Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-07
MR.. LANE URGES
BETTERUT|L|z|NGO Of
NATIONS WEALTH
Value of Human Resource
Emphasized in Secretary's
Annual Report.

More general utilization of the re-
sources of the nation in COAL oil,
water power. land and in human be-
ings is urged by Franklin X. Lane.
Secretary of the Interior, in his
annual report issued yesterday.
From the observation post that his
office affords over the varied govern
lnnetal activities he draws the con-
clusion that far beyond all our pos
sessions is the American man" in a
strong appeal for Americanization and
education.
TO him. to his spirit and char
acter. to his skill and intelligence is
due all the credit for the land in
which We live" MIR. Lane said. THAT
resource we are neglecting. Twenty
five per cent of the 100000 men be-
tween twenty-one and thirty-one
years of age who were first drafted
into our Army could neither read nor
write our language and tens of thou
sands could not speak it or under
stand it
Goes Deeply Into Coal strike.
Mr.. Lane goes deeply into the coal
strike and answers cues lions per
tanning to the present and future coal
productivity of the nation. The coal
strike has brought concretely before
us the disturbing fact that modern
society is so involved that We live
virtually by unanimous consent" he
says. Let less than half of pei
cent of our population quit their
work of digging coal and We are
threatened with the combined hor-
rors of psstilence and famine.
1t did not take many hours after
II was realized that the coal miners
were in earnest for the American
imagination to conceive what might
haps another thirty days. Industries
closed. railroads stopped. streets dark,
food cut off. houses freezing. idle men
py the million hungry and in the
dark-this was the picture, and not
very pleasant one to contemplate"
Water Power and Oil.
Consideration of water power and
petroleum deposits take Mr.. Lane to
the wide spaces of the west. He says
that 30 per cent of the avail
able horsepower in the waterways
of the nation lies west of the Missis-
slppI. and places the total oil produc-
ton of the nation in 1918 at $50, 00O.-
leasing Legislation will make avail
able further rich supplies. he says.
and eventually the deposits of oil
shale "can be made to yield vastly
more oil than has been found in pools
or sands.
yet with all the optimism that can
be justified" the report says, Il would
urge a policy of saving as to petro-
leum. that should be rigid in the ex-
treme. If we are long to enjoy the
benefits of petroleum age, we must
save this OIL
A new basis for the operation of
the reclamation service, which has
chiefly been occupied in western
states with a total of 100000 acres
made irrigable is suggested.
10000 Soldiers Want Land.
Mr.. Lane says that $4,000 demobi-
lands. He reassertS his belief that
for soldiers what it would do for no
other class. as he has proposed in
pending measures.
The Alaska railroad. Secretary
Lane says. has been we'll and solidly
built. for "as little money as private
parties could build it,
In a summary of the departm ent's
work the report shows that the Usage
tribe of Indians collected last year,
$1,000. 900 in returns from oil and gas
land leases. Up in Alaska, the de-
payment mined $500 tons of coal.
In Washington. the patent Office is
sued 1928 grants to inventors, while
the pension Office paid out s222,159.-
e92 TO veterans of the civil and Span
ish wars. .-e1
At the national parks, 15o.527 Wis
itors were recorded during the year.
On irrigated lands last year. $780,
900, 600 in agricultural products were
grown. and Mr.. Lane remarks that
federal expenditure of 100000, 900
has added close to $500. 000. 900 to the
tax valuation of western states.