862, entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," is hereby extended so that the acceptance of the benefits of the said act may be expressed within three years from the passage of this act, and the colleges required by the said act may be provided within five years from the date of the filing of such acceptance with the Commissioner of the General Land Office. I want to invite your special attention to this proviso which extends the benefits of the act of 1866 to future States when admitted: Provided, That when any Territory shall become a State and be admitted into the Union, such new State shall be entitled to the benefits of the said act of July 2, 1862, by expressing the acceptance therein required within three years from the date of its admission into the Union, and providing the college or colleges within five years after such acceptance, as described in this act: Provided further, That any State, which has heretofore expressed its acceptance of the act herein referred to shall have the period of five years within which to provide at least one college, as described in the fourth section of said act, after the time for providing such college, according to the act of July 2, 1862, shall have expired. You will note, gentlemen of the committee, that this act of 1866 extended the benefits of the act of 1862 to all future Territories when admitted to statehood, conditioned upon their acceptance of the terms of the act. Oklahoma was admitted to statehood in 1907 and when it was admitted it had five Members of Congress and two Senators, making seven. If you give each State 30,000 acres of land for each Member, Oklahoma would have been entitled, under this act and the amendatory act, to 210,000 acres of land. Mr. TIMBERLAKE. That was at the time the State of Oklahoma was admitted as a State? Mr. HASTINGS. Yes. Mr. TIMBERLAKE. You mean that at that time she had five Representatives? Mr. HASTINGS. Yes; that is what I mean to say. She now has eight Representatives and two Senators, but when she was admitted she had two Senators and five Representatives, so that she would have been entitled, under these two acts which I have read, to 210,000 acres of land. Mr. TILLMAN. How much did she actually get? Mr. TIMBERLAKE. And never has gotten any? Mr. HASTINGS. She has never gotten any; no. Our contention is that we have complied with all the terms and conditions of this act; in other words, that we have a college, such as is required, and that we have accepted the terms of it within the time prescribed by the act. Mr. TIMBERLAKE. How did you comply with the provision that it must be accepted inside of three years? Mr. HASTINGS. Our legislature passed a joint resolution accepting the terms and conditions of the act. Now, I want to invite the attention Mr. CARTER (interposing). May I ask Mr. Hastings a question, Mr. Chairman? Mr. MCCLINTIC. Yes. Mr. CARTER. Oklahoma was given $5,000,000 in money, was she not? Mr. HASTINGS. Yes, sir. Mr. CARTER. It might be well, right here, for you to explain why that was given, if such an explanation has not been made, because that question would naturally arise. Mr. HASTINGS. It has already been explained that the eastern half of the State was inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes and that that amount was given in lieu of sections 16 and 36 for the common school fund; that grant was made for the eastern half of the State and not in lieu of land for colleges for agriculture and mechanic arts. As has already been stated, Mr. Teehee has made an exhaustive study of this question, and Mr. McClintic has already placed in the record the facts which show that each State admitted subsequent to 1866 has received the benefits of these acts or there has been something given in lieu of this amount of land or some exception made in the enabling act admitting the respective States to statehood. Oklahoma has not received any land in lieu of it, and it is our contention that she is entitled to it. As has already been stated here, there are only about 40,000 acres of public lands in Oklahoma, an insufficient amount to give the State the 210,000 acres of land to which we submit she is entitled. Mr. TIMBERLAKE. Why did not Oklahoma present her claim for this land at an earlier date, when there were public lands? Mr. HASTINGS. The full history of our efforts will be shown here, but my understanding is that the matter has been presented most vigorously before the Interior Department for the last five years. Mr. MCCLINTIC. I will say that the joint resolution was approved under date of February 23, 1910, and a formal application was made to the Secretary of the Interior to receive the benefits, according to the provisions of these acts. Because the facts were not properly compiled and presented, the Commissioner of the Land Office, without viewing the case in the way the facts showed, rendered an opinion. that he thought the State of Oklahoma had already been taken care of, and the case has been hanging there until we took the matter up at this session of Congress, and Mr. Teehee presented the argument which finally resulted in the introduction of this bill, and the Secretary of the Interior rendered a report that no land had ever been given to any State except by direct grant of Congress, and that, in his opinion, if the State of Oklahoma received any benefits according to the provisions of these acts it would be necessary to follow that procedure. That is the reason why we are here to-day. Mr. HASTINGS. That is about all I care to say at the present time, except to invite the attention of the committee to a bill which I introduced on this same subject, as follows: [H. R. 15283, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.] A BILL Authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Interior to grant two hundred and ten thousand acres of nonmineral land to the State of Oklahoma for the benefit of agricultural and mechanical colleges therein established under the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public land to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six and authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the Secretary of the Interior certifying that there are not sufficient lands in Oklahoma to comply with the aforesaid acts, to pay to said State of Oklahoma, In lieu thereof, the sum of $262,500, in order to secure to said State the benefits of said acts. Whereas there was granted to each State by the act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agricultural and mechanic arts" (Twelfth Statutes, page five hundred and two) nonmineral land equal in quantity to thirty thousand acres of land of the value of $1.25 per acre for each Senator and Representative in Congress from each State, the proceeds to be used for agricultural and mechanical colleges; and Whereas said act was amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six (Fourteenth Statutes, page two hundred and eight), extending the benefits of said act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, to any Territory which may thereafter become a State or be admitted into the Union, conditioned upon such State expressing its acceptance of the terms of said act within three years from the date of its admission into the Union; and Whereas the State of Oklahoma has in all things complied with the conditions of said act and accepted the terms thereof within the time required by the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; and Whereas the State of Oklahoma had two Senators and five Representatives when it was admitted to statehood on the sixteenth day of November, nineteen hundred and seven, and is entitled to two hundred and ten thousand acres of land under said act of July second, eighteen hundred an sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six ; and Whereas the said State of Oklahoma has not received said land, or any land in lieu thereof, for the benefit of colleges for agriculture and mechanical arts: Now, therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to grant to the State of Oklahoma two hundred and ten thousand acres of nonmineral land in said State of Oklahoma, the proceeds of the sale of which are to be used for the purposes set forth in the act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts" (Twelfth Statutes, page five hundred and two), as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six (Fourteenth Statutes, page two hundred and eight), and upon the Secretary of the Interior certifying to the Secretary of the Treasury that there are not sufficient lands in the State of Oklahoma to comply with this act, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized |