The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-12-06

6CF0S4-+~s
Under the laws providing for the
disposition OF coal lands In tho United
States the minimum price at which
lands are permitted to be sold II SO an
acre. but the secretary Of the interior
has the power to 6x q maximum price
and to sell at that price. BY the first
regulations governing appraisal. ap-
proved April g. 1907. the minimum Was
$40, as provided by law, and the maxi
mum was 500, and the highest price
actually placed upon any land sold was
SIS. Under the new regulations adopt
ed April 10, 1909. the maximum price
was increased to $500 except in regions
where there are large mines, where no
maximum limit Is fixed and the price
Is determined by the estimated tons OF
coal to the acre. The highest price
fixed for any land under this regula-
ton has been $6O6.
The appraised value OF the lands
classified as coal lands and valued un-
der the new and old regulations is
shown to be as follows: Three million
seven hundred ninety-nve thousand
four hundred and forty FIVE acres, val
ued under the old regulation at $76.-
s04.337. an average OF approximately
S2O.5O an acre. and 6,633,827 acres
classified and valued under the new
regulation al $3.50. .O5O, 1854. or total Of
1O.429,372 acres, valued at $5o6, ,S54, 7ol.
For the year ended June 80. 1909.
213 coal entries were made, embracing
an area Of 81 ,O45 acres, which sold for
$3.50. 500 o3. For the year ended June
80. 1910, there were 24S entries, en-
bracing an area of 3S.325 acres, which
sold for S772.325.41, and down to No
vember, 1910, there were thirty-eight
entries, with an area of 5,164 acres,
which sold for $103, ,Os2. IS. making the
disposition Of coal lands within the
last two years OF about $1,000 acres
for S1.431. $40.
The present congress has separated
the surface Of coal lands, either classi-
fed or withdrawn for classification,
from the coal beneath so as to permit
at all times homestead entries upon
the surface Of lands useful for agri-
culture and to reserve the ownership
in the coal to the government. The
question which remains to be consid-
cred is whether the existing law for
the sale Of the coal In the ground
should continue in force or be repealed
and new method Of disposition adopt
ed. Under the present law the abso-
lutte title in the coal beneath the sur
face passes to the grantee Of the gov
ernment
The price fixed is upon an estimated
amount Of the tons Of coal per acre be-
meath the surface, and the prices are
fixed so that the earnings will only be
a reasonable profit upon the amount
paid and the investment necessary.
But, OF course, this is more or less
guesswork, and the government parts
with the ownership of the coal in the
ground absolutely. Authorities Of the
geological survey estimate that in the
United States today there is a supply
of about 1900 billions of tons of coal
and that Of this 1000 billions are in
the public domain. OF course the other
1900 billions are within private own
ership and under no more control as
to the use or the prices at which the
coal may be sold than any other pri-
vate property.
If the government leases the coal
lands and acts as any landlord would
and imposes conditions in its leases
like those which are now imposed by
the owners in fee of coal mines In the
various coal regions Of the east, then
it would retain over the disposition Of
the coal deposits a choice as to the as
signee OF the lease, power of resum-
ing possession at the end Of the term
Of the lease or OF readjusting terms at
fixed periods of the lease, which might
easily be framed to enable 1t to exer-
else a limited but effective control in
the disposition and sale Of the coal to
the public.
1t has been urged that the leasing
system has never been adopted In this
country and that its adoption would
largely interfere with the investment
OF capital and the proper development
and opening up Of the coal resources.
1 venture to differ from this view.
My Investigations show that many
owners of mining property of this
country do not mine 1t themselves and
do not invest their money in the plants
necessary for the mining, but they
lease their properties for a term Of
years varying from twenty to thirty
and forty years under conditions re-
quiring the erection of a proper plant
and the investment Of certain
amount of money in the development
Of the mines and fixing a rental and a
royalty. sometimes an absolute figure
and sometimes one proportioned to the
market value of the coal.
Under this latter method the owner
of the mine shares in the prosperity OF
his lessees when coal is high ard the
profits good and also shares to some
extent in their disappointment when
the price of coal falls.
1 have looked with some care into a
report made at the instance Of Presi-
dent Roosevelt upon the disposition of
coal lands in Australia, Tasmania and
New Zealand. These are peculiarly
mining countries, and their experience
ought to be most valuable. In all these
countries the method for the disposi-
ton and opening of coal mines origi-
nalIy owned by the government is by
granting leasehold and not by grant
ing an absolute title. The terms Of the
leases run all the way from twenty
five to fifty years, while the amount of
land which may be leased to any indi-