THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 325 
gested for government coal lands in the United States, with provisions 
forbidding .the transfer of the leases except with the consent of the 
government, thus preventing their acquisition by a combination or 
monopoly and upon limitations as to the area to be included in any 
one lease to one individual, and at a certain moderate rental, with 
royalties upon the coal mined proportioned to the market value of the 
coal either at Seattle or at San Francisco. Of course, such leases should 
contain conditions requiring the erection of proper plants, the proper 
development by modern mining methods of the properties leased, and 
the use of every known and practical means and device for saving the 
lives of the miners. 
The government of the United States has much to answer for in not 
having given proper attention to the government of Alaska and the 
development of her resources for the benefit of all the people of the 
country. I would not force development at the expense of a present or 
future waste of resources; but the problem as to the disposition of the 
coal lands for present and future use can be wisely and safely settled in 
one session if congress gives it careful attention. 
OIL AND GAs LANDS 
In the last administration there were withdrawn from agricultural 
entry 2,820,000 acres of supposed oil land in California; about a mil- 
lion and a half acres in Louisiana, of which only 6,500 acres were known 
to be vacant, unappropriated land; 75,000 acres in Oregon, and 174,000 
acres in Wyoming, making a total of nearly four millions of acres. In 
September, 1909, I directed that all public oil lands, whether then 
withdrawn or not, should be withheld from disposition pending con- 
gressional action, for the reason that the existing placer mining law, 
although made applicable to deposits of this character, is not suitable 
to such lands, and for the further reason that it seemed desirable to 
reserve certain fuel-oil deposits for the use of the American navy. Ac- 
cordingly the form of all existing withdrawals was changed, and new 
withdrawals aggregating 2,750,000 acres were made in Arizona, Cali- 
fornia, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Field examina- 
tions during the year showed that of the original withdrawals, 2,170,- 
000 acres were not valuable for oil, and they were restored for agri- 
cultural entry. Meantime, other withdrawals of public oil Jands in 
these states were made, so that July 1, 1910, the outstanding withdraw- 
als then amounted to 4,550,000 acres. 
The needed oil and gas law is essentially a leasing law. In their 
natural occurrence, oil and gas can not be measured in terms of acres, 
like coal and it follows that exclusive title to these products can nor- 
mally be secured only after they reach the surface. Oil should be dis- 
posed of as a commodity in terms of barrels of transportable product 
