THE NATION'S UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES 



199 



bon deposits underground, once they are 

 removed. I cannot, however, feel that 

 we should sacrifice any present need for 

 fuel or willingly surrender ourselves to 

 a demand for exorbitant prices because 

 of a fear that some day the coal supply 

 may be exhausted (see page 205). 



Already there has been developed a 

 substitute for coal in the flowing stream. 

 The turbine converts melted snow into 

 heat and light, which can be distributed 

 over a constantly widening area. I think 

 we have now arrived at that point in 

 scientific achievement which justifies the 

 belief that the wheels of industry will 

 not cease, nor our houses go unlighted 

 or unheated, so long as dams may be built 

 upon our streams. Water will be — in- 

 deed already is — the greatest conservator 

 of coal. 



We must seek to make use of our coal, 

 the fullest use that society requires. This 

 principle seems a truism. But here lies 

 the difficulty. We wis 1 cheap coal and 

 at the same time a minimum of waste. 

 We wish society to take the lion's share 

 of the profit and yield no more to 

 the operator than will make his work 

 sufficiently attractive to keep him at it. 

 In short, we desire competition without 

 waste — a frank impossibility. 



Other countries have wrestled with 

 this problem. Some have gone into gov- 

 ernment operation. But those who are 

 nearest to us in institutions and ten- 

 dencies have found that in a new country, 

 where there must be large development 

 and higher rewards for enterprise, the 

 safest practicable method is to lease the 

 land, the government taking a modest 

 royalty and retaining some measure of 

 control over operation. 



OUR OIL, PHOSPHATE, AND POTASH DE- 

 POSITS SHOULD BE DEVELOPED 



The United States is beginning to ap- 

 preciate the extent and value of its oil 

 deposits, and for the disposition of these 

 lands no better plan has been suggested 

 than one analogous to that offered as to 

 coal lands. 



I would call your attention to the 

 absurdity of applying the placer mining 

 law to the development of petroleum 

 lands. This law, which was based upon 



the fundamentals of the miners' codes of 

 early days, was passed without thought 

 of the occurrence of other deposits tnan 

 placer gold. However, the land depart- 

 ment, and later Congress, applied the law 

 to oil lands. 



The placer law provides, in the main, 

 that no location shall be made without a 

 discovery of valuable minerals on the 

 claim, that the boundaries of the location 

 shall be plainly marked on the ground, 

 that no claim for an individual shall ex- 

 ceed 20 acres or for an association 160 

 acres, that $100 worth of assessment- 

 work must be done each year, and that 

 upon the expenditure of $500 in labor or 

 improvements and upon compliance with 

 certain minor requirements the claimant 

 is entitled to a patent to his claim. 



The claimant who has gone upon lands 

 for the purpose of making mineral loca- 

 tion, and is engaged in work looking to 

 the discovery of minerals, is protected 

 against adverse agricultural claimants 

 on the ground that the land which he 

 occupies is not vacant and open to set- 

 tlement. The extent of his protection 

 against adverse mineral claimants is, 

 however, a matter of serious doubt. He 

 cannot be ousted by the forcible or 

 fraudulent entry of another mineral 

 claimant, but if such adverse claimant 

 enters peaceably, openly, and in good 

 faith, prospects the claim and first dis- 

 covers minerals, thus perfecting his loca- 

 tion, his title is superior and he dispos- 

 sesses the original occupant. 



On the other hand, in some of the 

 fields large areas are held indefinitely by 

 assessment-work which makes little pre- 

 tense of exploring the claims or develop- 

 ing them. Useless roads which make the 

 claims no easier of access, drilling rigs 

 incapable of reaching the oil sands, build- 

 ing-stone locations where no building 

 stone is to be found, and locations on 

 worthless deposits of gypsum are among 

 the subterfuges adopted to hold posses- 

 sion of lands prospectively valuable for 

 oil 



Thus, where occupancy without discov- 

 ery is respected, large areas are withheld 

 from exploration and development, and 

 where such occupancy is not respected 

 the oil prospector must assume undue 



