The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-05
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INF CREMATION BUREAU
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, ID. @.
COAL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
The American People Own 1t, But
They Can't Get It-Yet.

The. American People Own 1t, But
They Can't Get It-Yet.
Washington, D. c., Jan. ITO the
consumer who is buying coal at pres
ent prices, or wishing that he could, it
should be a consolation to reflect that
the American people own enough coal
to satisfy all their probable needs for
a thousand years The amount of this
coal in the public domain is roughly
estimated at 100000, 100000 tons, SO
that every man, woman and child in
the United States is the owner of over
four thousand tons of coal in the
ground.
big problems of the immediate future
Citizens who want coal at reasonable
rates should take their eyes off the
fuel administration, which is doing the
best it can under present conditions,
and pay attention to congress- which
has the power to change conditions.
Early in January the senate Will
vote upon bill which provides for the
leasing of public coal and oil lands,
in relatively small tracts, at a low
royalty, the ownership to remain In
the government.
The passage of this measure would
mean more coal and cheaper coal.
1t would break monopoly. and divorce
the mines from the carriers. Incl
dentally, this bill has been passed
twice by the house in the past two
years, and twice defeated by the
senate. The senate is to vote upon 1t
again in a few days. Now the house is
waiting to see what the senate will do,
with considerable interest. That in
terest should be shared by every man
who burns coal.
Another bill which would solve the
coal problem is the CroSser bill,
which has been endorsed in principle
by the secretary of labor. 1t also pro-
vides for leasing the lands, under
colonization board which would see
that the coal lands provided perman-
ent homes and liviHgs for the men
that dug the coal In this way, oc-
cupation could be given to many re-
turned soldiers.
The essential idea back of both of
these bills is the same: The govern
ment must own the coal lands; the
royalty for their use must be paid to
the government; and the government
must insure proper development.
To understand why this immense
supply of coal in the public lands is
not being dug, it is necessary to go
back a few years. Prior to 1873, coal
lands could be taken up by anyone
under the agricultural land laws, and
many a great mining property is
founded upon a homestead of pioneer
days The law of 1873 made some eff
fort to classify coal lands. but i'm
mense tracts continued to pass into
private ownership thru land grants
to railroads, and by various other
methods.
In 1907 a law was passed which
made it necessary to purchase coal
lands from the government, and this
law still stands. The prices are fixed
by the geological survey.
Under this law the great store of
coal remaining in the public domain
has scarcely been scratched The
reasons for this are chiefly two. In
the first place, a large part of the
public coal lands have been with
drawn from entry by order of the
president for purposes of classified
ton. Some 44,S00,000 acres of coal
lands are so withdrawn at this time.
| The government scientists are careful
+ ly studying them, deciding just what
they are worth. Meantime, no one
can mine the coal in them.
On the other hand, some 5000 OO
acres of coal lands have already been
classified and put on the market. But
they are purchased very slowly Men
who would like to buy them say the
prices are too high.
1t looks as tho the administration
did not want anyone to get hold of
the coal lands in the public domain.
That is probably true. The adminlstra-
ton is the real author of this coal
might be represented as saying:
by Withdrawing lands from entry,
and by putting high prices on them,
we will keep these lands in the own
erskin of the government until some
law is passed by congress which will
make it possible to mine and distribute
the coal at reasonable rates.
| Of course, the administration would
I deny that it has any such intention.
But the intention is pretty evident,
nonetheless. Why would coal be
cheaper if these lands were mined
under the leasing system. than if they
were sold? Various reasons suggest
themselves, but the most important
one was neatly illustrated at the SEN
/ ate "coal probe the other day, when
ministration explained at the request
of Senator Jones of New Mexico why
| tie price of anthracite coal is so high
A very large part of the anthracite
lands are held by one great estate.
The founder of this estate no doubt
purchased these lands long ago, when
they were considered worthless, and
he and his heirs perhaps paid taxes
on them long time before their value
was discovered. Thus there was a
considerable investment upon which
the owners must make interest.
Now the owners of these coal lands
| have nothing to do with mining the
| coal, even in a supervisory capacity.
They merely lease to others the right
! to take out the coal on a royalty basis.
The royalty which they charge is very
| high, and constantly gets higher.
4 There are several reasons for this. In
the first place, there is very little an
thracite coal in the world, and the
great demand for it makes it possible
to charge a high price. In the sec
ond place, the coal operators have a
large investment on the ground in the
form of machinery, and sif they did
not renew their royalty contracts
from year to year, most of this would
be a total loss. Hence, they are in
clined to pay whatever the big estate