Member of Council of Defense Mants
Alaska's Clines Developed So as
to Relieve a Very Serious Short
age.
The urgent necessity for the open- ,
ing of the coal and oil lands of Alas- ,
ka has been brought to the attention
of the congress through the medium (
of a report from the committee on ]
public lands of the senate, which had
under consideration a bill providing .
for the mining of coal, phosphate, oil,
gas, potassium and sodium on the _
public domain.
In this report as submitted to the
senate by the committee is the state
ment of Francis S. Peabody, chair
man of the committee on coal produc
tion under the national council of de
fense. in which he very strongly urges
the opening of the Alaska coal fields.
Ill-: follows:
My own feeling in regard to the
situation is that we are confronted
now with the emergency of winning
this war, and that this war can only
be won by furnishing sufficient coal
or oil, or whatever the product may
he that will make steam and make
power, and we must furnish it. I
class coal ahead of food. Perhaps
that is a little personal jealousy on
my part of the food question against
coal. Coal agrees with me better than
fn< d. But the two items, coal and food
- -this war has got to be won by them.
Senator Phelan. Both are fuel?
Mr. Peabody. Both are fuel; one
human fuel and other is machine fuel.
\ny laws that can be pa. sed that will
loosen up the reserve fuel and oil
supplies of Alaska and the west coast
-le aid be adopted. W o can not wait
until we are whipped to open up those
fields. W'e are sending our sons now;
we are not sending them three four,
or five years from now: we must
p> • those sons: wo must win this
war; we can not win thU war unless
v utilize every process available. If
exhausted the coal of the United
State or the oil of the United States
t - win this war, we must win this war.
We must not hold back anything.
ho west coast is in tremendous dif
ficulties—is in the Mime situation as
r o h ..-tern Canada in regard to the
:-*.-s of men. The coast can only be
. u..plied either from northwestern
Canada or from the oil fields of Cali
for iia and the coal fields of the Kockv
mountains. The oil production is fall
ing off very seriously in the west.
I thing of oil mainly as tons of
co;d. I f I say a falling off of 9,000,
OOo barrels of oil, I figure that 3,000,- '
000 tons of coal have gone by the
vayUde. When I find an oil well
can be drilled—and I have drilled
them myself by the use of four or
eig it nu n—and possibly we might get '
-.000 ban-els of oil out of that w-ell,
meaning 1,000 tons of coal, and do it
within 00 days, and f know it would
take from 12 to 18 months, using 200
or 250 men, to develop any coal mine
to the production of 1,000 tons of coal, !
and so I believe the emergency war
rants the government in using any 1
possible means to get that thousand
tons of fuel a day, wherether it be in
the nature of 8,000 barrels of oil or 1
1,000 tons of coal, out at any sacrifice. !
Senator Shafroth. The question;
which has been in dispute in congress
has been the system by which this
could be done.
Mr. Peabody. Senator, I do not
give a rap what your system it. I do
not care whether you lease it to the
men, sell it to the men. or do it your
selves, but get the stuff out. I have
no interest in the method. . . .
The drains are that we are shipping
every ton of coal we can possibly j
send via the Panama canal to the west
coast, and in addition to that we are 1
supply the navy, and the coal shipped
all rail takes, I think, 1)2 days’ aver
age time for a car to go from the
Norfolk & Western or the Chesapeake
& Ohio fields to California and return.
It is a most horrible misuse of equip
ment that we need so badly for other
purposes. The Southern Pacific wants
CO,000 or 70,000 tons of coal a month. {
These papers came to me from the na
tional council of defense. They aske<
me could I supply it; I mean by ‘T
whether the committee could supplj
it. I said, “No; it is impossible t<
supply that coal unless we take i
from industries in which it is indis
pensable.” We can, if we shut dowr
possibly the steel mills in Colorado
f we shut down a great many indus
ries that are large burners of coal
,ve could probably take that awaj
Tom them and furnish it to the
Southern Pacific.
Senator Phelan. Why is the South
'rn Pacific using coal? They have
>i! burners?
M r. Peabody, llut they can not get
mough oil. Oil has fallen off in its
iroduction immensely.
