REPORTS OF THE GOVERNOR OF OKLAHOMA.

ANNUAL REPORT.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Guthrie, Okla., September 15, 1907.

SIR: Complying with your request under date of June 30, 1907, I have the honor to submit herewith my annual report concerning the progress and condition of affairs in Oklahoma covering the year ending June 30, 1907.

GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE TERRITORY.

BUSINESS CONDITIONS.

The financial and commercial conditions prevailing throughout the Territory the past year have been excellent and all lines of business have done well, money has been plenty, and the people generally prosperous. The number of business failures has been below the average and the trade outlook for the coming year is excellent.

No State or Territory has a better public and private credit than Oklahoma. Never has there been a bond or security of the Territory or any municipality thereof repudiated. County, city, and schooldistrict bonds or warrants and Territorial warrants command a premium in the market at all times and are much sought after by

investors.

Farm loans are being made at 5 and 6 per cent and loans on city property at 6 to 8 per cent.

Several large loan companies which have been operating in the Territory for years state that they have never had a foreclosure and at no time is there any considerable amount of interest in arrears.

A number of street railway and interurban lines and gas and electric plants have been financed successfully, and openings for more investments of this kind are eagerly sought for by capitalists.

AGRICULTURE.

Oklahoma is situated in a preeminently agricultural region. There was a time when the present was uncertain and the future looked dark to the men on the farms of the Territory, but to-day the farmer is more prosperous, better situated, and more contented than any other class of people. The feature which more than any other assures the success of the farmer in this Territory is the wide range of crops that can be successfully grown. No State in the Union grows so largely of each of the three great staple crops of wheat, corn, and cotton as does Oklahoma. Nowhere else on the continent does the farmer have so great a number of side crops which he can produce successfully. Everything listed in the seed catalogues will grow and

do well somewhere in Oklahoma. Oklahoma wheat was given the highest award at the Chicago World's Fair, Oklahoma corn took gold medals at Omaha in 1898 and at St. Louis in 1904, Oklahoma cotton was awarded the grand prize at the Paris Exposition, and at two great expositions the Territory has won the highest award for producing successfully the greatest number of agricultural products.

Allied with general farming is fruit and vegetable growing. Orchardists in Oklahoma are producing all of the leading varieties of tree and bush fruits and the profits are very encouraging. Many large apple orchards are bearing fine crops, and the farmers of Logan County alone marketed $50,000 worth of Elberta peaches in 1906 and will do twice as well this year.

There are openings for thousands of people in Oklahoma, in farming and fruit and truck growing, where they can secure a pleasant home and be assured of a good living and an early competence. The value of crops and other farm products in 1906 is shown by the following tables:

From statistics on file in the office of the secretary of the Oklahoma board of agriculture the following estimates are made concerning the crop outlook for the year 1907:

The area of cotton planted in the spring of 1907 is estimated to be 20 per cent greater than in 1906, when it was 1,144,898 acres. Owing to an extremely wet spring, a great deal of the acreage originally planted was abandoned. Cotton had to be replanted, and in the rush of spring work the crop could not be properly cultivated; consequently about 10 per cent of the original acreage will not produce a full crop. The growing condition of the crop is average and promises an average yield.

In

The estimated increase in acreage of corn planted in the spring of 1907 over that planted in 1906 is 20 per cent, thus making approximately 2,000,000 acres planted to corn in 1907. Corn, like cotton, suffered in the early spring on account of wet weather. A large portion of the crop had to be replanted, and in the rush of spring work the crop did not receive the cultivation needed. some sections dry weather set in and the corn that was not thoroughly cultivated was injured by the drought. Corn that was cultivated withstood the drought and will make an average crop. Everything considered, the yield of the 1907 crop does not give promise of exceeding that of 1906; in other words, with a slightly increased acreage and in some sections a decreased yield, Oklahoma ought to produce 65,000,000 bushels.

The number of acres sown in wheat in the fall of 1906 was 1,788,709, a decrease of 8 per cent; average yield per acre was 9.44 bushels; 10,500,000 bushels, valued at $8,925,000, were harvested.

The area sown in oats in the spring of 1907 is estimated at 769,501 acres. The average yield has been 11.15 bushels per acre, thus showing that the oats crop for the year 1907 was a practical failure. This failure is due to the damage by the wheat plant louse, or socalled "green bug."

Estimated acreage of broom corn planted in the spring of 1907 is 157,737, showing a decrease of 30 per cent over that of 1906.

Farm lands in Oklahoma have been steadily growing in value each year as a result of the large increase in immigration from Northern and Eastern States and general development of the Territory. The fact that the public domain in Oklahoma is exhausted and there is no more Government land has been a potent factor in the growth in values the past year.

Many farns have sold the past year for from $50 to $100 per acre, but the prices more often prevailing for good average farms within reasonable distance of market have been from $20 to $40 per acre, and there are many good farms to be had in parts of the Territory not so well developed at $10 to $20 per acre.