The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-12-06

| the UlaLLeE III
| treatment OF
ing generally, L.
served of the exist
| per cent Of all the tint
government. Within these IT,
Guiding 100000 acres in two forests
in Alask0 are 192,OO0,000 acres, OF
which 1660OO,OO0 acres are in the
United States proper and include with.
| in their boundaries something like o.
| 100000 acres that belong to the states
! or to private individuals. We have,
/ then, excluding Alaska forests, a total
of about 144,0OOO0O acres of forests
| belonging to the government which
are being treated in accord with the
principles of scientific forestry.
The law now prohibits the reserva-
ton of any more forest lands In Ore
gon, Washington, Idaho, Montana,
| Colorado and Wyoming except by
act of congress. am informed BY
| the department OF agriculture that the
government owns other tracts of tim
berland in these states which should
be included in the forest reserves. |
| recommend to congress that the nmi-
tation herein imposed be repealed In
| the present forest reserves there are
| lands which are not properly forest
land and which ought to be subject to
| homestead entry.
Coal Lands.
The next subject, and one most i'm
| portant for your consideration, is the
disposition of the coal lands in the
| United States and In Alaska At the
beginning of this administration there
were classified coal lands In the Unit
ed States amounting to 5,476,000 acres,
| and there were withdrawn from entry
for purposes Of classification II, 1857 900
acres. Since that time there have been
withdrawn by my order from entry
for classification 1881, 745 acres, max
| ing total withdrawal of 9e,S44,745
acres. Meantime of the acres thus
withdrawn 10,061 $3.50 have been classi-
| fed and found not to contain coal and
| have been restored to agricultural en-
try and 4,726,091 acres have been clas-
| sified as coal lands, while 79,903, 2S9
| acres remain withdrawn from entry
and await classification. In addition
337, 900 acres have been classified as
coal lands without prior withdrawal,
thus increasing the classified coal lands
to 10,429,372 acres.
The question as to how great an
area ought to be included in lease to
one individual or corporation is not
| free from difficulty, but in view OF the
fact that the government retains con
troll as owner / thinks there might be
some liberalfty In the amount leased
and that $500 acres would not be too
great a maximum. The leases should
only be granted after advertisement
and public competition.
The secretary of the interior thinks
there are difficulties in the way of
leasing public coal lands. I entirely
approved his stating at length in his
| report the objections In order that the
whole subject may be presented to
congress, but after a full consideration
l favor a leasing system and recon-
mend It,
The needed oil and gas law is essen
TALLY leasing law. In their natural
occurrence oil and gas cannot be
measured in terms of acres. Ike coal,
and it follows that exclusive title to
these products can normally be Sc
cured only after they reach the sur
face Oil should be disposed of as a
commodity in terms of barrels Of
transportable product rather than In
acres Of real estate.
SNater Power Rates.
Thewater power sites subject is one
that calls for new legislation. It has
been thought that there was danger
of combination to obtain possession Of
all the power sites and to unite them
under one control Whatever the evt-
J dcnce of this or lack of It, at present
we have had enough experience to
know that combination would be prof
table, and the control of great num-
Der Of power sites would enable the
holders or owners to raise the price
Of power at win within certain sec
fions, and the temptation Wouio
promptly attract investors, ana the
danger of monopoly and e1tortioh
would not be q remote one
However this may be. 1t is the PLAIN
duty of the government to see 10 II
that in the utilization and develop
ment Of all this immense amount VI
water power conditions shall be I'M
posed that VIII prevent extoruonate
charges, which are the usual accompa-
niment Of monopoly.