The Forrest City times., 1910-09-09

upon the surface of lands useful for az .leuiture and to reserve the ownership | m III the coal 10 the government The ques- d9h which remains to be considered is whether the existing law for the sale of the coal in the ground should continue In force or be repealed and a new method | OI disposition adopted. Under tho present ia" the absolute title in the coal be- meath the surface passes to the grantee ol the government The price fixed Is upon an estimated amount of the tons oi coal per acre beneath the surface. and , ene prices are fixed 50 that the earnings Wlh ohiy be reasonable profit upon the | amount paid and the investment neces- sery. But, of course, this is more or less suesswork, and the government parts With the ownership of the coal in the ground absolutely. Authorities of the se- olosical survey estimate that in the | Ohlted States today there Is a supply of apout three thousand billions of tons of l coal, and that of this one thousand billions are Tn the public domain. Of course, the oth- CT TWO thousand billions are within private | ownership and under no more control as 10 inc use or the prices at which the coal may be sold than any other private property. If the government leases the coal lands and acts as any landlord would, and imposes conditions In It's leases like those which are now imposed | oy the owners in fee of coal mines fin the various coal regions of the east then 1t would retain over the disposition of the ceei deposits a choice as 10 the assignee Of the lease. or of resuming possession at the end of the term of the lease which might easily be framed to enable 1t to exercise limited but effective control In the disposition and sale of the coal to the public. It has been urged that the leasing system has never been adopted in , ,nis country. and that it's adoption would iarsely Interfere with the investment of capital and the proper development and opening up of the coal resources ven ture 10 differ entirely from this view. The question as to how great an area ought to be included in a lease to one individual or corporation. is not free from dimculty; but in view of the fact that the government retains control as owner think there might be some liberaiity in the amount leased, and that ?5ee acres would not be too great a maximum. Alaska Coal Lands
 The investigation of the geological sur
 ysy show that the coal properties in Alaska cover about 1.20o square miles. and that there are known 10 be available about It, 0oo. .0Os. .ooo tons. This is. however an underestimate of the coal in Alaska, , because further developments will prob ably increase this amount many times: but we can say with considerable car
 
 Pacific slope which can be reached by railways at a reasonable cost from deep water-in one case about fifty miles and in the other case of about 15o miles which will afford certainly ssee. .ooo, see tons of coal. more than half of which is of very high grade of bitumineus and | of anthracite. It Is estimated te be worth, | in the ground. one-half a cent a ton. which makes ite value per acre from :sS ! to s5o0. The coAlpg coal lands of Penn. 1 syivania are worth from $500 to s2 co an l acre. while other Appalachian fields are worth from s1o to ssss an acre, and the fields In tho central states from $10 to $2, ,0fc an acre. and in the Rocky noun tans $lo to $5oe an acre. The demand for coal on the Pacific coast is for about 4,50o. coo tons a year. It would encounter the competition of cheap fuel oil, of which the equivalent of l20oo. 600 tons of coal year is used there. It Is estimated that the coal could be laid down at Se- attie or San Francisco, a high-grade bi- luminous, at ;4 ton and anthracite at s or S a ton. The price Of coal on the Pacific slope varies greatly from time ts time in the year and from year to year from s4 to S12 a ton. With a regular coal supply established the expert of the geological survey, MT. Brooks, who has made report on the subject does net think there would be an excessive profit In the Alaska coal mining because the price at which the coal could be sold would be considerably lowered by compe- tition from these fields and by the pres ence of crude fuel oil. The history of tho laws affecting the disposition of Alaska coal lands shows them to need amend ment badly.
 On November 12 1eos President Roose- welt issued an executive order with awing all coal lands from location and entry in Alaska. On May le 1907. he modified the order so as to permit valid locations made prior to the withdrawal on November IF. 1906. to proceed to entry and patent Prior to that date some 300 claims had been filed. most of them said to be illegal because either made fraudu- lently by dummy entrymen in the inter est of one individual or corporation, or because of agreements made prior to To- cation betweenthe applicants to cooperate fin developing the lands. There are 33 claims for 1e0 acres each. known as the Cunningham claims. which are claimed to be valid on the ground that they were made by an attorney for s different and bona fde claimants who as alleged, paid their money and took the proper steps to locate their entries and protect them The representatives of the government in the hearings before the land ofice have attacked the validity of these Cunningham claims on the ground that prior to their location there was an understanding between the claimants to pool their claims after they had been perfected and unite them in one com pany. The trend of decision seems to show that such an agreement would in- validate the claims, although under the subsequent law of May 2s. 1908. the con solidation of such claims was permitted. after location and entry, In tracts of 2 56O acres IL would be, of course irn- proper for me to intimate what the re- suit of the Issue as to the Cunningham and other Alaska claims is likely to be hut it ought to be distinctly understood that no private claims for Alaska coal lands have as yet been allowed or per fected, and also that whatever the result as to pending claims, the existing coal land laws of Alaska are most unsatlsfae- tory and should be radically amended To begin with the purchase price of the land is a flat rate Of sl0 per acre, aI- though, as we have seen. the estimate of the agent of the geological survey would carry up the maximum of value to S500 an acre In my judgment if is essential in the proper development of Alaska that these coal lands should be opened. and that the Pacific slope should be given the benefit of the comparatively cheap coal of fine quality which can be furnished al A reasonable price from these fields: but