The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-02-20
TO LEASE COAL LANDS.
President Sends Message To Con-
gress Urging Speedy Action.

WASHINGTON. Feb. l3.-President
Roosevelt today sen to congress a
long message calling attention to what
be terms the ''urgent need Of legisla.
ton affecting the different phases of
the public land situation in the United
States"
He advocates the conservation OF
coal and other fuel on lands
still belonging to the government,
saying that henceforth the nation
should retain its title to its fuel re.
sources; urges government control of
the western public land pastures, with
q system OF small grazing fees, etc.,
and asks for an appropria alton of half
a million dollars Immediately avail.
able, in addition to present estimate
to aid in detecting and preventing
land fraud. He contends for q system
of government leasing OF it's mineral
land and for treating these fuel lands
as public utilities.
The president points out that it
would have been better if some eastern
coal lands had been left under govern.
ment control, and suggests provision
in the west "against recurrence of the
conditions we deplore in the east"
Citing 1900 cases of public land en-
tries in four districts mentioned the
president says noncompliance with
the law was found in over half of them
and deliberate fraud in very many
cases.
The president refers to his previous
message to congress on the subject
and again calls attention to the i'm
p~ortance of such legislation as would
provide for title to and development
of the surface land as separate and
distinct from the right to the %underly-
ing mineral fuels in regions under a
lease system on conditions which
would inure to the benefit of the pub.
lie as q whole. He says he cares lit
tie for the details and that the prime
need is that the system should be es.
tablished. The message in part says:
''Such a leasing system as that
proposed represents by no means an
untried policy. In the Australian
countries during the last 10 years coal
has been mined under a system of
government leases and on condition
so favorable for development that
their coal and coke are today being
sold on the Pacific coast of both the
American continents. Ia all the great
coal producing countries except Great
Britain coal is being mined under
leases. In Great Britain leases are
granted almost entirely by the private
land owners, but there, as in other
countries, the surface culture and the
mining operations are conducted in
dependently of each other.
J, Sin Nova Scotia, British Colum
bia, India and other British colonies,
!, a government leasing system has beer
2 adopted and is working satisfactorily
, In the United States, although con
veyance of the mineral rights with the
surface has been common practice, thu
separate development of the two inter
ests is increasing: aud in the eastern
: and middle states, a large part of tht
. coal is being mined under a system
/ of private leases. 1t is gratifying tt
note that in these states as in foreign
! countries. agriculture and mining ART
! conducted within the same bounda
les, and the country thus attains it
: highest dual development without con
dict of interests. Indeed, the mining
4 industry and the factories using thes
t fuels create large local markets for tn
products of the farm.
9 "Mineral fuels, like the forests AM
navigable streams, should be treate'
as public utilities. In some foreig
countries practical control of a larg
portion of the fuel resources was al
g lowed years ago to pass into privat
e hands, but the existing government
are e%ndeavoring to gain this contro
0 in order that the diminishing suppl
may be guarded for the common goo
instead of being disposed of for tn
g benefit Of the few-though the mistak
of the preceding generation in dispot
ing of these fuels for q nominal r.
turn cannot always be corrected b
the present generation, as the cot
q may be 80 enormous as to be prohibi
g tory"
e Idaho Sheen Law IL Valid.