Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-09
Saving the Public Domain
By Frederic j. HaSkin

lations 1t is S9,2O6,000. In the case or
eight widely separated townships the
maximum value under the old regu-
lations was 81 2,0SS. 800. Under the new
regulations their value is $15,777 66S.
Probably not over third of the coal
lands have been surveyed in detail
yet but when it is all done Uncle Sam
will be hundreds of millions of dollars
to the good by the operation.
There are some features Of the ex-
listing law which arc thought to be
rather burdensome. An individual can
take up only 100 acres of land at the
prices fixed. A firm or corporation
can take up 800 acres and if at least
$4,000 is spent for development they
may take up an additional 800 acres
adjoining, providing no one has done
so already. In practice this provision
seldom gives a corporation or firm the
opportunity of occurring the additional
800 acres. 1t is plain that where a
company has to spend quarter of a
million dollars for a railroad outlet
320-acre tract scarcely justifles the ex-
penditure.
The protection of the public land
phosphate beds in the west is deemed
absolutely essential to the welfare of
the nation. There are three things as
necessary to the growth of crops as
water, food and raiment are essential
to human welfare. These three things
are nitrogen, potash and phosphoric
acid. Each is absolutely essential to
plant growth. Potash exists in the
rocks in sufficient quantities to supply
every need when it cannot be bought
or made more cheaply from other
sources. The legumnous plants with
their little chemical laboratories at
their roots can grab enough nitrogen
from the air TO supply the wants OF
the fields. But when the phosphate
beds are gone, no one has solved the
problem of where to get phosphorus.
With this situation in view, the ad-
ministration wants to preserve and
protect the phosphate beds 1t Is seek
ing to have law passed by congress
which will enable ii to lease the lands
on a royalty not exceeding 10 per cent
of the value of the phosphate at the
mouth of the mine. This would give
opportunity to provide in the terms of
the lease that none of 1t should be eX-
ported or wasted. The proposed law
sets forth that the lessee shall pay n
rental Of % cents an acre for the first
year, and increasing 25 cents each
year thereafter until the annual rental
is 81 an acre. These reptals are to be
deducted from the amounts due the
government in royalties, thus encour-
aging the working of the properties.
Surveys during the past year have re-
suited in the withdrawal of 2,504, 900
acres of public land pending legislation
by congress on the disposition OF phos-
phate deposits In other words. the
executive departments think that this
land ought not TO be disposed of under
existing statutes, so they are holding
1t until congress can have an oppor-
tunity to act in the matter.
Oil comes under the old placer gold
mining law. A man must discover
some mineral before he has a right to
the land. If a man thought he had
found oil and had begun to bore for
Il, some other fellow could run i'm and
bore close TO him, and the one who
got oil first had the right to the prop
erty by discovery. Consequently 1t
was not a profitable thing to gamble
on finding oil under such circum-
stances. The result was that subter-
fuges were resorted to. Gypsum de-
posits that are worthless from a com
mercial standpoint are to be found in
the oil territory in California. An oil
prospector finds gypsum on the lands
and pre-empts 1t by right of discov-
cry. The law requires that a hundred
dollars shall be spent in development
on each tract, and one may travel
through the oil country and see mag
nificent gypsum stairways standing in
the open. They lead nowhere but TO a
perfect title for oil lands, and are a
standing joke on the technical fulfill
ment of the law and the absolute vio-
lation of its spirit. There are today
34S7, 900 acres of oil lands withdrawn
from the right of acquisition until con-
gress shall make a plan for its dis
position. 1t is the hope of the au.
thorities that this shall take the form
of a royalty lease, with a stipulation
that the government shall have first
chance at the oil for its oil-burning
battleships.
The Withdrawals of power sites to
date include 100000 acres of land,
lying in eleven states and situated on
ninety-seven rivers. 1t is not the aim
of the administration to prevent the
development of the sites. but that 1t
shall be done under long-term leases
instead of in perpetuty. 1t is held that
these fabulously valuable franchises
belong to the people, and that when
they are acquired as gift the people
are forced to pay dividends on what
they gave away for nothing. By leas-
ing the sites for a term of years 1t
leaves the ultimate control in the
hands of the people themselves, the
while giving the nation reasonable
profit for the concessions.