The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-12-27
THE SPIRIT Of
THE SQUARE DEAL
Members Of United States Geological
Survey Prohibited from Personal
Interest in Mineral Properties.

The spirit OF square deal" which
now prevails in most government bust
ress is illustrated by the manner in
which the United States Geological
Survey guards the data it obtains and
also withholds information from pri
vate persons until reports embodying
such material can be published and
offered free of cost to rich and poor
alike
The law under which the United
States Geological Survey was organic
ed in 1879 expressly provides that the
director and members of the survey
shall have no personal or private in.
terest in the lands or mineral wealth
of the region under survey and shall
execute no surveys or examinations
tor private parties or corporations
This was wise provision; for on the
one hand it insured that whatever ad.
yantages were to come from geologic
work paid for by the people as a whole
should be equally and simultaneously
available to all, and, on the other
hand, it removed from the geologist
what would otherwise have been
strong and frequent temptation to
make his official work subordinate or
Icontributory to his personal and ma
.terial interests.
Can Not Own Mining Stock.
So strictly is the regulation now in
terpreted that the government geolog-
lists are prohibited from acquiring
stock in any mining company operat-
ing in the United States. The result
has been that the public in general has
confidence in the impartiality and in
tegrity of the federal geologists, and
property owners willingly impart in
formation to them which would be
withheld from men who might use it
for their own advantage Even after
resignation from the survey a geol-
ogist is in honor bound by a written
promise not to act rs an expert in min
ing litigation in any district that he
may have investigated while on the
survey, until three years shall have
elapsed since bis resignation or until
ten years shall have passed since he
made an official report on the district.
1t is supposed that after these periods
of limitation the local information
gained in his official capacity will have
ceased to be of special advantage in
current litigation.
The confidence reposed by the public
in the federal biologists has occasion
ally been abused by impostors who
have claimed to belong to the geologi-
cal survey. Biologists who resign
from the survey of course are free to
seek employment wherever they
choose, but from the date of their
they can no longer be
by the survey nor can they
represent it in any capacity unless re-
instated or appointed from a civil serv-
ice register. The only apparent ex-
ception to this regulation is that re-
ports on certain subjects or certain
fields may be purchased from geolo-
gists who have never been connected
with the organization or who, though
employed by it, have re-
signed to enter private work In all
such cases, however, the finished re-
port is purchased and the geologist
while gathering the materials for the
report is acting in purely private
and does not in any sense
the government
Should Beware of Imposters.
Because persons sometimes misrep-
resent themselves as employees of the
Geological Survey for the purpose of !
securing inside information, the pub
ic is advised to regard all representa- |
ions with caution and to insist that |
he person soliciting such information
shall establish his identity and con-
lection with the survey before com
olying with his request. This can
easily be done, for each geologist or
engineer connected with the organiza-
ion is furnished with card certify
ng to his position on the survey,
signed by the secretary of the interior
md countersigned by the director
anyone who seeks information on the
,asis Of being an employee of the
survey but who can not produce such
| card of Identification, should be re-
ported at once to the director of the
United States Geological Survey.
d. c.