OUR COAL LANDS 



451 



ord of present valuations appears to me 

 conservative, and that on the remaining 

 20,000,000 acres an average valuation of 

 $25 is placed. This would give a round 

 figure of $2,000,000,000 — a sum almost 

 too big to contemplate. 



If these figures of acreage and valua- 

 tion are thought too extravagant, it may 

 be remarked that the coal figures are con- 

 stantly expanding, and that every year's 

 geologic work by the government adds 

 additional areas to our coal map. 



IMMENSE COAL FIELD RECENTLY DIS- 

 COVERED IN ARIZONA 



Thus, in congressional testimony the 

 other day. Director Smith, of the Sur- 

 vey, mentioned a new coal field in Ari- 

 ona, not previously included in any coal 

 estimates, which he stated probably con- 

 tained a tonnage equal to all the coal 

 mined in the United States since the 

 discovery of the first mine. 



Two good results from this coal valu- 

 ation work are, first, that the receipts 

 from the coal-land sales go into the 

 Reclamation Fund, for the irrigation of 

 desert lands by the government and the 

 creation of homes — for every acre of 

 coal land sold at, say, $300 a farm of 10 

 acres may be reclaimed from the desert 

 by irrigation and a home created — and. 

 second, that the placing of a good-sized 

 price on the land will prevent monopoly 

 of the western coal supply. It precludes 

 the purchase of the lands for mere specu- 

 lation — holding them indefinitely without 

 mining developments. The management 

 of his big coal-land properties is one in- 

 stance at least where LTncle Sam is act- 



ing the part of the wise landlord in the 

 interests of the people. 



Now follow this work another step. 

 The Geological Survey values the coal 

 lands not only according to tonnage per 

 acre, but according to quality of coal. 

 There are all grades of coal, ranging 

 from brown lignite — only a step removed 

 from peat^to anthracite, produced under 

 enormous pressure and friction, and the 

 fuel-testing work of the Survey deter- 

 mines the number of heat units and the 

 energy values of coals of the various beds. 



Further than this, the government has 

 inaugurated a practice with respect to its 

 own coal purchases which will doubtless 

 before long become the rule in private 

 coal buying, namely, paying for coal on 

 the basis of its heating value — the British 

 thermal unit basis. 



The Geological Survey samples all 

 Uncle Sam's coal purchases and makes 

 tests which show what the coal will do 

 practically. If the coal falls below a 

 certain standard a deduction is made in 

 price; if it exceeds that standard a 

 higher price is paid. 



The present practice of coal purchase 

 is to a considerable extent buying a pig 

 in a poke — you get the weight but you 

 don't know the quality. The new prac- 

 tice is eminently fair to both producer 

 and consumer. 



Government purchases alone amount 

 to $10,000,000 annually, and the pub- 

 lic saving by this exact method of pur- 

 chase amounts to hundreds of dollars 

 daily. Applied to the countrv at large it 

 would represent millions of dollars a 

 year. 