The chairman. What, in your opin
on, would lie the result if we should
ake up no new system and go in the
a me old way and develop no more
oal or oil than we are developing
Mr. Peabody. Why, from the oil
tandpoint we would be out of reserve
il in the United States within 12
nonths, and we would be producing
pproximatelv 50,000,000 barrels of
il—leaving out the Mexican supply,
ssuming that everything remained
lormal—50.000,000 barrels of oil per
ear less than needed.
The chairman. Do you think we
re producing coal and oil now to
/in the European war?
Mr. Peabody. No, sir.
The chairman. If we can not in
rease our production we can not win
he war ?
Mr. Peabody. Yes, sir.
Senator Phelan. If more oil is de
eloped in California, it will release
hese cars for transportation?
Mr. Peabody. It goes without say
ng that the more you can produce
oarer the point of consumption the
L'ss transportation you are going to
so. Senator Phelan.
Senator Pheland. How extensive is
ho shipment of coal you describe
rom the east to the west coast by
ail?
Mr. Peabody. The shipment from
he east to the west coast by rail, the
nly coal that is going is for battle
hip.-.
Senator Phelan. And that at a
preat cost ?
Mr. Peabody. At a terrific co.->t.
he ated 8,000 tons of coke the other
. y. I have not been able to lind
ut who it is going to, but 8,000 tons
f coke going to California from the
Vesi Virginia field. It struck me
. hen I saw that, “Why did they not
ake the coke from farther west;
rhy did they not get the coke from
olorado ?” Everything that 1 see
hat takes a car longer to accomplish
ts appointed task of taking its load
if fuel to the consumer hits me in the
ace and I want to stop it, and when
saw this 8,000 tons of coke going
rom the West Virginia fields to San
Vancisco 1 wanted to find out why
hey could not take it from a point
lenre the point of consumption, as
•oil say.
Senator Phelan. And it does not go
;y ship because there are no ships?
Mr. Peabody. Well, we have no
nips.
Senator Phelan. There is a colliet
io\v in European waters, was it not
o reported the other day, that can
lot get home?
Mr. Petbody. That may be. I am
oading this week five ships which the
government allotted to the Italian
government with coal.
Senator Walsh. You say some coal
s going by way of the canal?
Mr. Peabody. Yes, senator! some
>oal is going by the canal. But yon
should develop your coal and oil lands
n Alaska, and you should develop
tmur oil lands in every western state
. . I think if you would looser
jp some of your coal lands you woulc
get immediate developments out oi
them, and immediate relief, althougl
not as much relief as if you looser
up your oil, because you get oil in 6(
days, and it takes 12 to 14 months t(
get coal.
The position taken by Mr. Peabody
was sustained absolutely by Mr. Vai
H. Manning, the director of th<
bureau of mines, and by Dr. Georgi
Otis Smith, director of the geologica
survey.
Ecuador has a tree producing ber
ries which can be used as soap.
I
Measure Deals With Coal and Oil
Land Opening, Has Passed the Sen
1 ate and Is Now Presented to the
House.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 16.—
The Walsh bill, providing for the
opening of coal, phosphate, oil, gas,
I potassium and sodium on the public
| domain in the United States, and
! which has passed the senate, was re
ported favorably by the house com
mittee on public lands late yesterday
afternoon and its passage is now as
sured. The report of the house com
mittee says that Alaska has been
given liberal treatment in oil devel
opment, because of climatic conditions
■ and other obstacles incident to opera
tion in a far-off country. A featui’e
| of the legislation pending is that lo
jeators of oil-bearing lands of Alaska
j who were in possession when the
Roosevelt withdrawal came into effect
j have the first right to re-locate or
1 lease under the new law.
i The part of the Walsh bill that es
j pecially concerns Alaska is that relat
ing to the opening of the oil lands
The territory is not particularly inter
ested in the provision relating to
coal lands, because it says, “exclusive
of the coal lands in Alaska.” That
bars Alaska from the benefits of the
law, so far as coal lands are concern
ed, and the situation in this respect is
not changed. The provisions relating
to oil and gas are as follows:
Sec. 11. That the secretary of the
interior is hereby authorized, under
such rules and regulations as he may
prescribe, to grant to any qualified ap
plicant a prospecting permit, which
shall give the exclusive right for a
period not exceeding two years to
prospect for oil or gas upon not to
exceed 640 acres of land, if the same
are situated within 20 miles from any
poducing oil or gas well, or upon not
to exceed 2,560 acres, if the same are
situated over 20 miles from any pro
ducing oil or gas well, upon condition
that the permittee shall begin mining
operations within four months from
the date of the permit, and shall
within one year from and after the
date of permit drill an oil or gas well
to a depth of not less than 500 feet,
and shall within two years from the
date of the permit drill oil or gas
wells aggregating in depth not less
than 2,000 feet. If the lands sought
in any such application and permit
are unsurveyed, the applicant shall,
prior to filing his application for per
mit, locate the lands in square or rect
angular tracts, the length of which
shall in no case exceed two and one
half times its width, and mark each of
the corners thereof upon the ground
with permanent monuments, so that
the boundaries can be readily traced.
Upon the granting of a permit for the
exploration of such a tract of unsur
veyed land the permittee shall post
in a conspicuous place upon the lands
inscribed in the permit four notices
that such permit has been granted and
a description of the lands covered
user >sy.
j Sec. 12. That upon establishing to
i the satisfaction of the secretary of the
interior that valuable deposits of oil
or gas have been discovered within
the limits of the land embraced in any
such permit the permittee shall be
entitled to a patent for one-fourth ol
: the land embraced in the prospecting
i permit, such ar -a to be selected by the
! permittee in compact form and accord
I ing to the legal subdivisions of the
. public-land surveys if the land be sur
i veyed, or to be surveyed at his ex
pense in accordance with the laws
( rules and regulations governing the
survey of placer mining claims if lo
cated upon unsurveyed lands.
Sec. 13. That until the permittee
shall apply for patent to the land se
i
lected by him, he shall pay to the
United States 25 per centum of the
' gross value of all oil or gas securec
by him from the lands embraced with
in his permit and sold or otherwise
- disposed of or held by him for sale
or other disposition, and upon making
his selection and application for pat
nt all his rights under his permit
save as to the lands embraced in hit
application, shall terminate, but he
may become a lessee of the other
lands described in his permit.
Sec. 14. That all permits, leases,
entries,and patents of lands containing
, oil or gas, made or issued under the
provisions of this Act, shall be sub
ject to the condition that no wells
shall be drilled within 200 feet of any
of the outer boundaries of the lands
j so located, leased, entered or patented,
' unless the adjoining lands have been
| patented or the title thereto otherwise
vested in private owners, and to the
further condition that the locator, les
| see, entryman, or patentee will, in
conducting his explorations and min
ing operations, use all reasonable pre
cautions to prevent waste of oil or
: gas developed in the land, or the en
j trance of water through wells drilled
by him to the oil sands or oil-bearing
strata, to the destruction or injury of
the oil deposits. Violations of the
provisions of this section shall consti
i tute grounds for the forfeiture of the
location, entry, lease or patent, to be
! enforced through appropriate proceed
ings in courts of competent jurisdic
| Sec. 15. That all deposits of oil or
gas, and the lands containing same,
: including the lands and deposits de
I scribed and embraced in such a pros
pecting permit, other than those pat
ented or for which application for pat
ent has been made by the permittee,
shall, from and after the exercise of
the preference right accorded to the
discoverer, or after the expiration of
the time within which he may exer
cise such preference right, be held
subject to lease, and may be leased,
by the secretary of the interior,
through competitive bidding or such
other methods as he may adopt by
general regulations, in areas not ex
ceeding 2,560 acres and in tracts
which shall not exceed in length two
and one-half times their width, such
leases to be conditioned upon the pay
ment by the lessee of such royalty as
may be fixed in the lease and the pay
ment in advance of a rental of $1 per
acre per annum thereafter during the
continuance of the lease, the rental
paid for any one year to be credited
on the royalty for that year. Leases
shall be for a period of ten years, with
the preferential right in the lessee to
renew the same or a period of ten
years upon such reasonable terms and
conditions as may be prescribed by
the secretary of the interior. Every
such lease shall also include such con
ditions not inconsistent herewith as
may be prescribed in general rules
and regulations issued by the secre
tary of the interior, including cove
nants relative to continuous opera
tions, mining methods, waste, water
damage, distance from adjacent lands
: where wells can be drilled, period of
preliminary development, and mini
, mum production.
