The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-01-31

The passage or the coal ana OH iano
,oasing bills by the senate is a lone
Ton toward bringing all mining land
.nder the leasing system, which has
long been the pet scheme of the rad
10, conservationists; likewise the
aower site leasing bill. For twenty
,,ears the mining interests of the west
sove fought this scheme and are still
agbtng it, but under the exigencies of
nor the administration has been able
j. force it through. 1t Is only short
stan to include mineral land of every
description within this law, and if con-
gress does not do so, the form of the
orosent bill is such that some author
tiles are of the opinion that the Sec
rotary of the interior, who is all pow
erful in the administration of the law,
NAV require miners to take mineral
land under lease instead of patent. It
is the theory of the conservationists
that all profits should go to the gov
eminent in the form of royalties ex-
cent enough to pay the lessee fair
wages for his time in operating the
mine Under such system it would
require an army of federal officers to
administer the law, all of whom must
be paid by the leasers. Western SEN
ators generally voted against the leas-
ing bill, among whom was Senator
Borah, who has consistently and Wig
orously opposed the conservation po-
Icy of the government which already
retards the development of the west.
kennan on Leasing.
One of the most aggressive oppon-
ents Of the leasing bill in the west and
one who never fails to raise his voice
in behalf of the mining industry is
Chester T.. KEENAN,, of Murray, for
merly Of Colorado. He has been So
journing in Spokane for several weeks,
and while there he addressed Senators
Jones and Poindexter, of Washington,
on the coal and oil leasing bill and
its significance to the miner. Both
these senators voted against the bill.
roth, of Colorado, whom he has known
for many years, in which he expresses
his surprise and disappointment at his
vote in support of the leasing bill Mr..
Remnants letters to the Washington
senators and their replies here follow:
To Senator Jones.
Spokane, Wash, Dec. 20, 1917.
Senator Wesley L. Jones, Washing
ton, d. C.
Dear Senator: 1t is noted with
abundant disgust that while the fight
ing men of the west are on their way
to Europe to make the world safe for
our bureaucrats at Wash
ington are boldly scheming and using |
pretended exigency of war, as excuse
for ousting what little democracy" is
left in the public land states by placing ,
them safely" under government by
"The newspapers are now flooded !
with bureaucratic propaganda intended
10 hoodwink the public with such catch |
phrases in flaring headlines as Dew
elop the West Throwing Open the |
Public Domain Unlocking the Natur-
al Resources ETC., ETC., and stating in
small print that the bureaus are now
going to lease out the public lands
and carefully concealing the fact that
the public lands in area, on the av-
erage, constitute two-thirds of the |
eleven western states-thus destroying |
the sovereignties of those states by
two-thirds of their areas un-
der the rule of bureaucracy; and
the other one-third to pay
taxes to support this ancient and dis
credited form of government by bur-
eaucracy
"Those of us who for many years
have been fighting these leasing bills
in public print are now deferred from
so doing by our determination to do
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