Evening star., 1919-02-09
Oppose Sale of Lands.

The authorization to sell any of
the coal or other mineral lands, as
coptainod in the bill. is a stench in
the nostrils of the conservationists,
who insist that legislation should
provide only for leasing system. In
cidentally. the bill would repeal the
existing law providing for the leas-
ing of coal lands in Alaska, and per-
NIT the Secretary of the Interior to
sell or lease those lands under SINH
Lar terms as those leased or sold in
ether parts of the United States. Rep
resentative Ferris made public let
ter written him by Secretary Lane,
saying that the leasing system. in so
far as the coal lands of Alaska are
concerned, had not proved satisfac
tory. The conservationists, on the
other hand, insist that the system has
not yet had a fair tryout in Alaska,
on account of war conditions and for
other reasons.
The oil provisions of the leasing bill,
as agreed to in conference, also are
condemned by the conservationists. In
a general way. the bill provides for
the granting of prospecting permits
to applicants, which will give the ex-
elusive right for a period not exceed
ing two years to prospect for oil or
gas upon not to exceed $40 acres
where such deposits belong to the
government epd where they are To-
Gated within ten miles of any produc-
ing well. and upon not to exceed 1850
acres where the deposits are situated
more than ten miles from q producing
well. II the prospector locates oil or
gas, then he will be entitled to a quar-
ter of the land for which his pros
pecting permit is granted. and the
other three-quarters of the land will
terror on a royalty basis, not to be less
than one-eighth of the production.
Chances of the Prospector.
In other words. If prospector is in
clined to do a little "wiidcatting" on
land pretty well removed from known
oil wells he may prospect over Z,56o
acres, with the chance of becoming the
possessor of $40 acres and a lessee of
the remainder. If he desires to pros
pect near known .oil-producing prop
critics he can prospect $40 acres, with
the chance of owning 160 acres and
leasing the remainder. il he strikes oil
or gas.
The contention of the senator's from
is given the privilege of owning some
OF the land on which he finds oil. as
well as of leasing more land, there
will be no prospecting done, due TO
the fact that prospecting for oil Is
vastly expensive business. and thou
because of bringing in dry wells
One factor in the long fight over the
oil lands lay in the considerable num-
ber of claims made by pfospectofs on
the public domain after the lands had
been withdrawn, and others which
were made fraudulently. according to
the Department Of Justice, with dunn
my Iocators,s etc. The conservation
lists insist that these claimants have
no shadow of right to these claims
The claimants, on the other hand,
and their supporters in Congress de-
clare that they entered the lands in
good faith and expended millions of
dollars in their development. which
the government now proposes to take
away from them without cofnpensa-
ton. Some Of these claims are on the
naval Oil reserves, two of which are
Wyoming. These naval oil reserves
were intended as reserves of oil for
the use Of the Navy.
The conferees on the leasing bin
finally accepted the provisions of the
House bill with regard to the naval
all development in the naval reserves
except through existing flowing wells
These wells may be leased to the par
ties who sunk them, where no fraud
exists, upon a royalty to be fixed by
the department Of not less than one
eighth Of the oil produced For some
time the oil produced where claims
have been contested and the money
received for il have been impounded.
amounting to SOME $50. .0o0, 900. OF
this SUM under the provisions OF the
bill one-eighth is to go to the gov
ernment as royalty
The contention between the two
houses Of Congress over the water
power bill is very similar to that over
the mineral lands leasing bill. The
House measure is more drastic than
the Senafa