Sec. 16. That upon relinquishment
to the United States within 00 days
i from the date of this act or within 00
| days after final denial or withdrawal
of application for patent, of any claim
or subdivision thereof asserted under
the mining laws prior to July third,
j 1010, to any unpatented oil or gas
| lands included in any order of with
i drawal or within naval petroleum re
: serve numbered two, the claimant or
his successor in interest shall be en
titled to a lease for each asserted min
eral location of 160 acres or less or
i any subdivision thereof upon which
: such claim is based and upon which
| said claimant, his predecessors in in
terest, or those claiming through or
under him, have, prior to the date of
j this act, drilled one or more producing
| oil or gas wells, such lease to be upon
! a royalty of one-eighth of the pro
i duction of oil or gas produced and
I saved therefrom after first deducting
jfrom the gross production of such oil
or gas as may be used in development
and operating such land, and other
: wise on the same terms and condi
tions as other oil and gas leases
granted under the provisions of this
: act: Provided, however, that no claim
ant who has been guilty of fraud ir
■ the location of any oil claims or gas
i bearing lands shall be entitled to anj
[ of the benefits of this section, noi
shall his assignee be entitled thereto
: unless he affirmatively shows thal
s prior to the passage of this act he pur
; chased such lands in good faith, for s
valuable consideration, and without
actual knowledge of such fraud: Pro
vided further, that upon the issuance
of said lease and prior to the delivery
thereof the applicant therefor shall
pay to the United States for one
eighth of the oil or gas produced and
saved from the lands included in said
claim at the current field price at the
time of production, which shall be in
full satisfaction for all oil or gas ex
tracted from said land prior to said
lease: Provided further, that all roy
alties received under the provisions
of this section from said naval petro
leum reserve numbered two, whether
in oil or money, shall be delivered or
credited to the United States navy:
And provided further, that none of
the provisions of this section or of
this act shall be applicable to or af
fect lands or minerals included within
the limits of naval petroleum reserve
numbered one, in the state of Califor
nia, or naval petroleum reseiwe num
bered three, in the state of Wyoming:
Provided further, that the provisions
of this section shall be applicable in
all cases provided for herein, including
cases where court actions have been
heretofore commenced or may here
after be commenced by the United
States government affecting the title
to such lands or the product thereof:
| Provided further, that any bona fide
j occupant or claimant of oil or gas
! bearing lands in the territory of
| Alaska, who prior to withdrawal had
I complied with the requirements of the
• mining laws, except as to discovery of
oil or gas in wells, and who prior to
i withdrawal expended not less than
I $1,000 in permanent improvements on
or for each location, shall be entitled
to the benefits of this section.
Sec. 17. That the rights of any
person who on the first day of Aug
ust, 1917, was, and ever since has
been a bona fide occupant, or claim
ant of oil or gas bearing lands open
| to appropriation as such under exist
ing law, and who has performed all
acts necessary to a valid mining In
action thereof except to make a dis
covery, and who on and prior to said
date was preparing to develop such
lands, and to discover oil or gas there
in, and who shall thereafter continue
in the diligent prosecution of work
leading to the discovery of oil or gas,
| shall not be affected or impaired by
this act so long as such occupant or
claimant shall continue in the diligent
prosecution of said work. Such oc
cupant or claimant so continuing shall
be entitled to develop and prosecute
*his claim for patent and to have the
same as provided by existing law for
such locations not exceeding in the
aggregate 2,560 acres.
