Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-13
markets by miners without large capital.

cilitate larger operations, as the leases
could be made sufficiently liberal in the
matter of time, area and other conditions
to induce healthy competition and meet
all real demands, and yet in all cases the
general supervision Of the government
could be such as to CD prevent waste In
a. the system can be operated in such
manner as to prevent the evils Of monopo-
hstic control; (5) it will permit the govern
ment to reserve from general use fuels
other special industries, and co. 1t will en-
able the government to protect the public
against unreasonable and discriminating
charges for fuel supplies.
area of the high-grade Goals in the west
has passed under private control. Includ-
ing both the Ignite and the coal areas
these private holdings probably aggregate
With the remainder Of the lands containing
mineral fuels reserved and leased by the
government there will be ample opportun-
ity to determine, in the near future, which
of the two systems-private ownership or
the leasing system with general govern
ment supervision-will best protect the in
terests Of the people and thus promote the
permanent development Of the west.
Promoting National Interests.
'In planning such leasing system by
the government the question of revenue.
beyond that necessary to cover the ex-
penses of administration and exploration,
need not be seriously considered. The
spirit of generosity which the country as
a whole has shown in connection with the
disposal Of its public lands and the use OF
the proceeds from the sale of these lands
for the further development of the west
through the reclamation service and In
other ways, it is of itself a sufficient guar
antee that in the administration of both
the coal reserves and the national forests
MI he
is safe to believe also that federal super
vision of both the coal lands and the for
ests will be reduced to a minimum, and
that in the future even more than In the
past this supervision will be limited to
that necessary to carry out the policy OF
conserving these natural resources in such
manner as will best promote the perma-
nent interests of the people, and, above
in the neighborhood Of the mines and the
forests which we seek to preserve for the
public use.
Increasing Use of Coal.
1.-The necessity for care in the future
management Of these fuel supplies Is fur
Their illustrated by the rapid rate at which
the use of such fuels Is increasing in the
United States.
This remarkable development and the
certain continuity of this prodigious growth
compel US to recast all estimates as to the
life of our ineXhaustible resources We
can foresee the time when the eastern in
dustries will be much more largely taxed
for supplying foreign markets. 1t would
surely be greatly to the advantage of this
country if some, at least, of the coal fields
of the east, and especially of the anthracite
fields had been left under the control of
the government. Let US provide in the
west against the recurrence Of the cond1-
ton which we deplore in the east. At the
outset the law would be administered in
chi riff of hrna wi
least possible interference with the devel-
opment of the coal fields. Moreover, can
not too emphatically say that all laws
which merely seek to prevent monopoly or
the mishandling of the public by forbiddfng
combination are certain to fail of their
purpose. Our experience with the inter-
state commerce and antitrust laws shows
that what is needed Is not prohibition of
all combinations, but such supervision and
control over combinations and over cor
porations entering into them as will pre-
vent the evils while giving to the public
the advantage of combination.
Control Of Grazing Lands.
Let me also again urge that legislation
be passed to provide for government con-
troll of the public pasture lands Of the
west on the same general principles which
now apply in the government control of the
forest reserves. The local control Of the
range should be in the hands of western
men familiar with stock raising, and that
there should be full local participation in
the management of the range for CO.
operation between the stockmen and the
government officers Is absolutely essential.
The grazing fee should be small and at
first almost nominal. There is no need at
present that the government should get
net revenue from grazing on the public
range, but only enough to pay for admin
stration and Improvement, and 1t may be
wise to provide that any surplus shall 60
m ha nd in fho
fees are collected If a law for the control
Of the range should, as 1 request, be enact
ed, such control should not be taken hur-
riedly, bat gradually, as grazing districts
can be organized.
LAS in the case of the proposed law for
controlling the disposition of the mineral
fuels, our object should be to get the prin-
ciple of the law established, leaving a nee
essary discretion % those who at the out
set are to administer it, and then to perfect
the law later as actual experience may
show the need.
Let me urge that Congress provide $780,
600 in addition to the present estimates
to be Immediately applied to the clearing
of the arrears of business in the general
land office as regards the detection and
prevention of fraud in disposing Of apph-
Extent of the Land Frauds.
Il wish to express my utter and complete
dissent from the statements that have been
made as to there being but a minimum Of
fraud in the actual working of our present
land laws. 1 am exceedingly anxious to
protect the interests of bona fide settlers
and to prevent hardship being inflicted
upon them. But surely we are working
in their interests when we try to prevent
the land which should be reserved for mem
and for those like them from being taken
possession of for speculative purposes, or
obtained in any fraudulent fashion.
The present force of special agents is
utterly insufficient to conduct the proper
field examinations. But there have been
here and there a limited number of such
field examinations in which direct investi-
cation by government officials was added
to the evidence furnished by claimants
Four specific examples of these field ex-
aminations are as follows: q omit the
names of the places)
(a) Examinations of desert land entries
during August, September and October,
1896:
Agents assigned. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. IL
Total days examination on the ground 4S4
Claims examined per day per agent. "a
UnfavOrably reported. 49,
RelnQulSneQ OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. so
Favorably reported. ...................... $40
CO. Homestead entries examined during
October and November, 1905: