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000,000 acres withdrawn from agricultural entry on the ground that 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the land thus withdrawn was found not to contain phosphate in profit- 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 During this administration there has been withdrawn 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- 
