Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-28

REFERS TO PLACER Law
Mr.. ODonnell referred in this re-
spect to the placer mining law, under
which old locations have been made
in the absence of a better law. And
Mr.. O'Donnell, who did not say so at
yesterdays meeting, believes, as he
said at meeting last spring, that II
necessary there should be certain re-
visions in the placer law permitting
locator or prospector or driller to con-
tinue unmolested until he either has
discovered oil thereon or fonud a dry
hole.
Mr.. O'Donnell said that the oil in
dustry in the state is misunderstood
by the mass of the people; that every
one operating in the oil fields is not
q John D. Rockefeller; that there is
not an industry in the country that has
a larger percentage of the people in
terested financially than the oil indus
try.
Mr.. O'Donnell urged the American
Mining congress to take some action
through its resolutions committee in
behalf of the oil men of this state. Re-
ferring t. the withdrawal by the gov
ernment last fall of a large area in
the San Joaquin valley, Mr.. Dohenys
chief said:
"There is n, : an oil man in Califor-
MIA but believes the withdrawal bill
was an outrage. Pinchot himself was
not satisfied with it and the metal
miner should have been excluded from
this withdrawal. The same policy af
fects both the oil and mining man. We
are both in the same hole and should
STAN together.
DISCUSSES LEASING
mo interests should be intrusted to
say to any one individual" said Mr..
y, 4 20 t10
secretary of the interior and his at
titude toward the withdrawal policy.
"The supervision of oil in Califor-
mia from washington is absurd" he
said. Anything that tends toward
the leasing of lands by the govern
ment is absolutely impractical, for
sooner or later the lands would be
thrown into monopoly. venture I
would get a big part Of the lands II
this policy of conservation was put
into pracice, for 1t means that lands
would be put upon the auction block.
In my opinion stagnation in develop
ment would be the result"
Mr.. O'Donnell urged that the con-
gress pass a resolution indorsing con-
servation or the recent rulings of the
land department.
Former Congressman C. A. Barlow
of Bakersfield expressed sentiments
opposed to a leasing system and said
that all locations should be recorded
in the general land office, but that the
allotment of acreage should be linn
tied, thus preventing the acquisition
of large tracts by private persons.
Congressman S. c. Smith Of Bakers
field, who is the father of the Smith
bill, looking toward a regulation Of
the oil problem through system of
development favorable to the first To-
Gator is against conservation as gen.
orally understood.
TALKS ON s. p. GRANTS
Mr.. Smith, in his utterances, left the
idea that it is not necessary for the
government to take back the lands
comprised in the grants of the South
ern Pacific. For some reason he did
not make plain, he said that such an
act upon the patr of the government
would be imposing an additional tax
upon the people.
S. C. Graham, a member Of the ST.
ezra Madre club and one of the most
prominent independent oil operators
in the state, advanced the straight
policy of conservation of Mr.. Pinchot
and made a defense of this policy
outlining 1t in a manner similar to
Mr.. Pinchot in his speech Monday
night.
Charles P. Fox of Bakersfield, pres
fdent of the Oil Mems association, was
called and in an offhand way ex-
pressed the sentiments of the Oil men
of that association, to wit, that they
be left alone to work out their own
problems. Mr.. Fox said that the oil
and mining interests, as understood,
are not allied and that the several in
terests of the metal miner could be OF
no benefit to the oil man in the matter