Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-25

NCOntnueu ITOH rlTsl fdbesJ
tion were not so serious It would be some
what relieved by the large element of grim
humor 1t contains in the assumption that
the government is to secure at some time
in the future the extravagant prices which
have been laboriously figured out, and that
therefore those responsible for the classi-
fications have added hundreds of millions
to the national wealth by the simple pro-
cess of giving free reign to their imagina-
ton.
1T should be remembered that most of
the coal in the public lands. estimated to
underly at least 100000 acres, is ignite
or sub-bituminous coal and compared with
the best bituminous Goals of the eastern
part of the United States is Of low grade;
little of 1t will make coke and much of 1t
would not be sold in competition with high
grade bituminous coal
Higher Than Privately Held Lands.
1.-THE prices fixed by classification in all
the better fields are, however, very much
higher than the average prices asked by
private owners for the high grade bitumi-
nous coal contained in lands in Illinois,
Kentucky, Tennessee. West Virginia and
elsewhere. The surface of much of the
coal lands in the states mentioned is valu-
able, while the surface of most of the
government coal lands is of trifling value
and can be secured by demonstrating, and
yet the average classified prices are higher
than is asked for the better Goals and
highly valuable surface in states adjacent
to markets. A disinterested investigation
viii prove the truth of these assertions,
'It is perhaps a matter of no present ma
terial consequence, though rather redicu-
Ill.
believed to contain by the geological sur
vey, ignite coal of poor or medium quality
and so remote from transportation and
markets as to have no present value for
coal, should be valued at hundreds Of dol
lars per acre, but 1t is a matter OF the high
est Importance that coal lands in the vi
cinity of means of transportation and for
the product of'which enterprislng men are
willing to take chance of finding a mar
ket, are held at prices which prohibit de-
velopment. create a monopoly in the mines
now in operation, and thus materially ad-
vance the price of coal to the consumer in
a country having millions of acres of coal
lands. The net result OF the classifi cation
policy In the Rocky mountain region has
been to prohibit the opening OF new mines
and to increase the price of coal to the
while the major portion of the coal
lands in fields OF fair or good quality, and
where transportation makes development
possible, have been valued for sale at from
$500 to $3.50 per acre. the highest price at
which any public coal land has been sold
is $50 per acre, and only two forty-acre
tracts at that price-tracts probably es-
sential to the establishment of developed
mines. In 1909 eighty acres were sold at
$1S5 per acre; one tract OF 16O acres was
sold at SIS per acre and with these excep-
tons andtone sale of forty acres at S65 per
acre, no coal lands have been sold at more
than $50 per acre.
Few Sales Made.
THE total sales OF coal lands at prices
above $50 per acre since September, 1907,
when the first classified lands were sold
has been as follows: