The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-01-14

To mine from the title to the surface
giving the necessary use of so much OF
the latter as may be required for the
extraction of the deposits. The sur
face might be disposed of as agricul-
tural land under the general agricul-
tural statutes, while the coal of other
mineral could be disposed of by lease
on a royalty basis, with provisions re-
quiring a certain amount of develop
ment each year: and i'm order to pre-
vent the use and cession of such lands
with others Of similar character so as
to constitute a monopoly forbidden by
law, the lease should contain suitable
] provision subjecting to forfeiture the
interest of persons participating in
such monopoly. Such law should ap-
ply to Alaska as well as to the United
States.
1t is exceedingly difficult to frame q
statute to retain government control
over property to be developed by
private capital in such manner as 10
secure the governmental purpose and
at the same time not frighten away the
investment of the necessary capital
Hence, it may be necessary by laws
that are really only experimental to
determine from their practical opera
tion what is the best method of secur-
ing the result aimed at.
With respect to the public land which
lies along the streams Offering oppor-
tunity to convert water power into
transmissable electricity, another i'm
portant phase of the public land ques-
tion is presented. 1t seems to me suf-
ficient to say that the man who owns
and controls the land along the stream
from which the power is to be con-
verted and transmitted, owns land
which is indispensable to the CONVEX
sion and use of that power. / cannot
conceive how the power i'm streams
flowing through public lands can be
made available at all except by using
the land itself as the site for the con-
struction of the plant by which the
power is generated and converted and
securing right of way thereover for
transmission lines. Under these condi-
tions. if the government owns the ad-
jacent land-indeed, If the government
is the riparian owner-it may control
the use of the water power by impos-
ing conditions on the disposition of the
land necessary i'm the creation and
utilization of the water power.
If the water power sites now owned
by the government-and there are
enough of them-shall be disposed of
to private persons for the investment
of their capital in such a way as to
prevent their union for purposes of
monopoly with other water power
sites. and under conditions that shall
limit the right of use to not exceeding
fifty years with the proper means for
determining a reasonable guaranteed
rental and with some equitable pro-
vision for fixing terms of renewal 1t
would seem entirely possible to prevent
the absorption of these most useful
lands by power monopoly.
In considering the conservation of
the natural resources of the country
the feature that transcends all others,
including woods, waters, minerals, is
the soil of the country. 1t is incumbent
upon the government 90 foster by all
available means the resources of the
country that produce the food of the
people. To this end the conservation
OF the soils of the country should be
cared for with all means at the gov
ernments disposal. Their productive
powers should have the attention OF
our scientists.
One of the difficulties which has
arisen is that too many projects in
view of the available funds have been
set on foot. The funds available un-
der the reclamation statute are mad
equate to complete these projects. with
i'm n reasonable time. And yet the
projects have been begun; settlers
have been invited to take up and In
many instances, have taken up, tho
public land within the projects, rely
ing upon their prompt completion. The
failure to complete the projects for
lntlT DentHl IL. III tnttls a. bittSh w
faith and leaves them in a most dis
tressed condition. / urge that the ma
tion ought to afford the means to lift
them out of the very desperate condi-
tion i'm which they now are. l recon-
mend therefore that authority be CIV
en- to issue. not exceeding $30,000,OOO of
bonds from time to time, as the Sec
retry of the interior shall find IL nec-
essary, the proceeds to be applied to
the completion of the projects already
begun and their proper extension. and
the bonds running ten years or more
to be taken up by the proceeds OF re-
turns to the reclamation fund. which
returns. as the years go on, viii in
crease rapidly In amount
urge consideration of the recon-
mendations of the secretary of the In
terror In his annual report for amend
ments OF the reclamation act, propos-
ing other relief for settlers on these