Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-11-28
We Are Thankful

fortune with his neighbors. He win be able
to go to the government and get the money
he needs, or the money that the bureau or
department deems needed by him. He will
be able to produce at a lower cost because
he will not have to worry about dividends
for his stockholders.
And the people who didn't invest, how
about them? They will buy the new inven-
ton at a lower cost. They won't miss their
dividend money because they can buy,
Injuries as well as necessities more cheaply.
Standardized brands Of various articles will
simplify our lives. There will be no need
for advertising, which Enthusiastically runs up
costs; no costly competition between rival
brands. It certainly sounds logical People
who fret about having to stand in line to
register for gasoline and for sugar will get
over their fretting when our regulated sys-
tenn of distribution makes one filling sta
ton do the service of ten and one store
serves the patrons who formerly scattered
through the aisles of five stores. These are
all related things that are coming, with
lower living costs
We are thankful that today we are per-
mitted to invest in royalties. The purchase
Of royalties has been permitted until now.
While all royalty transactions have been
under the supervision and scrutiny of the
federal government they have not been
subjected to the regulations which have
terminated corporation public financing.
But that will not last The bureaus will end
public sale of royalties in the not distant
future That is the way it is planned
Royalties are related to the soil, as they
are part of the land They belong to farmers,
as a rule farmer whose land may be too
poor to produce sugar beets or wheat or
other crops may produce oil. This oil is the
farm crop The oil farmer contracts with
an operator who agrees to remove the oil
and the farmers share is one-eighth of the
oil, or 121 barrels out of every 100 barrels
produced Thus royalties distinctly belong to
the farm bloc" section Of congress and
that is perhaps why farmers have been al
lowed to sell part of their royalties to in
vestors who were willing to share the risk
of getting oil If there is no oil on barren
farm land then the farmer has nothing, of
course. II there rs oil, he may make more
money than would come from the best of
beet land, which gives about the most valu-
able crop today. The investor who buys
royalties steps into the shoes Of the farmer
in taking that risk
strong enough to protect the right of the
farmer to sell part of his risk to the public.
The days are numbered when the public can
buy royalty properties which may afford a
man financial security in years to come.
Under the plan, he will have social security
provided by his government. Everyone-not
merely those who save and plan and invest
will have social security in the years to
come. It takes only common sense to see it
coming. 1t is foolish to fight it. The smart
man win try to fortify his present position,
as best he can.
Those who have royalties won't be de-
prived Of them, by any stretch Of the
Imagination Even If the oil industry is So
ca1ized, we believe that the landowners
rights will be respected and with that the
landowners 1917 will be respected Ac-
cordingly, we are glad that with the coming
of the New Order we find ourselves with
some royalties on lands which are likely of
development and which may provide us
with a few dollars Of income other than
that which comes from the work Of our
hands.
we are indeed thankful that we have had
this opportunity. We know that the meanest
royalty we own in Montana today may be-
come the most valuable tomorrow. That is
the history Of other oil states where deep
drilling has brought great production from
lower horizons. We believe that all the oil
we have had in Montana to date Is mere
seepage oil that has come up from greater
source pools below II there were no oil in
the Devonisn where it is exposed in the
Athabaska-Fort Norman region to the north;
If there were not greater amounts Of oil in
the bottom Of the Madison lime in Turner
valley than is found in any formation