And any person who at the time of
any withdrawal order heretofore made
was such bona fide occupant or claim
ant of oil- or gas-bearing lands with
in such withdrawn area, other than
lands reserved for the use of the navy,
and who has performed all acts neces
sary to a valid mining location there
of, except to make a discovery, if the
claim was initiated within less than
three years prior to the withdrawal,
and such claimant had performed a
reasonable amount of work prepara
tory and essential to the sinking of a
well or wells, and who because of and
in obedience to such order desisted
from the prosecution of work for the
development of such claim, shall have
a preference right to lease the same
under the provisions of this act: Pro
vided, that such preference shall not
extend to any lands included in any
locations determined to be valid and
entitled to proceed to patent unde?
the mining laws existing at or prior
to the passage of this act: Provided
further, that if any claimant is given
a preference right to lease lands upon
which wells have been sunk to oil by
I other parties, the secretary of the in
ferior may in his discretion require
such lessee to pay to the party or par
ties who sunk such well or wells, or
to the United States, the reasonable
cost of such well or wells.
YOU KNOW THEM.
A stingy cuss
Is Oswald Hubble;
The only thing
He gives is trouble.
—Luke McLuke.
A gen’rous soul
Is Betsy Battle,
She freely gives
Of idle prattle.
Loyal to the Cause of the Allies, De
spite German Intrigue and An Of
fer to Conclude a German Peace.
CORFU, May 20.—Serbia remains
j faithful to the cause of the entente al
| lies despite German intrigue and an
I offer of the German government to
conclude peace, declared Premier Pas
; hitch today in a “declaration of Ser
bia’s foreign policy’’ read at the open
ing here of the Serbian parliament.
More than a year ago, Mr. Pashitch
1 said, “Germany was beginning to see
the impossibility of defeating her enc
mies by military force alone, and to
see that she must have recourse to
other means. She then decided to
make the most energetic use of clan
destine channels to disorganize as
speedily as possible the power and
cohesion of her enemy. She carried on
intrigues, employing different meth
ods, according to the countries for
| which she intended them.
I “All these intrigues were clothed in
fine language and expressed humani
tarian ideals by means of which the
enemy was spreading monarchistic
ideas in republics and republican ideas
in monarchies, recommending in dem
ocratic countries a military regime
and in autocracies democratic, repub
lican or anarchistic ideas. All this
had only one object, to provoke intern
al disorders and discord between the
allies.
“In all allied countries the effect of
these secret machinations have been
felt, but nowhere have they succeeded
so well as in Russia. Judging from
effects, it is impossible to deny that
the Russian revolution has been taint
ed by German influence and has only
been useful up to the present, to Ger
many.
“Austria-Hungary recently has in
tensified her intrigue and calumnies
against the Serbian people, and
against King Peter and the Serbian
government. She has but one object,
to shake the faith of the allies in Ser
bia, to destroy the national unity, and
by mCc.ns of our dissensions, to insure
the conquest of Serbia.
“But our people know Austria-Hun
gary too well to lend themselves to
believe these lying words. The Serb
ian people remains faithful. It has
given up all that it could give. At
present, with the little forces that re
main to it, it can only stay faithfully
at the side of the allies, never forget
ting that Austria-Hungary provoked
this war with the object of destroying
Serbia.
“The appearance of America in the
theatre of war has filled up the gap
caused by the Russian with '..av a\
and the armed forces of our allies are
more considerable than those of the
enemy as regards both men and ma
terial. Their organization has been
improved and there is complete agree
ment on all questions. The Serbian
people can therefore be certain that
its sacrifice will not be in vain and
that its ideals will be realized if it
continues to give in the future tokens
of its military and civic virtues and
if it remains safe, as hitherto, from
intrigues which aim at destroying its
concord and unity in the defense of
the interests of our people.”
A USEFUL BOOK
OF INFORMATION
If you are desirous of learning the
population of China; or whether
snakes have a value; or wish to learn
of the detailed history of tobacco, or
! the distance between Port Townsend
and Memphis, Tenn., make it a point
to call at the Daily Times and get a
copy of Velvet Joe’s Almanac, a sup
ply of which has been received
through the courtesy of the John Boll
man Tobacco company of San Fran
cisco.
Velvet Joe’s Almanac besides being
filled with facts, data and useful in
formation concerning about every con
ceivable phase of life contains a num
ber of philosophical remarks of Vel
vet Joe.