The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-26
UNITED STATES IN NEED OF BETTER DEVEL L0PMENT LAWS
 SAYS SECRETARY K. LANE
Points Out Difficulties Und Existing Legislation and Necessity of Changes Shows Lack of Fertilizer Pro ducts On Pacific Coast.

sally conceded, and in it's stead should come a measure under which the Government would give a permit at first, an exclusive permit for drilling and upon discovery within a given time an area be given as reward for proving the ground, and adjacent lands leased upon a royalty basis.
 There is another charge to be made against the existing law more serious than it's unworkability It is supremely wasteful. If the land is leased some control can be exercised over the manner of development. Mill lions of barrels of oil have been vast ed by being allowed to flow into the streams, by being mixed with water or by evaporation. There has been not so much waste, I am told, in any other mining. And petroleum is a priceless resource, for it can never be replaced.
 Accompanying the general develop ment bill in its passage through the House was a measure intended to pro- mote hydroelectric development on public lands, named after the chari- of the House, MT. Ferris. This Dill
 
 ing legislation permitted only a re- vocabIe permit to be granted for such use, and this was regarded by engi- neers and financiers as too tentative and hazardous a tenure where mill lions of money were needed for the installation of the necessary plant.
 The Ferris bill meets this difficulty by proposing a lease of. these lands ! 70 rrVl,z objection is made that the lands should be given outright. To this there are several answers of substance: No en- frightened government gives such a franchise. There is danger, very real danger, too, of a complete monopoli- zation of such power sites if the lands go forever from the people. The value of water power is not yet fully realized, and its full value can not be known at this stage in our industrial life. The purpose of the Government in transferring these lands is to se- rcure their use, because it does not choose to use them itself, but the time may come when it may be most desirabl to the full development of our life that they shall be operated by the Nation or the States or the mu- nicipalities in the States, and to trans- fer them forever would case a burden upon the future which would be un- forgivable, and is, moreover, unneces- sary. The people desire these lands used, not held as a mere basis for speculation in stocks or bonds Where there is need for such a plant the lands should be available on most generous terms.
 At the end of the fifty-year period what becomes of the plant? If it has been so managed as to best serve the country there would be no reason why the holding company should not have a. new lease. If it had not~been so managed the plant should be bought at its value by whoever the new les- see might be, or by those who took over the lands on which it was situat- ed, the State, for instance.
 As already said, with the passage of these two measures there will be no land or resource that will not be at the full service of the people. And yet, the romantic enterprise of reveal ing America will not be done. To get from our resources their fullest use this is our goal. And this is noth- ing less than challenge to the ca pacity of a democracy.