FOUR ESKIMO GIRLS NEAR CAPE NOME, ALASKA of the Eskimo consists entirely of skins of seal, reindeer, hear, and fox, the first two being the most common. suit with a long jacket and trousers tucked into seal-skin boots.

The dress of the The jacket, which has a hood to with the fur inside,

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-indeed 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' 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 the operator than will make his work sufficiently attractive to keep him at it. In short, we desire competition without waste-a frank impossibility.

to

Other countries have wrestled with this problem. Some have gone into government operation. But those who are nearest to us in institutions and tendencies 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 DEPOSITS SHOULD BE DEVELOPED

The United States is beginning to appreciate 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

199

the fundamentals of the miners' codes of early days, was passed without thought of the occurrence of other deposits than placer gold. However, the land department, 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 exceed 20 acres or for an association 160 acres, that $100 worth of assessmentwork 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 location, 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 settlement. 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 discovers minerals, thus perfecting his location, his title is superior and he dispossesses the original occupant.

On the other hand, in some of the fields large areas are held indefinitely by assessment-work which makes little pretense of exploring the claims or developing them. Useless roads which make the claims no easier of access, drilling rigs incapable of reaching the oil sands, building-stone locations where no building stone is to be found, and locations on worthless deposits of gypsum are among the subterfuges adopted to hold possession of lands prospectively valuable for

oil.

Thus, where occupancy without discovery is respected, large areas are withheld from exploration and development, and where such occupancy is not respected the oil prospector must assume undue