lies S. of the Canadian and Arkansas rivers, and by treaties negotiated in 1824, 1833 and 1851 the Creeks received for themselves and the Seminoles a patent for the remaining or middle portion. Many of the Indians of these tribes brought slaves with them from the Southern states and during the Civil War they supported the Confederacy, but when that war was over the Federal government demanded not only the liberation of the slaves but new treaties, partly on the ground that the tribal lands must be divided with the freedmen. By these treaties, negotiated in 1866, the Cherokees gave the United States permission to settle other Indians on what was approximately the western half of their domain; the Seminoles, to whom the Creeks in 1855 had granted as their portion the strip between the Canadian river and its North Fork, ceded all of theirs, and the Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws ceded the western half of theirs back to the United States for occupancy by freedmen or other Indians. In the E. portion of the lands thus placed at its disposal by the Cherokees and the Creeks the Federal government within the next seventeen years made a number of small grants as follows: to the Seminoles in 1866, to the Sauk and Foxes in 1867, to the Osages, Kansas, Pottawatomies, Absentee Shawnees and Wichitas in 1871-1872, to the Pawnees in 1876, to the Poncas and Nez Percés in 1878, to the Otoes and Missouris in 1881, and to the Iowas and Kickapoos in 1883; in the S.W. quarter of the Territory, also, the Kiowas, Comanches and Apaches were located in 1867 and the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in 1869. There still remained unassigned the greater part of the Cherokee Strip besides a tract embracing 1,887,800 acres of choice land in the centre of the Territory, and the agitation for the opening of this to settlement by white people increased until in 1889 a complete title to the central tract was purchased from the Creeks and Seminoles. Soon after the purchase President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation announcing that this land would be opened to homestead settlement at twelve o'clock noon, on the 22nd of April 1889. At that hour no less than 20,000 people were on the border, and when the signal was given there ensued a remarkably spectacular race for homes. In the next year that portion of Indian Territory which lay S. of the Cherokee Strip and W. of the lands occupied by the five tribes, together with the narrow strip N. of Texas which had been denied to that state in 1850, was organized as the Territory of Oklahoma. In the meantime negotiations were begun for acquiring a clear title to the unoccupied portion of the Cherokee Strip, for individual allotments to the members of the several small tribes who had received tribal allotments since 1866, and for the purchase of what remained after such individual allotments had been made. As these negotiations were successful most of the land between the tract first opened and that of the Creeks was opened to settlement in 1891, a large tract to the W. of the centre was opened in 1892, a tract S. of the Canadian river and W. of the Chickasaws was opened in 1902, and by 1904 the entire Territory had been opened to settlement with the exception of a tract in the N.E. which was occupied by the Osages, Kaws, Poncas and Otoes. By the treaties with the five southern tribes they were to be permitted to make their own laws so long as they preserved their tribal relations, but since the Civil War many whites had mingled with these Indians, gained control for their own selfish ends of such government as there was, and made the country a refuge for fugitives from justice. Consequently, in 1893, Congress appointed the Dawes Commission to induce the tribes to consent to individual allotments as well as to a government administered from Washington, and in 1898 the Curtis Act was passed for making such allotments and for the establishment of a territorial government. When the allotments were nearly all made Congress in 1906 authorized Oklahoma and Indian Territories to qualify for admission to the Union as one state. As both Territories approved, a constitutional convention (composed of 100 Democrats and 12 Republicans) met at Guthrie on the 20th of November 1906. The constitution framed by this body was approved by the electorate on the 17th of September 1907, and the state was admitted to the Union on the 16th of November.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-See the Biennial Reports (Guthrie, 1904 sqq.) of the Oklahoma Department of Geology and Natural History; the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 1: Preliminary Report on the Mineral Resources of Oklahoma (Norman, 1908); 1905), being Water Supply and Irrigation Paper, No. 148 of the C. N. Gould, Geology and Water Resources of Oklahoma (Washington, United States Geological Survey; A. J. Henry, Climatology of the United States, pp. 442-453 (Washington, 1906), being Bulletin Q of the Weather Bureau of the United States Department of Agriculture; the United States Geological Survey (Washington, 1883 sqq.); Mineral Resources of the United States, annual reports published by Charles Evans and C. O. Bunn, Oklahoma Civil Government (Ardmore, 1908); C. A. Beard, "Constitution of Oklahoma," in the Political Science Quarterly, vol. 24 (Boston, 1909); R. L. Owen, "ComAmerican Political Science Association, vol. 5 (Baltimore, 1909); ments on the Constitution of Oklahoma," in the Proceedings of the S. J. Buck, The Settlement of Oklahoma (Madison, 1907), reprinted from the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; and D. C. Gideon, Indian Territory, Descriptive, Biographical and Genealogical... with a General History of the Territory (New York, 1901).

