The Green Forest tribune., 1910-09-09

benefit of the comparatively cheap coal of fine quality which can be furnished at a reasonable price from these fields but the public, through the government ought certainly to retain a wise control and interest in these coal deposits and I think 1t may do so safely if congress will authorize the granting of leases, as al ready suggested for government coal lands in the United States, with provi- sions forbidding the transfer of the leases except with the consent of the government. thus preventing their acqui- sition by a combination or monopoly and upon limitations as to the area to be in cluded in any one lease to one individual and at certain moderate rental, with royalties upon the coal mined propor- toned to the market value of the coal either at Seattle or at San Francisco. Of course such leases should contain condi- tons requiring the erection of proper plants, the proper development by mod ern mining methods of the properties leased. and the use of every known and practical means and device for saving the life of the miners.
 Oil and Gas Lands.
 In the last administration there were withdrawn from agricultural entry 2S20,- 900 acres of supposed oil land In Califor- mia; about million and half acres in Louisiana, of which only 6.500 acres were known to be vacant unappropria- ted land; 75,000 acres in Oregon and 174,- 900 acres in Wyoming, making a total of nearly 4,000, 900 acres In September, 1909, I directed that all public oil lands, whether then withdrawn or not, should be withheld from disposition pending con gressional action, for the reason that the existing placer mining law, although made applicable to deposits of this char acter, Is not suitable to such lands, and for the further reason that 1t seemed de- sirabe to reserve certain fuel-oil deposits for the use of the American navy. Ac- cordingly the form of all existing with drawals was changed, and new with drawals aggregating 2.750O00 acres were made in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Field examinations during the year showed that of the original withdrawals, 2,17o,- 900 acres were not valuable for oil, and they were restored for agricultural entry Meantime, other withdrawals of public oil lands in these states were made, so that July l. 1910, the outstanding with drawals then amounted to 4,550,000 acres
 The needed oil and gas law is essential y leasing law. In their natural occur renee, oil and gas cannot be measured in terms of acres. like coal, and it follows that exclusive title to these products can normally be secured only after they reach the surface. Oil should be disposed of a commodity In terms of barrels of transportable product rather than in acres of real estate This Is. of course the reason for the practically universal adoption of the leasing system wherever oil land Is in private ownership. The government thus would not be entering on an experiment, but simply putting into effect a plan successfully operated In private contracts. Why should not the government as landowner deal directly with the oil producer rather than through the intervention of a middleman to whom the government gives title to the land?
 The principal underlying feature of such legislation should be the exercise of beneficial control rather than the collec- ton of revenue. As not only the largest owner of oil lands, but as a prospective large consumer of oil by reason of the increasing use of fuel oil by the navy, the federal government Is directly con cerned both in encouraging rational de- velopment and at the same time insuring the longest possible life to the oil sup ply.
 One of the difficulties presented, espe- cially in the California fields, is that the Southern Pacific railroad owns every other section of land in the oil field. and in those fields the oil seems to be in a common reservoir, or series of reser- voirs. communicating through the oil sands so that the excessive draining of oil at one well, or the railroad terri tory generally, would exhaust the oil In the government land Hence 1t Is i'm portant that If the government Is to have It's share of the oil it should begin the opening of wells on it's own property
 It has been suggested, and I believe the suggestion to be a sound one. that per mits be issued to prospector for oil giving him the right to prospect for two years over a certain tract of government land for the discovery of oil the right to be evidenced by a license for which he ,on N a "a covered then he acquires title to a tain tract much In the same way as he would acquire title under a mining law Of course If the system of leasing Is adopted then he would be given the benefit of lease upon terms like that above suggested. What has been said in respect to oil applies also to government gas lands.
 Phosphate Lands.
 Phosphorus Is one of the three essen tials to plant growth. the other clements being nitrogen and potash. Of these three, phosphorus Is by all odds the scarcest element in nature. It is easily extracted in useful form from the phos- phate rock, and the United States con- tains the greatest known deposits of this rock in the world. They are found in Wyoming, Utah and Florida, as we'll as in South Carolina, Georgia and Tennes- see The government phosphate lands are confined to Wyoming, Utah and Florida. Prior to March 4. 1909, there were 4,000, ,000 acres withdrawn from agricultural entry in the ground that the land covered phos- phate rock Since that time, 1922 GOO acres of the land thus withdrawn was found not to contain phosphate in profitable quantities, while 1,67S GOO acres was classi- fled properly as phosphate lands. During this administration there has been with drawn and classified 437 900 acres, so that
 
 land 2115,000 acres. This rock Is most important in the composition of fertilizers to improve the soil, and as the future Is certain to create an enormous demand throughout this country for fertilization, the value to the public of such deposits as these can hardly be exaggerated. Ger tainly with respect to these deposits a careful policy of conservation should be followed. A law that would provide a leasing system for the phosphate depos- it's together with a provision for the sep aration of the surface and mineral rights as Is already provided for In the case of coal, would seem to meet the need of promoting the development of these de- posits and their utilization in the agri- cultural lands of the west. If 1t Is thought desirable to discourage the expor- tation of phosphate rock and the saving of 1t for our own lands, this purpose could be accomplished by conditions in the lease granted by the government 10 its lessees. Of course, under the consti- tuition the government could not tax and could not prohibit the exportation of phosphate, but as proprietor and owner of the lands in which the phosphate is deposited 1t could impose conditions upon the kind of sales. whether foreign or do- nestle which the lessees might make of the phosphate mined.
 WaterPoWer Sites.
 Prior to March 4. 1909, there had been, on thA recommenda of the reclama-