Graham guardian., 1909-08-20

of the Interior have as their pur.
pose the collection of information
that may be presented to Congress
in aid of legislation looking toward
the best utilization of the water
powers on the public domain. Re-
ports on the mineral or non-min-
eral character of coal, oil and phos-
phate lands of which the Survey has
made actual field examination are
now being transmitted to the Gen.
eral Land Office. Another line of
activity is the segregation of non
irrigable lands under the terms of
the enlarged homestead act" of
the present year. The existence of
survey data whereby within the
few months since the passage of
this law the Secretary of the Inter
ior has been able to designate 1862
million acres is in itself forceful
argument for an adequate land
classification.
The classification and valuation of
coal land is a special phase of public
land work to which the Geological
Survey is giving increased attention.
The geologic Investigations of the
last three field seasons have not only
furnished knowledge of the quanti-
ty and quality of the coal on the
public domain, but have rendered
possible the present policy of OBJ
tanning coal prices for coal lands.
The General Land Office now de-
pends on the Geological Survey to
furnish detailed valuations for every
40-acre tract of coal land that is
placed on the market. In the two
and a half months following the
adoption of the revised scheme of
valuation the reports to the Gen
eral Land Office released to agri-
cultural entry approximately two
and half million acres in Colorado,
Wyoming and Montana and placed
selling prices on nearly 400, 900 acres
of coal land with an aggregate valu-
alton of over 100000. The price
of Government coal land is now de-
termined on the basis of estimated
tonnage, the unit rate varying with
the quality of the coal from one
half to three cents ton for coal
deposits within fifteen miles of a
railroad. These prices average less
than one-tenth the usual royalty
paid in the West. Yet this con-
valuation will more than
double the average price of public
coal lands. In exceptional cases the
price based on tonnage represents
increase over the old
price. 1t is conceded that
this policy of basing the price on
the quantity and quality of the arti-
Gle sold will not encourage purchase
by spectators, but | maintain that
the Government valuation will not
impede the disposition of the coal
deposits for the purposes of utiliza-
ton. The real development of the
West will be promoted, not retard-
ed. The increased valuation of the
millions of acres of public coal land
must result in increased contribu-
tions to the reclamation fund and
greater possibilities for local utiliza-
ton of the agricultural lands
irrigation.
A principle that is winning in
creased recognition in land legisla- |
ton is that of relative worth. The
present coal land law expresses this
principle by giving gold, silver and
copper deposits priority over the
coal, and the coal in turn preference
over agricultural values. These dis
tinctions necessitate land classifica-
ton based on adequate field exami-
nation. Wherever the different
values can be separated that separa-
ton by appropriate legislation is at
once the easiest and best solution of
the problem, and the first step in
this direction was taken in March of
this year in the passage of the