....

It

OKLAHOMA CITY, a city and the county-seat of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, U.S.A., on the North Fork of the Canadian river, near the geographical centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 4151; (1900) 10,037; (1907) 32,452; (1910) 64,205. is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the St Louis & San Francisco railways, and by inter-urban electric lines. It lies partly in a valley, partly on an upland, in a rich agricultural region. The city is the seat of Epworth University (founded in 1901 by the joint action of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South). Oklahoma City's prosperity is due chiefly to its jobbing trade, with an extensive farming and stock-raising region, but it has also cotton compresses and cotton gins, and various manufactures. The total value of the factory products in 1905 was $3,670,730. Natural gas is largely used as a fuel. A large settlement was established here on the 22nd of April 1889, the day on which the country was by proclamation declared open for settlement. The city was chartered in 1890.

OKUBO TOSHIMITSU (1830-1878), Japanese statesman, a samurai of Satsuma, was one of the five great nobles who led the revolution in 1868 against the shogunate. He became one of the mikado's principal ministers, and in the Satsuma troubles which followed he was the chief opponent of Saigo Takamori. But the suppression of the Satsuma rebellion brought upon him the personal revenge of Saigo's sympathizers, and in the spring of 1878 he was assassinated by six clansmen. Okubo was one of the leading men of his day, and in 1872 was one of the Japanese mission which was sent round the world to get ideas for organizing the new régime.

OKUMA (SHIGENOBU), COUNT (1838-), Japanese statesman, was born in the province of Hizen in 1838. His father was an officer in the artillery, and during his early years his education consisted mainly of the study of Chinese literature. Happily for him, however, he was able to acquire in his youth a knowledge of English and Dutch, and by the help of some missionaries he succeeded in obtaining books in those languages on both scientific and political subjects. These works effected a complete revolution in his mind. He had been designed by his parents for the military profession, but the new light which now broke in upon him determined him to devote his entire energies to the abolition of the existing feudal system and to the establishment of a constitutional government. With impetuous zeal he urged his views on his countrymen, and though he took no active part

See W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, vol. i. (1876), and J. R. Green, The Conquest of England, vol. i. (1899).

ÖLAND, an island in the Baltic Sea, next to Gotland the largest belonging to Sweden, stretching for 85 m. along the cast coast of the southern extremity of that country, from which it is separated by Kalmar Sound which is from 5 to 15 m. broad. The greatest breadth of the island is 10 m., and its area 519 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 30,408. Consisting for the most part of Silurian limestone, and thus forming a striking contrast to the mainland with its granite and gneiss, Öland is further remarkable on account of the peculiarities of its structure. Down the west side for a considerable distance runs a limestone ridge, rising usually in terraces, but at times in steep cliffs, to an extreme height of 200 ft.; and along the east side there is a parallel ridge of sand, resting on limestone, never exceeding 90 ft. These ridges, known as the Western and Eastern Landborgar, are connected towards the north and the south by belts of sand and heath, and the hollow between them is occupied by a desolate and almost barren tract: the southern portion, or Alfvar (forming fully half of the southern part of the island), presents a surface of bare red limestone scored by superficial cracks and unfathomed fissures, and calcined by the heat refracted from the surrounding heights The northern portion is covered at best with a copse of hazel bushes. Outside the ridges, however, Öland has quite a different aspect, the hillsides being not infrequently clothed with clumps of trees, while the narrow strip of alluvial coast-land, with its cornfields, windmills, villages and church towers, appears fruitful and prosperous. There are a few small streams in the island; and one lake, Hornsjö, about 3 m. long, deserves mention Of the fir woods which once clothed a considerable area in the north the Böda crown-park is the only remnant. Grain, especially barley, and sandstone, are exported from the island, and there are cement works. A number of monuments of unknown age exist, including stones (stensällningar) arranged in groups to represent ships. The only town is Borgholm, a watering-place on the west coast, with one of the finest castle ruins in Sweden. The town was founded in 1817, but the castle, dating at least from the 13th century, was one of the strongest fortresses, and afterwards, as erected by the architect Nicodemus Tessin the elder (1615-1681), one of the most stately palaces in the country The island was joined in 1824 to the administrative district (län) of Kalmar Its inhabitants were formerly styled Ŏningar, and show considerable diversity of origin in the matter of speech, local customs and physical appearance.

