The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-03-02
Our Public Coal Lands.

An investigation uncovering evil
dence of extensive frauds led to the
withdrawal by President Roosevelt
Of over 66,000,O0O acres Of supposed
coal lands pending geologic examin-
alton and classification. At the
same time the coal-land law was
brought down from the shelf, busted
| off, and examined by the lawyers Of
the Interior Department. 1t was
found that it provided that public
coal land could be sold for not less
than $40 an acre, If within Is miles
Of railroad. and SO an acre, if
outside such limit These had been
the prices previouslNcharged for all
coal lands, regardless of values. Sec
retary Garfield construed the law to
the effect that the figures named were
clearely minimum prices, and that
the lands were subject to classical
| ton and valuation. The Geological
Survey, whose enabling act charged
it with the classification Of the pub
lie lands, was to put to work at once
measuring and computing the coal
beds, estimating their tonnage, and
placing valuation on each 4O-acre
tract. AS fast as this was done the
land was restored to entry and sale.
The maximum valuation was placed
at 500 an acre, and considerable
coal land was thereafter sold at SIS,
$50, $40, and $50 an acre, as we'll
as some at the minimum price. At
the same time coal land frauds were
stopped forthwith.
Ihis was a long step toward Sc
curing an equitable price for public
coal land, but Secretary Ballinger
has made another logical advance
and his inaugurated a scheme OF
valuation based on tonnage as we'll
as one grade of coal. Under the pre-
sent plan a maximum price is $500
an acre.
Further than this, however. c.
u e.
Veloped coal-fields where the extent
and character of the deposits are Well
known there is no limit to the value
may be fixed on the Government coal
lands. That is, in cases where such
lands lie adjacent to private coal
lands now being mined, so that the
purchaser knows exactly what he is
getting, the price is fixed on the
exact tonnage basis and in some
cases this exceeds the $500 pr acre
limit by many hundrd Of dollars
The price per acre Of the coal lands
is thus definitely deteSmined at a coal
price and while high as compared
with the give-away minimum nrice
the amounts seldom exceed a ouart-
er of the royalties paid in the sama
districts among private interests.
Prices fixed by the survey vary with
the quality of the coal from 1-2 cent
ton Tor low-grade bituminous Goals.
Inc tonnage is always calculated in
the interest Of the purchaser. For
| instance. in a 1O-foot coal bed the
| actual tonnage under an acre is II.
| 600 tons. Private engineers estimate
that In such a bed from $4,000 to
l4'ooO tons would be actually mined;
the balance would be necessarily
wasted. The Government, however.
values such a bed on the basis of
| only 10000 tons, so that actual re-
covery should in every case exceed
the tonnage on which the valuation
| actually mined. This would bring to
| lands and exact royalty for the coal
| the Government to lease it's coal
course, be for Congress to empower
| Is based. The best Plan would, OF
the Government an absolutely equit-
able reurn, and would at the same
time allow for adequate regulation.
A lasting system is advocated Av
the Secretary OF the Interior in his
lSo9 annual report. Various bills
nave also been introduced in this
congress separating the surface
rights from title to the coal under
meath, step in the right direction
Guy E!litt Mitchell, in Revi,w of
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