Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-09-06

putting into effect a plan successfully,
operated in private contracts
zone of the difficulties presented. espe-
cially in the California fields. IL that the
Southern Pacific railroad owns everT other
section Of land in the oil fields, and In
those fields the oil seems to be IN a com
mon reservoir. or series Of reservoirs. com
municating through the oil sands, so that
the excessive draining OF oil at one we'll,
or on the railroad territory generally, would
exhaust the oil in the government land
Hence 1t is important that II the govern
ment is to have its share OF the oil II
should begin the opening and development
Of wells on its own property.
Under the proposed oil legislation espe-
cially- where the government oil lands EN-
brace an entire oil field, as IN many cases
prospectors, operators consumers and the
public can be benefited by the adoption Of
the leasing system. The prospector can be
protected in the very expensive work that
necessarily antedates discovery; the oper-
ator can be protected against impafrmen
Of the productiveness Of the wells which
he has leased by reason Of control OF drill
ing and pumping OF other wells too closely
adjacent, or by the prevention OF Improper
methods as employed by careless, ignorant
or irresponsible operators In the same field
which result in the admission OF water to
the oil sands, while OF course the con-
sumner will profit by whatever benefits the
prospector or operator receives in reducing
the first cost of the, oil. e,..
Government Phosphate Lands.
Phosphorus is one of the three essentials
to plant growth, the other elements being
nitrogen and potash. OF these three, phos-
nnnF11o I1 hxr A. Al,
In nature. 1t is easily extracted in useful
form from the phosphate rock, and the
United states contains the greatest known
deposits Of this rock in the world. They
are found in Wyoming Utah and Florida,
as well as South Carolina. Georgia and
Tennessee. The government phosphate
lands are confined to Wyoming, Utah and
Florida. Prior to March 4, 1909, there were
100000 acres withdrawn from agricultural
entry on the ground that the land covered
phosphate rock. Since that time, 1922, 900
acres OF the land thus Withdrawn, was
round not to contain phosphate in profit
able quantities, while 1,678,O00 acres was
classified properly as phosphate lands, Dur
ing this administration there has been with
drawn and classified $4,000 so that today
there Is classified as phosphate rock land
2,lb,OO0 acres. This rock is most important
In the composition of fertilizers to Improve
the soil. and as the future is certain to
create an enormous demand throughout
this country for fertilization, the value to
the public Of such deposits as these can
hardly be exaggerated. Certainly with re-
spect to these deposits a careful policy Of
conservation should be followed Half Of the
phosphate Of the rock that is mined in
private fields in the United States is ex-
ported, As our farming methods grow bet
ter the demand for the phosphate will be-
come greater and 1t must be arranged so
that the supply shall equal the needs Of the
country, 1t is uncertain whether the placer
or lode law applies to the government
phosphate rock There is, therefore, neces-
sity for come definite and well-considered
legislation on this subject, and in aid OF
such legislstion all of the government
lands known TO contain valuable phosphate
rock are now withdrawn from entry.
Problem of Power sites.
prior to March 4, 1903. there had been
on the recommendation Of the reclamation
service, withdrawn from agricultural entry
because they were regarded as useful for
power sites which ought not to be dis
posed Of as agricultural lands, tracts
amounting TO about 100000 acres. The
Withdrawals were hastily made and in
cluded a great deal Of land that was not
useful for power SITES. They were in
tended to include the power sites of TWEEN
ty-nine rivers. in ,ptps, states, Since that
time S,47t,442 acres have been restored for
settlement OF the original 100000, because
they do not contain power sites; and mean
time, there have been newly Withdrawn
Se2 acres ON vacant public land and
2ll,O0 acres on entered public land, or a