THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 327 



would be given the benefit of a lease upon terms like that above sug- 

 gested. What has been said in respect to oil applies also to government 

 gas lands. 



Under the proposed oil legislation, especially where the government 

 oil lands embrace an entire oil field, as in many cases, prospectors, 

 operators, consumers and the public can be benefited by the adoption of 

 the leasing system. The prospector can be protected in the very ex- 

 pensive work that necessarily antedates discovery; the operator can be 

 protected against impairment of the productiveness of the wells which 

 he has leased by reason of control of drilling and pumping of other 

 wells too closely adjacent, or by the prevention of improper methods as 

 employed by careless, ignorant or irresponsible operators in the same 

 field which result in the admission of water to the oil sands ; while, of 

 course, the consumer will profit by whatever benefits the prospector or 

 operator receives in reducing the first cost of the oil. 



Phosphate Lands 



Phosphorus is one of the three essentials to plant growth, the other 

 elements being nitrogen and potash. Of these three, phosphorus is by 

 all odds the scarcest element in nature. It is easily extracted in useful 

 form from the phosphate rock, and the United States contains the 

 greatest known deposits of this rock in the world. They are found in 

 Wyoming, Utah and Florida, as well as in South Carolina, Georgia 

 and Tennessee. The government phosphate lands are confined to 

 Wyoming, Utah and Florida. Prior to March 4, 1909, there were 4,- 

 000,000 acres withdrawn from agricultural entry on the ground that 

 the land covered phosphate rock. Since that time, 2,322,000 acres of 

 the land thus withdrawn was found not to contain phosphate in profit- 

 able quantities, while 1,678,000 acres was classified properly as phos- 

 phate lands. During this administration there has been withdrawn 

 and classified 437,000 acres, so that to-day there is classified as phos- 

 phate-rock land 2,115,000 acres. 



This rock is most important in the composition of fertilizers to 

 improve the soil, and as the future is certain to create an enormous 

 demand throughout this country for fertilization, the value to the public 

 of such deposits as these can hardly be exaggerated. Certainly with 

 respect to these deposits a careful policy of conservation should be fol- 

 lowed. Half of the phosphate of the rock that is mined in private 

 fields in the United States is exported. As our farming methods grow 

 better the demand for the phosphate will become greater, and it must 

 be arranged so that the supply shall equal the needs of the country. 



It is uncertain whether the placer or lode law applies to the govern- 

 ment phosphate rock. There is, therefore, necessity for some definite 

 and well-considered legislation on this subject, and in aid of such legis- 



