The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-01-14


cution of land frauds have been Wig
orously continued under my admins
tration, as has been the withdrawal
OF coal lands for classification and
valuation and the temporary withs
holding of power sites.
Withdrawal OF Power sites
Since March !, 1909, temporary
Withdrawals Of power sites have been
made on l02 streams and these with
drawals therefore cover 229 per cent
more streams than wee covered by
the Withdrawals made prior to that
date.
The present statntes, except so far
as they dispose of the precious met
ais and the purely agricultural lands,
are not adapted to carry out the mod
ern view of the best disposition of
public lands 10 piiyate ownership un-
der conditions Offering on the one
hand sufficient inducement to private
capital to take them over for proper
development. with restrictive condi-
tons on the oihes which shall secure
10 the public that character Of con.
tyol which will prevent monopoly
or misuse Of the lands or their pro-
duets The power OF the secretary
OF the interior TO withdraw from the
operation OF existing statutes tracts
OF land the disposition OF which un-
der such statutes would be detrimeni-
al 10 the public interest. is not cleae
or satisfactory This power has been
exercised in the interest of the pub
lie, with the hope tha! congress might
affirm the action OF the executive By
laws adapted TO the new condition
Unfortunately, congress has not thus
far fully acted on the iecommenda-
tons OF the executive and the ques-
ti0n as to what the executive is TO
90, is. under the circumstances fun
OF difficulty. II seems to me that
It Is the duty OF congress now by a
statute to validate these Withdrawals
which have been m,de by the secre
tary OF the interior and the Presi-
dent and to authorize the secretary
o, the interior temporarily 10 with
draw lands pending submission to
congress OF recommendations as 10
legislation to meet conditions or emer-
eencies as tbey arise.
ONE Of The most pressing needs in
The matter of public land reform IS
that lands should be classified accord
ing to their principal value or use
This ought to be done by that depart
ment whose force is best adapted to
that wo7k. II should be done by the
interior department through the geo
logical survey, Much of the confu
slon fraud, and contention which has
existed in the past has arisen from
The lack of an official and determin
alive classification of the public lands
and their contents.
Agricultural And Mineral Lands
II is now proposed to dispose of
agricultural lands as such and at the
same time 10 reserve for other dispo-
sitions the treasure of coal, oil. as
rh4ltum, Iatnra gas and phosphate
contained therein This may be best
accomplished by separating the right
to mine from the title TO the surface,
giving the necessary use of 40 mucn
of the latter as may be required for
the extraction of the deposits The
surface might be disposed of as agrl-
cultural land under the general agri-
cultural statutes. while the coal or
other mineral could be disposed of by
lease on o royalty basis, with proyi-
sions requiring certain smount OF
development each year: and in order
10 prevent the use and cession Of such
lands with others of similar charac-
ter so as to constitute monopoly for
hidden by law. the lease should con-
tain suitable publication subjecting a
forfeiture the interest of persons par
ticipating in such monopoly. Such
law should apply to Alaska as well as
to the United States.
1t is exceedingly difficult to frame
. statute to retain Government con-
troll over property 10 be developed
by private capital in such manner as
to secure the governmntal purpose
and at the same time not frighten
away the investment of the neces-
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