Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-08-18
CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLIC
LANDS.

LANDS.
Synopsis of address of George Otis
Smith, Director u. S. Geological Sur
yey. at National Irrigation Congress
Spokane, Washington, August nj
1909.
The necessity for classifying the
public lands is not recent discov
cry. The earliest land legislation in
this country both contemplated diff
ferenees in the quality and character
OF the public lands and planned for
descriptions based. on field examina
ton. Yet even the honest admins
tration of the land laws has ever
been subject to criticism arising
from the fact that no adequate provi-
sion was made for land classification.
A period of national awakening to-
the. worth of the public domain fol-
lowed the close of the Civil war
and another epoch of realization by
the nation of the true source OF its
wealth and prosperity has just open
ed, while both the legislative and
executive branches of the Federal
Government are awake to the fact
that exact knowledge is essential to-
the proper utilization of our country's
great resource of land. The earlier
propaganda bore fruit in the creation
of scientific bureau among whose
functions was the classification OF
the public land, but this specific duty
was subordinated to the more general
task of determining the natural re
.ources of the public domain. The
duty OF classifying the remaining un.
entered public lands is now definite
| ly accepted by the United States
Geological Survey and the opportun-
| ity earlier neglected has for several
years been vigorously improved. The
Survey is heartily cooperating with
the General Land Office to the end
that the best disposition of the land
may be secured, and it should be not
ed that no small part of the data
utilized in this work represents the
fruitage of the Surveys earlier gen
eral investigations.
Utilization is the keynote of the
present public land policy and by
utilization l mean that kind of local
development that is promoted by the
land skinner" but rather develop
ment whose plan weighs nationa.
needs and calculates future demands
and whose accomplishment will serve
our country's development in the
next century as we'll as in the pres
ent decade. Utilization is opposed te
both non-use and waste.
A notable example of land classifl.
cation in aid of proposed legislation
is afforded by the Acts of March
and October, 1888, wherein Congress
directed that an irrigation survey
! should be made by the Geological
: Survey and that the reservoir sites
: Ilnd irrigable lands designated as
lresult Snould be reserved pending fur
J ther legislation. The legislation O
| 1883 was itself the logical outcome
of Major Powells 1879 report on the
. arid lands and his subsequent work
e as Director of the Geological Sur
vey and the law that eventually re
suited from the work thus uathoriz
b ed in 1888 was the Reclamation Act
of 1902. through the operation o.
: which the West is coming into its
r own as the garden of the nation.
: photographic and topographic sur
veys which are now in progress un
der instructions of the Secretary o
e the Interior have as their purpos
d the collection of information tina
! may be presented to Congress in ait
Il of legislation looking toward tn
q best utilization of the water power
u on the public domain. Reports o.
the mineral or non-mineral characte
L of coal, oil, and phosphate lands Q
Il which the Survey has made actus
9 field examination are now bein
< transmitted to the General Land O
o flee. Another line of activity is tn
of segregation of non-irrigable land
under the terms of the enlarged
" homestead act" of the present yea
81 The existence of Survey data wher
u by within the few months since til
az passage OF this law the Secretary
10 the Interior has been able to desi
az nate 1852 million acres is in itself
en- foraefM argument for an adequa
nj land classification.
le The classification and valuation
ng coal land is special phase of pu
IS lie land work to which ,the Geologic
a Survey is giving increased attentio
us The geologic Investigations of Il
ns last three field seasons have n
'e- only furnished knowledge of tt
quantity and quality of the coal {
ps the public domain but have render
"a possible the present policy obtainl
u coal prices for coal lands. Ine Ge
We eral Land Office now depends on t
et- Geological Survey to furnish detail
'rs valuations for every 40-acre tract
ais coal land that is placed on the m;
d. ket. In the two and a half mont
is following the adoption of the rev
Ser ed scheme of valuation the repo
as to the General Land Office releas
Vi to agricultural entry approximate
III two and half million acres in Co
ief rado, Wyoming and Montana a
ao placed selling prices on nearly AZ
hs 600 acres of coal land with an agg
i'n gate valuation of over $15,OOO.O
pu' The price 0f Government coal la
'ou is now determined on the basis of
hst timated Tonnage. the unit rate vary
~ with the quality of the coal from
'es- to 3 cents ton for coal depos