From the raid of Ragnar Lodbrok's sons in 775 Öland is frequently mentioned in Scandinavian history, and especially as a battleground in the wars between Denmark and the northern kingdoms. In the middle ages it formed a separate legislative and administrative unity.

OLAUS MAGNUS, or MAGNI (Magnus, ie. Stora. great, being the family name, and not a personal epithet). Swedish ecclesiastic and author, was born at Linköping in 1490 and died at Rome in 1558 Like his elder brother, Johannes Magnus, he obtained several ecclesiastical preferments (a canonry at Upsala and at Linköping, and the archdeaconry of Strengnes), and was employed on various diplomatic services (such as a mission to Rome, from Gustavus I, to procure the appointment of Johannes Magnus as archbishop of Upsala), but on the success of the reformation in Sweden his attachment to the old church led him to accompany his brother into exile. Settling at Rome, from 1527, he acted as his brother's secretary, and ultimately became his successor in the (now titular) archbishopric of Upsala. Pope Paul III, in 1546, sent him to the council of Trent; later, he became canon of St Lambert in Liége, King Sigismund I. of Poland also offered him a canonry at Posen; but most of his life, after his brother's death, seems to have been spent in the monastery of St Brigitta in Rome, where he

The Historia was translated into Italian (Venice, 1565). German (Strassburg, 1567), English (London, 1658) and Dutch (Amsterdam, 1665); abridgments of the work appeared also at Antwerp (1558 and 1562). Paris (a French abridged version, 1561). Amsterdam (1586). Frankfort (1618) and Leiden (1652). Olaus also wrote a Tabula terrarum septentrionalium. . . (Venice, 1539).

OLBERS, HEINRICH WILHELM MATTHIAS (1758-1840), German astronomer, was born on the 11th of October 1758 at Arbergen, a village near Bremen, where his father was minister. He studied medicine at Göttingen, 1777-1780, attending at the same time Kaestner's mathematical course; and in 1779, while watching by the sick-bed of a fellow-student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject, and is still extensively used. The treatise containing this important invention was made public by Baron von Zach under the title Ueber die leichteste und bequemste Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen (Weimar, 1797) A table of eighty-seven calculated orbits was appended, enlarged by Encke in the second edition (1847) to 178, and by Galle in the third (1864) to 242. Olbers settled as a physician in Bremen towards the end of 1781, and practised actively for above forty years, finally retiring on the 1st of January 1823. The greater part of each night (he never slept more than four hours) was meantime devoted to astronomy, the upper portion of his house being fitted up as an observatory. He paid special attention to comets, and that of 1815 (period seventy-four years) bears his name in commemoration of its detection by him. He also took a leading part in the discovery of the minor planets, re-identified Ceres on the 1st of January 1802, and detected Pallas on the 28th of March following. His bold hypothesis of their origin by the disruption of a primitive large planet (Monatliche Correspondenz, vi. 88), although now discarded, received countenance from the finding of Juno by Harding, and of Vesta by himself, in the precise regions of Cetus and Virgo where the nodes of such supposed planetary fragments should be situated. Olbers was deputed by his fellow-citizens to assist at the baptism of the king of Rome on the oth of June 1811, and he was a member of the corps legislatif in Paris 1812-1813. He died on the 2nd of March 1840, at the age of eighty-one. He was twice married, and one son survived him.

See Biographische Skizzen verstorbener Bremischer Aerzte, by Dr G Barkhausen (Bremen. 1844), Allgemeine geographische Ephemeri den. iv 283 (1799). Abstracts Phil. Trans. iv. 268 (1843): Astronomische Nachrichten. xxii. 265 (Bessel), also appended to A Erman's Briefwechsel zwischen Olbers und Bessel (2 vols., Leipzig. 1852); Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (S. Günther); R Grant. Hist of Phys Astr. p. 239. R. Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie. p. 517. The first two volumes of Dr C. Schilling's exhaustive work, Wilhelm Olbers, sein Leben und seine Werke, appeared personal correspondence and biography. A list of Olbers's contriat Berlin in 1894 and 1900, a third and later volume including his butions to scientific periodicals is given at p. xxxv of the 3rd ed. of his Leichteste Methode, and his unique collection of works relating to comets now forms part of the Pulkowa library.

OLBIA, the chief Greek settlement in the north-west of the Euxine. It was generally known to the Greeks of Hellas as Borysthenes, though its actual site was on the right bank of the Hypanis (Bug) 4 m. above its junction with the estuary of the Borysthenes river (Dnieper). Eusebius says that it was founded from Miletus c. 650 B.C., a statement which is borne out by the discovery of Milesian pottery of the 7th century. It first appears as enjoying friendly relations with its neighbours the Scythians and standing at the head of trade routes leading far to the north-east (Herodotus iv). Its wares also penetrated northward. It exchanged the manufactures of Ionia and, from the 5th century, of Attica for the slaves, hides and corn of Scythia. Changes of the native population (see SCYTHIA) interrupted this commerce, and the city was hard put to it to

In 1893 Mr Gladstone referred the whole question to a royal commission (Lord Aberdare, chairman). A majority report, adverse to the principle of state pensions, was issued in 1895. A minority report, signed by Mr Chamberlain and others, dissented, mainly on the ground that public expectation would be disappointed if nothing was done. In 1896 Lord Salisbury appointed a committee " of experts" (Lord Rothschild, chairman) to report on schemes submitted, and, if necessary, to devise a scheme. The committee were unable to recommend any of the schemes submitted, and added that, we ourselves are unable, after repeated attempts, to devise any proposal free from grave inherent disadvantages." This second condemnation was not considered conclusive, and a select committee of the House of Commons (Mr Chaplin, chairman) was appointed to consider the condition of "the aged deserving poor." After an ineffectual attempt by Mr Chaplin to induce the committee to drop the pension idea, and to consider the provision made for the aged by the poor law, the committee somewhat hastily promulgated a scheme of gratuitous pensions for persons possessing certain qualifications. Of these the following were the most important: age of sixty-five; no conviction for crime; no poor-law relief, "unless under exceptional circumstances," within twenty years; non-possession of income of 10s. a week; proved industry, or proved exercise of reasonable providence by some definite mode of thrift. The committee refrained from explaining the machinery and from estimating the cost, and suggested that this last problem should be submitted to yet another committee.

Accordingly a departmental committee (chairman, Sir E. Hamilton) was appointed, which reported in January 1900. The estimated cost of the above plan was, by this committee, calculated at £10,300,000 in 1901, rising to £15,650,000 in 1921. Mr Chaplin had publicly suggested that £2,000,000, the proceeds of a is. duty on corn, would go a long way to meet the needs of the case a conjecture which was obviously far too sanguine. These unfavourable reports discouraged the more responsible advocates of state pensions. Mr Chamberlain appealed to the friendly societies to formulate a plan, an invitation which they showed no disposition to accept. Efforts continued to be made to press forward Mr Booth's universal endowment scheme or some modification of it. To this Mr Chamberlain declared his hostility. And here the matter rested, till in his Budget speech in 1907 Mr Asquith pledged the Liberal government to start a scheme in 1908.

