The Forrest City times., 1910-09-09
r0iEEsI CITY ARK. FRIDAY AFTERNOON SEPTEMBER 9 1om

| ciuced in any one lease to one individual
 anu a certain moderate rental with | IosAlsies upon the coal mined propor- toned to ths market value of the coal
 either at Seattle or at San Francisco. Of course such leases should contain condi- tons recurring the erection of proper
 pants the prapsr development by mod | srn mining methods of the properties
 leased. and ths use of every known and
 practical means and device for saving the life of the miners
 OH and Gas Lands.
 In the last administration there were | withdrawn from agricultural entry ssfo
 900 acres of supposed oil land fin Califor- nia; about a million and a half acres in
 Louisiana, of which only $500 acres
 were known to be vacant unappropria-
 ted land; 76,ooo acres in Oregon and IT,
 oo0 acres in Wyoming, making a total of
 nearly 100000 acres. In September, 1909, | directed that all public oil lands, | whether then withdrawn or not, should be withheld from disposition pending con-
 sressional action, for the reason that the existing placer mining law, although
 made applicable to deposits of this char | aeter, Is not suitable to such lands, and l Tor the further reason that 1t seemed de- | strabie to reserve certain fuel-oil deposits Tor tho use of the American navy. Ac- | cordinsly the form of all existing with drawais was changed. and new with drawais aggregating 2.75o GOO acres were made In Arizona. California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Field examinations during tho year showed that of the original withdrawals. 2,17e- 01o 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, SC
 that July l. 1910. the outstanding with drawals then amounted to 45bo,eoo acres.
 The needed oil and gas law Is essential
 ly leasing law. In their natural occur
 re e, oil and gas cannot bs measured in
 terms of acres. like coal, and 1t follows
 that exclusive title to these products can normally be secured only after they reach
 the surface. oil should be disposed of as
 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
 One of the difficulties presented, esps- cially in the California fields, is that the
 Southern Pacific railroad owns every
 other section of land in the oil field.
 and Tn those fields the oil seems to be in common reservoir, or series of reser-
 voirs. communicating through the oil
 sands so that the excessive draining of oil at one well, or on the railroad terri tory generally, would exhaust the oil in the government land Hence It Ia im- portant that if the government is te have its share of the oil 1t should begin the opening sf wells on it's own property It has been suggested. and believe tho
 suggestion to be a sound one. that per
 mits be issued to prospectcr 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 sgf6pNced by < license for which he r.. a s.naIi When n. Ia
 covered. then he acquires title te a cer- tain tract. much in the same way as he would acquire title undor a mining law Of course if the system of leasing is
 adopted, then he would be given tho
 benefit of a lease upon terms like that
 above suggested. What has been said in
 respect to oil applies also ts government
 gas lands.
 Phosphate Lands.
 Phosphorus is one of the three essen
 tials to plant growth, tho other elements
 being nitrogen and potash. Of these
 three, phosphorus is by all odds the
 scarcest element in nature. It Is easily
 extra cted In useful form from the phos-
 phate rock and the United States con-
 tains the greatest known deposits of this
 rock fin the world. They arc found in
 Wyoming Utah and Florida. as we'll as
 in South Carolina. Georgia and Tennes-
 see The government phosphate lands arc
 confined to Wyoming. Utah and Florida.
 Prior to March {. 1909. there were 4.oeo. .oos
 acres withdrawn from agricultural entry in the ground that the land covered phos- phate rock. Since that time. 2, 32z. 600 acres of the land thus withdrawn was found
 not to contain phosphate in profitable quantities, while 1.s7s. 900 acres was classi- fled properly phosphate lands. During this administration there has been with
 drawn and classified 497. 900 acres. so that
 today there is classified phosphate rock land 21i5, ,0eo acres. This rock is most important in the composition of fertilizers
 to improve the soil, and the future Is certain to create an enormous demand throughout this country for fertilization, the value to the puble 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 . leasing system for the phosphate dspos- It's, together with a provision for the sep aration of the surface and mineral rights as Is already provided for Tn the case of coal would seem to meet the need of promoting the development of these de posits and their utilization in the sgrt- cultural lands of the west. If 1t IS thought desirable to discourage the expor-
 tatlon of phosphate rock and the saving of 1t for our own lands. this purpose | could be accomplished by conditions in
 
 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 II could impose conditions upon
 the kind of sales. whether foreign CT do- nestle, which the lessees might make of the phosphate mined
 Wster-PoWer Sites.
 Prior to March f. 1909, there had been. on the recommendation of the reeiama- | ton service withdrawn from agricultural | entry. because they were regarded as useful for water-power sites which ought
 nor 10 be disposed of as agricultural lands,
 tracts amounting to about four million 1 acres The withdrawals were hastily
 de and included great deal of land that was not useful for power sites They were intended to include the power sites on g rivers in nine states Since that time 3.475.4i2 acres have been re- | stored for settlement of the original four | million. because they do not contain DOW l CT sites: and meantime there have been
 newly withdrawn l.245. .s92 acres on vacant ! public land and 2li0G7 acres on entered 1 public land, or a total of ] l5s. s9s acres i These withdrawals made from time to