328 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



lation all of the government lands known to contain valuable phosphate 

 rock are now withdrawn from entry. A law that would provide a 

 leasing system for the phosphate deposits, together with a provision 

 for the separation of the surface and mineral rights as is already pro- 

 vided for in the case of coal, would seem to meet the need of promoting 

 the development of these deposits and their utilization in the agricul- 

 tural lands of the west. If it is thought desirable to discourage the 

 exportation of phosphate rock and the saving of it for our own lands, 

 this purpose could be accomplished by conditions in the lease granted 

 by the government to its lessees. Of course, under the constitution the 

 government could not tax and could not prohibit the exportation of 

 phosphate, but as proprietor and owner of the lands in which the phos- 

 phate is deposited it could impose conditions upon the kind of sales, 

 whether foreign or domestic, which the lessees might make of the phos- 

 phate mined. 



The tonnage represented by the phosphate lands in government 

 ownership is very great, but the lesson has been learned in the case of 

 such lands that have passed into private ownership in South Carolina, 

 Florida and Tennessee that the phosphate deposits there are in no 

 sense inexhaustible. Moreover, it is also well understood that in the 

 process of mining phosphate, as it has been pursued, much of the lower 

 grade of phosphate rock, which will eventually all be needed has been 

 wasted beyond recovery. Such wasteful methods can easily be pre- 

 vented, so far as the government land is concerned, by conditions 

 inserted in the leases. 



Water-power Sites 



Prior to March 4, 1909, there had been, on the recommendation of 

 the reclamation service, withdrawn from agricultural entry, because they 

 were regarded as useful for power sites which ought not to be disposed 

 of as agricultural lands, tracts amounting to about 4,000,000 acres. 

 The withdrawals were hastily made and included a great deal of land 

 that was not useful for power sites. They were intended to include the 

 power sites on twenty-nine rivers in nine states. Since that time 3,- 

 475,442 acres have been restored for settlement of the original 4,000,- 

 000, because they do not contain power sites ; and meantime there have 

 been newly withdrawn 1,245,892 acres on vacant public land and 211,- 

 007 acres on entered public land, or a total of 1,456,899 acres. These 

 withdrawals made from time to time cover all the power sites included 

 in the first withdrawals, and many more, on 135 rivers and in 11 states. 



The disposition of these power sites involves one of the most difficult 

 questions presented in carrying out practical conservation. The forest 

 service, under a power found in the statute, has leased a number of these 

 power sites in forest reserves by revocable leases, but no such power 

 exists with respect to power sites that are not located within forest 



