The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-12-08

have been excluded from forest re
serves. and S.50c,00o acres u lane
principally valued for forest purpose,
have been included In forest reserves
making a reduction In forest reserve
OF non-timbered land amounting te
2,750,0 900 acres"
Coal Lands.
The next subject, and one most I'm
portant for your consideration. u the
disposition OF the coal lands In the
United States and Alaska. At the b
ginning Of this rehabilitation thsrs
were withdraw from entry for pur,
poses of Classification i7.ss7.ooo aerea
Since that time there have been with.
drawn by my order from entry foz
classification 7s.077.746 acres. making
. total withdrawal Of ss.S44.74b acres.
| Meantime Of the acres thus with.
drawn 1.0s1.sss have been classified
and found not TO contain coal and
have been restored to agricultural en-
try, and 4,72e.osl acres have been
classified as coal lands; while 7.sss,2 8
acres remain Withdrawn from entry
ana await classification. In addition
$4,000 acres have been classified %
coal lands without prior Withdrawal.
thus Increasing the classified coal
lands <o 10 42o .372 acres.
Under the laws providing for the
disposal Of coal lands in the United
States. the minimum price ct which
lands are permitted 70 be sold q 10
an acre: but the secretary Of the In
terror has the power to AZ . maximum
price and to sell ct that price.
"As one-third Of all the coal supply
ls held BY the government, It seems
wise that 1t should retain such con
troll over the mining and the sale a.
the relation Of lessor to lessee fur
nlshes.
THE secretary Of tho interior THINKS
there are difficulties. in the way Of
leasing public coal lands, which OBJ
jections he has set forth in his re-
port. the force Of which l freely con-
cede. I entirely approve his stating
ut length in his report Of the objec-
tons In order that the whole subject
may be presented to congress-. but
after . full consideration, for the rea.
sons l have given above. favo, Q
leasing system and recommend It"
Water Power site..
prior to March 4, 1909, 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 withdrawn from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 disposed Of a.
agricultural lands. tracts amounting
to about 100000 acres. The with.
drawals were hastily made and In
cluded . great deal Of land that vas
not useful for power sites. They were
intended to include tho power sites
on 20 rivers in 8 states. Since that
time 8.476.442 acres have been re-
stored for settlement Of the original
1000, 900 because they do not CON
tain power sites: and meantime, new
Withdrawals have been made which,
with other r%estorations based upon
field examination. result in withdraw.
ais at present effective Of 1915, 35e
acres on vacant public land and 102,-
1877 acres on entered public land. or 6
total Of 1,420,553 acres. These with
drawals made from time to time cover
all the power sites included in the
first Withdrawals and many more, on
161 rivers and in Ia states. The dis
position Of these power sites involves
n of the most difficult questions pre-
sented in carrying out practical con-
servation.
The subject is one that calls for
new legislation. 1t has been thought
that there was danger of combination
to obtain possessionrof all the power
sites and to unite them under one
control. Whatever the evidence of
this, OF lack of 1t, at present we have
had enough experience to know that
combination would be profitable, and
the control Of a great number Of pow
er at will within certain sections.
However this may be, 1t 10 the
plain duty Of the government to see
to 1t that in the utilization and devel-
opment of all this immense amount
of water power. conditions shall be
imposed that will prevent extortion-
ate charges. which are the usual &C
compartment Of monopoly.
1.-The question Of conservation 10
not q partisan one, and I sincerely
hope that even in the short time of
the present session consideration may
be given to those questions which
have now been much discussed, and
that action may be taken upon them
Alaska. ~.
with reference to the government
Of Alaska, l have nothing to add to
the recommendations I made In my
last message on the subject I am
convinced that the migratory charao.
ter Of the population, IT. unequal dis
tribution, and Its smallness Of mum
Der. which the new census shows to
be about $4,000, in relation to the
enormous expanse Of the territory.
make it altogether Improbable to
give to thoso people who ara IN