328 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
lation all of the government lands known to contain valuable phosphate 
tock are now withdrawn from entry.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the reclamation service, withdrawn from agricultural entry, because they 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been newly withdrawn 1,245,892 acres on vacant public land and 211,- 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 
