The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-12-03

Like laws are asked for oil and gas
lands.
Attention also is called to the meet
of these products by the navy, which is
left without lawful resource in MAKING
use of these commodities without plac
ing itself at the mercy of the price
schedules of the trusts.
Land pirates are scourged by the sec
rotary and the determined fight waged
by his predecessor to crush monopoly
of the soil is Endorsed.
Millions Of Acres Stolen.
The report in part is as follows:
'.The liberal and rapid disposition OF
of administration which for a long
time have prevailed naturally have
provoked the feeling that the public
domain was legitimate prey for the TN
scrupulous and that it was no crime
to violate or circumvent the land laws
1t is to be regretted that we. as ma
ton, were so tardy to realize the i'm
portance of preventing SO large meas
ure of our natural resources passing
into the hands of land pirates and
spectators, with no view to develop
ment looking to the national welfare
at may be safely said that millions
of acres of timber and other lands
have been unlawfully obtained and it
is also true that actions to recover
such lands have in most instances long
since been barred by the statute OF
limitations
Urges War on Land Pirates.
"The principal awakening to our
wasteful course came under your pre-
decessor's administration The bold
and vigorous prosecutions of land
frauds, through Secretaries Hitchcock
and Garfield, have restored salutary
respect for the law, and the public
mind has rapidly grasped the import
ance of safeguarding the further dispo.
sition of our natural resources in the
public lands in the interest of the pub
lie good as against private greed.
''In this present policy of conserving
che natural resources of the public do
main, while development is the key
1ote, the best thought of the day is not
that development shall be by national
agencies. but that wise utilization shall
oe secured through private enterprise
under national supervision and control
Would Control Right to Mine.
Gas regards new legislation, the
present coal land laws respecting the
states and territories, as well as
Alaska, should be supplanted by an act
fully meeting existing as we'll as future
conditions. The inducements for much
of the crime and fraud, both construc-
tive and actual, committed under the
present system can be prevented by
separating the right to mine from the
title to the soil.
"The object to be attained in any
such legislation is to conserve the coal
deposits as a public utility and to pre-
vent monopoly or extortion in their dis
position This may be accomplished
either through leasing system, by
which the title would remain in the
government, under proper regulation
and supervision by the secretary of the
interior, or through the sale of the de-
posits, and in either case with restric-
lions.
New Oil Laws Also Sought.
Pending the enactment of new legis-
lation as affecting coal lands, all
known coal areas were withdrawn
from entry for classification and ap-
praisement through the Geological Sur
vey.
II have also recently withdrawn tenn
porarily. for the purpose of submitting
the subject to congress for new legis-
lation, large areas of oil lands in Wyo-
ming, California. Utah and Oregon.
Il desire to call attention to the i'm
portance of asking congress to author
ize the executive to reserve certain
areas of these lands for the purpose of
affording supply of fuel oil for the
future use of the navy, and to make
such regulations as may be necessary
for the preservation and extraction CT
such deposits
Monopoly on Phosphate Halted.
Under the previous administration
there were temporarily withdrawn,
pending action by congress, 4,7O2,52
acres of land in the state of Wyomins,
Idaho, and Utah, as containing phos-
plate deposits. These lands are being
re-examined by the Geological Survey
at my direction with a view to elimin-
ating all tracts not containing such de-