The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-28
ENTIRE STATE
Is INTERESTED
Sale of University Lands Gener-
ally Discussed.
SOME EDITORIAL COMMENT
Mobile Register Goes for the Governor
and Publishes a Story as to the
Value of Coal Lands in
Bibb County.

The sale of the University coal lands at
$12.5 SO an acre has aroused the most In
tense discussion throughout the entire
state. In an editorial the Mobile Register
says:
We said two days ago that the reputa-
ton of the chief executive of the state
as a business governor seemed to>~be
imperilled by the revelations made in the
matter of the recent sale of University
lands Those lands were sold to General
Rucker, of Birmingham, who, this year,
mas been trying to buy other lands in the
same mineral district for the sloss COM
pany. We know nothing of General Ruck-
er's methods, but we do know that great
fortunes are made in this business by the
system of purchase by option. A specula-
tor, finding good tract of land and be-
ing on terms with a company that is a
purchaser of lands, obtains options on
tracts that are desirable and resells the
land to the company at an advanced fg-
ure. The company pays him, and he pays
for the land. The difference in the price at
which he buys and the price at which ne
sells to the company represents his profit.
Naturally, he buys as cneaply as he can
and sells at as high a price he can
get.
Now, General Rncker purchased these
+. University lands outright fer $3.50 an
acre, with the approval If the governor of
the state. In the same year We find him
negotiating an option upon other lands in
the same mineral district-lands That are
presumably no better than the UNIVERSE
ty lands because State Geologist Smith
says the University lands are as good as
any in the district General Rucker pro-
posed to buy a tract of land one-quarter
of which was to be sold outright and of
the other ttlree-euarters he was to get on
ly the mineral rights. Now, it is well
known that the mineral right is simply
the privilege to dig the coal from under
the surface of the land and to transport
tie same to the furnace or factory, where
as the sale of land outright carries with
it the timber farming privileges and any
other thing of value that may be on the
surface of the land.
We may feel assured, therefore. that the
outright sale of the University lands
ought to have brought as much as pne
sale OF the mineral rights on other lands
in the neshborhood were bid for. But
this was not the case, for General Ruck-
er offered $i9 an acre for the mineral
rights, and then failed to get the lands
because the owners wanted 500 an acre,
while the University lands were sold for
$3.50.
We offer the text of the proposal made
by the general to the Gulf Coke and Coal
company, Of Mobile, and the text of the
resolution of the company declining his
proposal, and giving as the reason that
the lands are held ait value of $40 an
acre, and forfeit of $4,000 must be made
to bind the sale.
On the face of it this transaction shows
that General Rucker got a good deal the
best of 1T in the first transaction-how
much the best of it being indicated by the
price he was willing to pay for land of
like character situated in the same coun-
ty and equally accessible to transporta-
fion facilities.