Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-04
NEWS OF THE MINES AND OIL FIELDS

or entry man initiated prior to such
Withdrawals
1T can be easily seen that in the
striking of these words from the Dill
the intention Is to not recognize the
legal rights of any locator upon these
lands.
..Another clause striken from the bill
is as follows:
'Or the land restored as hereinto-
fore provided. Upon restoration of any
such lands in the United States the
equitable right shall attach of any
bona fide claimant who prior to such
withdrawal initiated a claim thereto
and made valuable improvements
therein
MAKES ONE MAN SUPREME
ut will be noted that If all of these
clauses were allowed to remain In the
bill 1t would not have been extremely
objectionable, but there is not saw
ing clause in it and it gives the presi-
dent absolute power under the pre-
sent laws that we have governing the
location of oil lands, to conf1scate mil
lions of dollars worth of oil property
throughout the state of California on
which hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars have been expended in improve
ments. and this great hardship inVar1-
ably falls upon the independent pro-
ducers of this state.
"To realize the effect that this mea-
sure will have, 1t must be remembered
that there are no specific laws regard
ing the location of petroleum lanos'
and that our locations during the en-
tire history of the oil industry IN tne
west have been made under what Is
known as the placer mining laws,
which provide that discovery mas TO
he made upon each piece OF land To-
Gated of mineral in place, and that
no rights to these locations can be
initiated with the government until
such discovery is made, and the min
ing for petroleum being much different
than that of gold and other minerals
makes it necessary for the petroleum
miner to spend thousands of dollars
and in many instances running into
hundreds of thousands in drilling wells
thousands of feet into the earth be-
fore a discovery can be made and
lawful location initiated.
DEPRIvEs PEOPLE OF RIGHTS
"Under the proposed act 1t will be
absolutely up to one man to take away
all rights that might have been ac-
oujred by means CT honest endeavor
to develop the resources of these lands.
There Is no question of fraud as far
as the oil producers are concerned
They have been complying with the
rules and regulations established Tor
many years, and If the proposed legls-
lation is allowed to go through II Will
ruin hundreds of men who have deVot-
ed a large part of their life In the de-
velopment of the oil industry of this
state, which is acknowledge by all TO
lie one of the most important parts OF
our Industrial prosperity.
There are many other reasons why
the people of Los Angeles should be
interested in this matter, which Will
be explained at the meeting to take
place at Levy's cafe. such as the rail-
road holding each alternate section
covering the lands involved on the
withdrawal made by the secretary OF
the interior.
"The bill has passed in the name OF
conservation of the resources Of this
nation; but its only purpose, II IL
| lowed to stand in its present form
will be the conservation of the oil fol
private interests already existing.
1--WE make an earnest appeal to the
people of Los Angeles to come and al
| least give us hearing, and If we are
right to use what influence they car
| to prevent the final passage of this
| bill through the senate. Nothing bu'
energetic action by the whole people
of this state will stop 1t at this time
1t has already been reported out ol
committee in the senate and seems tc
have great influence back of 1t for tht
purpose of rushing it through"
-D$
It's as easy to secure a bargain in a uset
/ 4wWA- NAnNs.