Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-09-07

! carry up the maximum OF value to $500
| an acre In my judgment it 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 at
| a reasonable price from these fields; but
| the public, through the government,
| ought certainly to retain wise control
| and interest in these coal deposits, and
| think 1t may do SO safely If congress will
! authorize the granting of leases, as al
| ready suggested for government coal
| lands in the United States, with provi-
| sions fOrbidding the transfer OF the
! leases except with the consent Of the
| government, thus preventing their acqui-
| sition by combination or monopoly and
i upon limitations as TO the area to be in
! Guided In any one lease to one individual,
and at a certain moderate rental with
| royalties upon the coal mined proper
| toned to the market value of the coal
| either at Seattle or at San Francisco. OF
| course such leases should contain condi-
| tions requiring the erection of proper
plants, the proper development by mod
| ern mining methods of the properties
leased, and the use of every known and
| practical means and device for saving the
| life of the miners.
Oil and Gas Lands.
In the last administration there were
/ withdrawn from agricultural entry $780,
| 600 acres of supposed oil land in Califor-
MIA; about a million and a half acres in
Louisiana, Of which only $500 acres
/ were known to be vacant unapprOpria-
ted land; $4,000 acres in Oregon and 174,-
600 acres in Wyoming, making a total Of
nearly 100000 acres. In September, 1909,
1 directed that all public oil lands,
/ whether then withdrawn or not, should
be withheld from disposition pending con-
| gressional action for the reason that the
! existing placer mining law, although
made applicable to deposits Of this char
acter, is not suitable to such lands. and
| for the further reason that it seemed de-
! sirable to reserve certain fuel-oil deposits
for the use of the American navy. Ac-
cordingly the form of all existing with
| drawals was changed, and new with
drawals aggregating 2,750,000 acres were
made in Arizona, California, Colorado,
New Mexico Utah and Wyoming. Field
examinations during the year showed
! that of the original withdrawals, 2,170,
| 600 acres were not valuable for oil, and
they were restored for agricultural entry.
Meantime, other withdrawals of public
| oil lands in these states were made, so
that July 1, 1870 the outstanding with
drawals then amounted to 1850, 600 acres.
! The needed oil and gas law is essential
ly a leasing law In their natural occur
renee, oil and gas cannot be measured in
terms of acres, like COAL and it follows
that exclusive title to these products can
! normally be secured only after they reach
the surface. Oil should be disposed Of as
a commodity in terms of barrels of
transportable product rather than in
acres of real estate. This is, Of course,
the reason for the practically universal
adoption of the leasing system wherever
oil land is in private ownership The
+ rnIyo1- fhJC nf In toT,Y1o
on an experiment, but simply putting
into effect a plan successfully operated in
private contracts. Why should not the
government as a landowner deal directly
! with the oil producer rather than through
the intervention Of middleman to whom
the government gives title to the land?
The principal underlying feature of
such legislation should be the exercise of
beneficial control rather than the collec-
ton of revenue. AS not only the largest
owner of oil lands, but as a prospective
large consumer of oil by reason Of the
increasing use of fuel oil by the navy,
the federal government is directly con-
! cerned both in encouraging rational de-
velopment and at the same time insuring
the longest possible life to the oil sup
ply.
One OF the difficulties presented espe-
cially in the California fields, is that the
Southern Pacific railroad owns every
other section of land in the oil field,
/! and in those fields the oil seems to be in
a common reservoir or series of reser-
voirs, communicating through the oil
sands, so that the excessive draining Of
oil at one well, or on the railroad terri
tory generally, would exhaust the oil in
the government land. Hence it is i'm
portant that II the government is to have
it's share of the Oil 1t should begin the
| opening of wells on its own property.
1t has been suggested, and believe the
suggestion to be a sound one, that per-
/ mits be issued to a prospector for oil
| giving him the right to prospect for two
years over a certain tryct of government
land for the discovery of oil, the right to
| be evidenced by a license for which he
pays a small sum. When the oil is dis
covered, then he acquires title to a GER
! tain tract, much in the same way as he
would acquire title under a mining law.
OF course If the system of leasing Is
adopted, then he would be given the
! benefit of a lease upon terms like that
| above suggested What has been said in
respect to oil applies also to government
! gas lands.
Phosphate Lands.
Phosphorus is one of the three essen
| tails to plant growth, the other elements
being nitrogen and potash. Of these
| three, phosphorus is by all odds the
| scarcest element in nature. 1t is easily
EXTRACTED IN uSGIul form from the pnOS-
plate rock, and the United States con-
tains the greatest known deposits of this
| rock in the world. They are found in
| Wyoming, Utah and Florida, as we'll as
in South Carolina Georgia and Tennes-
see. The government phosphate lands are
! confined to Wyoming, Utah and Florida.
Prior to March 4, 1909 there were 100000
| acres withdrawn from agricultural entry
| in the ground that the land covered phos-
plate rock. Since that time 1892, 900 acres
! Of the land thus withdrawn was found
not to contain phosphate in profitable
quantities, while 1,67S, 900 acres was CLASH
| fed properly as phosphate lands During
| this administration there has been with
| drawn and classified 437,000 acres, so that
| today there is classified as phosphate rock
| land 2,115 900 acres. This rock is most
! important in the composition of fertilizers
| to improve the soil, and as the future is
| certain to create enormous demand
| throughout this country for fertilization,
| the value to the public of such deposits
| as these can hardly be exaggerated. Ger
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