In 1908 accordingly there was passed the Old-Age Pensions Act, which carried into effect a scheme for state pensions, payable as from the 1st of January 1909 to persons of the age of 70 years and over. The act grants a pension according to a graduated scale of not exceeding 5s. a week to every person, male and female, who fulfils certain statutory conditions, and at the same time is not subject to certain disqualifications. The statutory conditions, as set out in §2 of the act, are: (1) The person must have attained the age of seventy; (2) must satisfy the pension authorities that for at least twenty years up to the date of receipt of pension he has been a British subject and has had his residence in the United Kingdom; and (3) the person must satisfy the pension authorities that his yearly means do not exceed £31, 105. In § 4 of the act there are elaborate provisions for the calculation of yearly means, but the following may be particularly noticed: (1) in calculating the means of a person being one of a married couple living together in the same house, the means shall not in any case be taken to be a less amount than half the total means of the couple, and (2) if any person directly or indirectly deprives himself of any income or property in order to qualify for an old-age pension, it shall nevertheless be taken to be part of his means. The disqualifications are (1) receipt of poor-law relief (this qualification was specially removed as from the 1st of January 1911); (2) habitual failure to work (except in the case of those who have continuously for ten years up to the age of sixty made provision for their future by payments to friendly, provident or other societies or trade unions; (3) detention in a pauper or criminal lunatic asylum; (4) imprisonment without the option of a fine, which

disqualifies for ten years; and (5) liability to disqualification for a period not exceeding ten years in the case of an habitual drunkard. The graduated scale of pensions is given in a schedule to the act, and provide that when the yearly means of a pensioner do not exceed £21 he shall have the full pension of 5s. a week, which diminishes by is. a week for every addition of £2, 12s. 6d. to his income, until the latter reaches £31, 10s., when no pension is payable. The pension is paid weekly, on Fridays (§ 5), and is inalienable (§ 6).

All claims for, and questions relating to, pensions are determined by the pension authorities. They are (1) pension officers appointed by the Treasury from among inland revenue officers; (2) a central pension authority, which is the Local Government Board or a committee appointed by it, and (3) local pension committees appointed for every borough and urban district with a population of over 20,000, and for every county.

During the first three months of the year 1909, in which the act came into operation, there were 837,831 claims made for pensions: 490,755 in England and Wales, 85,408 in Scotland, and 261,668 in Ireland. Of these claims a total of 647,494 were granted: 393,700 in England and Wales, 70,294 in Scotland, and 183,500 in Ireland. The pensions in force on the 31st of March 1909 were as follows: 582,565 of 5s., 23,616 of 48., 23,275 of 3s., 11,429 of 25., and 6609 of 1s. By the 30th of September the total amount of money paid to 682,768 pensioners was £6,063,658, and in the estimates of 1909-1910 a sum of £8,750,000 was provided for the payment of pensions.

Germany. The movement in favour of state aid to provision for old age has been largely due to the example of Germany. The German system (which for old age dates from 1891) is a form of compulsory and contributory insurance. One half of the premium payable is paid by the labourer, the other half by the employer. The state adds a subvention to the allowances paid to the annuitant. (See GERMANY.)

France. By a law of April 1910 a system of old-age pensions, designed to come into operation in 1911, was adopted. It is a contributory system, embracing all wage-earners, with the exception of railway servants, miners and sailors on the special reserve list of the navy. It applies also to small landowners, tenant farmers and farm labourers. All are eligible for a pension at the age of 65, if in receipt of less than £120 a year. The actual rente or pension is calculated on the basis of the total obligatory contribution, together with a fixed viagère or state annuity. Male wage-earners are required to contribute 9 francs a year, and females 6 francs, the employers contributing a like amount. The largest pension obtainable is for life contributions and amounts to 414 francs. A clause in the act permits wage-earners to claim the rente at the age of 55 on a proportionately reduced scale without the viagère. The total cost of providing pensions in 1911 is estimated at over £5,500,000.

Denmark. The Danish system of old-age pensions was instituted by a law of 1891, and has been extended by further acts of 1902 and 1908. By the law of 1891 the burden of maintaining the aged was in part transferred from the local to the national taxes, and relief from this latter source was called a pension. Recipients of public assistance must be over 60 years of age, they must be of good character and for 5 years previous to receipt must have had their domicile in Denmark without receiving public charity. Such public assistance may be granted either in money, or kind, or by residence in an institution, such as an hospital. The assistance given, whatever it may be, must be sufficient for maintenance, and for attendance in case of illness. The actual amount is determined by the poor-law authorities, but all private assistance amounting to more than 100 kroner (£5, 13s.) a year is taken into account in measuring the poverty of the applicant. The cost of assistance is met in the first case by the commune in which the recipient is domiciled, but half the amount is afterwards refunded by the state. In 1907-1903, 71,185 persons were assisted-53,008 by money and 18,177 otherwise. The total expenditure was £489,200, £242,660 being refunded by the state.