The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-09-10

lands n the United States. with prsvi-
sions forbidding the transfer Of the
leases except with the consent Of the
government. thus preventing their aeohi-
rftion by . combination or monopoly and
upon limitations - TO the ara to b In
cluded in any one lease to one individual.
and At Q certain moderate rental. with
royalties upon the coal mined proper
toned to the market value of the coal
either At Seattle o. At San Francisco. OF
course such leases should contain condi-
tons requiring the erection Of proper
ern mining methods Of the properties
leased. and The use Of every known and
practical means and device for saving the
life Of the minsrA
Oil and oas Lands
In the last administration there were
withdrawn from agricultural entry 3.s1o.-
900 acres Of supposed oil land In Califor-
mia: about . million and . half Acrss in
Louisiana. Of which only atW aerss
were known to b vacant unappropha-
ted land: 1900 acres In Oregon and l74.-
100 acrss in Wyoming. making total OF
directed that ali public oil lands.
whether then withdrawn O. not. should
be withheld from dispositiou pending con-
gressional action. for the reason that the
existing placer mining law. although
made applicable to deposits OF this char
for the further reason that II seemed de-
sirable to reserve certain fusl-ol deposits
for the use OF the American navy. Ac-
cordinGiy the form Of all existing with
drawals was changed. and new with
drawals aggrsgAting $4,000 acres were
made In Arizona, California. Colorado.
New Mexico. Utah and Wyoming. Field
examinations during the year showed
that Of the original withdrawals. 3.l7e.-
900 acres were not valuable for oil. and
g. - ANTI
Meantime. other Withdrawals Of public
oil lands in thsss states were made. 20
that July l. 1870 the outstanding with
drawals then amounted to <.56o. 900 acres
The needed oil and gas law 10 essential
~ leasing Law. In their natural occur
renee. OIL and gas cannot be measured In
terms Of acres. like coal. and II follows
that exclusive title to those 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 10. Of course
the reason for the practically universal
adoption of the leasing system wherever
oil land II in private ownership. Tho
government thus would not be entering
on an experiment. but simply putting
Into effect . plan successfully operated in
private contracts. Why should not the
government as q landowner deal directly
With the oil producer rather than through
the Intervention of . 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 A. not only the largest
owner Of oil lands. but As 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 insurinE
the longest possible life to the oil sup
ply.
cially in the California fields. IL that the
Southern Pacific railroad owns every
other section of land in the oil field.
and in those felds the oil seems to be in
. common reservoir. or series OF reser-
voir.. communicating through the oil
sands, 10 that the excessive draining Of
oil at one we'll. on the railroad terri
tory generally. would exhaust the oil in
the government land. Hence II II I'M
portant that II the government to to have
its share of the oil II should begin the
opening Of wells on its own property.
II has been suggested. and I believe the
suggestion to be . sound one. that per-
mits be issued to = prospector for oil
giving him the right to prospect for two
years over . certain tract Of government
land for the discovery of oil. the right to
be evidenced by . license for which he
paws a small sum When the OIL IL dis
covered then he acquires title to . GER
tain tract. much IN the same way - he
would acquire title under a mining law.
OF course n the system Of leasing Is
adopted, then he would be given the
benefit Of a 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
being nitrogen and potash. OF these
three, phosphorus h by all odds the
scsrcest element in nature. 1t 10 easily
extracted in useful form from the phos-
phate rock and the United States con-
tains the greatest known deposits of this
WV ~ming. Utah and Florida. well AZ
in ,.outh Carolina. Georgia and Tennes-
see The government phosphate lands are
confined to wyoming. Utah and Florida.
Prior to March T. 1909 there were I, 10000
acres withdrawn from agricultural entry
in the ground that tho land covered phos-
phate rock Since that time. 2,322 900 acres
Of the land thus withdrawn was found
not to contain phosphate In profitable
quantities. while 1.s7s. 900 acres was classi-
ned properly as phosphate lands. During
this administration there has been with
drawn and classified 437. 900 acres. 80 that
today there Is classified As phosphate rock
land 2115.ooo acres. This rock 10 most
important in the composltlon OF fertilizers
to improve the soil, and a. the future Is
certain to create an enormous demand
throughout this country for fertilization,
the value to the public of such deposits
a. these can hardly be exaggerated. Ger
tainly with respect to these deposits .
careful policy Of conservation should be
followed law that would provide .
leasing system for the phosphate depos-
its. together with q 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. II II n
thought desirable to discourage the expor-
tation of phosphate rock and the saving
Of It for our own lands. this purpose
could be accomplished by conditions in
the lease granted by the government to
its lessees. OF course. under the consti-
tuition the government could not tax