New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1910-12-07

Limitation OF the days Work TO eight l
hours in all works of construction in |
itiated by itself, and it seems to me |
Illogical to maintain difference be- |
tween government work done on gov
eminent soil and government work
done in private establishment
Workmen's Compensation.
In view of the keen, widespread in
terest now felt in the United States
in system of compensation for indus
trial accidents to supplant our present
thoroughly unsatisfactory system Of
employers liability Ca subject the i'm
portance of which congress has al
ready recognized by the appointment
of commission), recommend that
the international congress on indus
trial insurance be invited to hold its
meeting in 1913 in Washington and
that an appropriation of $4,000 be
made to cover the necessary expenses
of organizing and carrying on the
meeting.
The protection of railroad employees
from personal injury is a subject of
the highest Importance and demands
continuing attention
l also renew my recommendation
that steps be taken looking to the
holding of a negro exposition in cele.
bration of the fftieth anniversary of
the issuing by Mr.. Lincoln Of the
emancipation proclamation.
Conservation.
Nothing can be more important in
the matter of conservation than the
treatment of our forest lands Speak.
ing generally, the government has re-
served of the existing forests about 70
| per cent of all the timber lands of the
| government. Within these forests lin
Guiding 26,0O0,0OO acres in two forests
in Alaska) are 192,000,000 acres, of
which 166,000,000 acres are in the
! United States proper and include with
in their boundaries something like
! 22,000,000 acres that belong to the
states or to private individuals. We
have, then, excluding Alaska forests,
total of about 44,O00,000 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. I am informed by
the department of agriculture that the
government owns other tracts of tim.
Der land in these states which should
be included in the forest reserves. l
recommend to congress that the limi-
tatiOn herein imposed be repealed.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 1867, ZOO
acres. Since that time there have been
withdrawn by my order from entry
for classification 7S,977,745 acres, max
ing total withdrawal of 96,844,74
acres Meantime of the acres thus
withdrawn 10,061 1889 have been classi
fed and found not to contain coal an6
/ have been restored to agricultural en-
try and 4,726,091 acres have been elias
sifed as coal lands, while 79,903,23s
acres remain withdrawn from entry
and await classification. In addition
! 1000 acres have been classified az
coal lands without prior withdrawal
thus increasing the classified coal lands
to 1O,429,372 acres.
The question as to how great ar
area ought to be included in lease tt
one individual or corporation is no
free from difficulty, but in view of the
fact that the government retains con
troll as owner 1 think there might be
some liberality in the amount leased
and that $500 acres would not be tot
great a maximum. The leases should
only be granted after advertisement
and public competition.
The secretary Of the interior think!
there are difficulties in the way O
leasing public coal lands. I entirely
approved his stating at length in hi
report the objections in order that The
whole subject may be presented t
congress, but after full consideration
I favor leasing system and recon
mend it.
! The needed oil and gas law is essen
TALLY leasing law. In their natura
occurrence Oil and gas cannot be
measured in terms of acres, like coal
and it follows that exclusive title tt
these products can normally be Sc
cured only after they reach the sur
face. Oil should be disposed of as {
commodity in terms of barrels O.
transDortsh1a nr0d17ct rather than II