Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-03-21
EU3I.l COAL LhEDa.

PUBLIC COAL LAED5.
ghei,aI OF Conem-sm4p T.. ~.
Martin Of The pubic iends CON-
nlNtye d til, hou e wnigh eek Z;
thc double purpose Of conserving
''lr coal land, If the @ovesnmeat
Il, rul.ie uses and rttIe sarlc linp
10 protect th, great west Against
s|taenatlon from closing It's coal
supply i a wisely planned meas
ere, which ii isl pity that Con
.yressn9n Martin cannot follow up
IN thc next session. The South
Dakota puhl.c nill. however. mike
nptc Of 'Ic tinr work he has done
in thrir interest. and sI,D"ll he de-
sire to oct INTO the congressional
-aMme LAlar. bis v%nliant services N
acir behalf viii not 30 oVorIo0Ic1.
IN TIE past this government has
pursued the policy Of the spend
'lritl in allowing lis coat bearn@
lands 10 fall into private owner
ship. thus giving over To private
gam the bounty of The Almighty.
y isn't chat the coal supply 5 cx-
haus;cd. In his report. Ny. Mar
tin shows that we haze coal enough
N this country to last from 1000
to 5000 wears long enough to
ahate Immediate worry. :'ilt tle
price runs HIGH. and industry is
handicapped hy the h.an lrlce Of
coal. MIR. Martin IN The b Il which
ne has introduced seeks to pat Il
stop to thc control Of the remain
mo coal land, by private parties.
anl It the same time he seeks to
wrotcci the great west against an
Interference with its growth b.
tying Up lis coal SUPPLY. His bill
IS in harmony with suggestions
made by the president ia hi, LASS
message but before it i, prSsed. it
s certain to call out much COM
lnSnt and Il hit OF protest. Sioux
Falls Arwus-Lcadcr Of Feb. %.
\ GREAT many people are accus-
toned TO looking upon al agitat-
'r' rs either anaYch s.. socialists,
or etherwi public cfeaics in
gca"ral. But inc fore@ i,nr gives
one - ghe results which hav ao-
etuectfr0 the acli ity i }aeag
III rouN aeitatar rs - far.
md another thing which i, hes
cone has been to make a patriot 4
the Il osevclt s.anp. 1t is not u
great batch Of new law that wa
want OF IN otll"v W rds. HAT W.
need. 10 head off TIE anarchist anl
socialist: but it is laws OF the
Roosevelt stamp.
md what are laws of the Roosc-
welt stamp: will the reader please
answer. In your minds. it is u
new political principle. or perhaps
an Old one newly appl' ed. VIZ:
there shall be no more OF the pub
nc DOMAIN given away to corpora
tons without a valuable considera-
tion; and the President has started
the ball by reserving our most val
liable forests: the next step is the
reservlng 1T our coal lands. by the
homestead la vs. being modified so
that when a patent is issued. it
shall be Il deed only for the top of
the ground, for use for agricul-
ture only.
The supplement of this is. that
persons or corporations shall only
lie permitted to engage in mining.
any character-by and under
authority of federal laws.
Applying this principle to local
and state affairs, no more fran
chises should be given away. An
such companies should be required
To pay the municipality a certain
per cent OF their gross earnings
nnd at the end Of every fifty years
the franchise should be sold ut
public auction.
This ought to be a plank in the
next national Republican platform.
Mr.. Moore of Fl. Pierre who