Arizona republican., 1910-01-15


 have been made by the secretary of the interior temporarily. to withdraw | lands pending submission to congress | of recommendations as to legislation to meet conditions or emergencies as they arise.
 NEW CLASSIFICATION NEEDED.
 One of the most pressing needs in the matter of public land reform is -tliat lands should be classified accord | ing to their principal value or use. ! This ought to be done by that depart ! ment whose force is best adapted to that work. It should be done by the interior department through the geo. logical survey. Much of the confusion, | fraud and contention which has exist ed in the past has arisen from the lack of an official and determinative classification of the public lands and their contents.
 It is now proposed to dispose of az | ricultural lands as such. and at the same time to reserve for other dispo- sition the treasure of coal, oil, asphal- tum. natural gas and phosphate con- tained therein. This may be best ac complished by separating the right to
  ing the necessary use of so much of the latter as may be required for ! the extraction of the deposits. The surface might be disposed of as agri cultural land under the general agri- cultural statute. while the coal. or other mineral, could be disposed of bv lease on royalty basis. with provi sions requiring certain amount of development each year: and in order to prevent the use and cession of such lands with others of similar charac- ter which seems to constitute a mo- nopoly forbidden by law, the lease should contain suitable provision sub iecting to forfeiture the interests of persons participating in such monop- oly- Such law should apply to Alaska as well as the United States.
 It is exceedingly difficult to form a statute to retain government control over q property to be developed by private capital in such a manner as to secure the governmental purposes and at the same time not frighten away investment of the necessary capital. Hence, it may be necessary by laws that are really only experimental. to
 
 ticn what is the best method of secur- ing the result aimed at.
 The extent of the value of phosphate is hardly realized. an6 with the need that there will be for it as the years roll on and the necessity for fertiliz- ing the land shall become more acute. this will be product which will prob ably attract the greed of monopolists
 WATER POWER SITES.
 With respect to the public land which lies along the streams offering opportunity to convert water power into transmissable electricity. another important phase of the public question is presented There are valuable power sites through all public land states. opinion is held that the trans fer of sovereignty from federal gov ernment to territorial governments as they become states. included water power in rivers except that owned by riparian proprietors. I do not think it necessary to go into discussion of this somewhat mooted question of law II seems to me sufficient to say that the man who owns and controls the land along the stream from which the power js to be converted and transmitted. owns land which is indis- pensable to the conservation and use of that power. I cannot conceive how the power in streams flowing through public lands can be made available at all except by using the land itself as the site for the construction of the | plant by which the power is generated. | and converted and securing a right | of-way thereover for the transmission 1 lines Under these conditions, if the | government owns the adjacent lands indeed, if the government is the ripa- rian owrer-it may control the use of l by imposing proper con ditions on the disposition of land nec- essary in the creation and utilization of water power.
 Development in electrical appliances for the conservation of water power into electricity to he transmitted long distances has progressed so far that it is no longer problematical. but it is ! a certain inference that in the future power of water flowing in the streams to a large extent will take the place of natural fuel
 In the disposition of the domain al- ready granted. many waterpower sites have come under absolute ownership and may drift into one ownership. so that all the water power under private ownership shall be monopoly. If. however the water power sites now owned by the government-and there are enough of them-shall be disposed of to private persons for the invest ment of their capital in such way IS to prevent their union for purposes If monopoly with other water power sites. and under conditions that shall init the right of use to not exceeding fifty years with proper means for de- ermining reasonable graduated rent II. and with some equitable provision or fixing terms and renewal. it would 'eem entirely possible to prevent the absorption of these most useful lands )y power monopoly
 As long as the government retains control. and can prevent their improp- r union with other plants. competition must be maintained and prices kept 'eaSonable.
 In considering the conservation of latural resources of the country. the eature that transcends all others. in- hiding woods. waters and minerals. is he soil. Ii is incumbent upon the government to foster, by all avail -ble means. the resources of the