Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/328

322 approved in all respects the leasing system. Its success is abundantly shown. It is possible that at first considerable latitude will have to be given to the executive in drafting these forms of lease, but as soon as experiment shall show which is the most workable and practicable, its use should be provided for specifically by statute.

The question as to how great an area ought to be included in a lease to one individual or corporation is not free from difficulty; but in view of the fact that the government retains control as owner, I think there might be some liberality in the amount leased, and that 2,500 acres would not be too great a maximum.

By the opportunity to readjust the terms upon which the coal shall be held by the tenant, either at the end of each lease or at periods during the term, the government may secure the benefit of sharing in the increased price of coal and the additional profit made by the tenant. By imposing conditions in respect to the character of the work to be done in the mines, the government may control the character of the development of the mines and the treatment of employees with reference to safety. By denying the right to transfer the lease except by the written permission of the governmental authorities, it may withhold the needed consent when it is proposed to transfer the leasehold to persons interested in establishing a monopoly of coal production in any state or neighborhood. As one third of all the coal supply is held by the government, it seems wise that it should retain such control over the mining and the sale as the relation of lessor to lessee furnishes. The change from the absolute grant to the leasing system will involve a good deal of trouble in the outset, and the training of experts in the matter of making proper leases; but the change will be a good one, and can be made. The change is in the interest of conservation, and I am glad to approve it.

The investigations of the geological survey show that the coal properties in Alaska cover about 1,200 square miles, and that there are known to be available about fifteen billion tons. This is, however, an underestimate of the coal in Alaska, because further developments will probably increase this amount many times; but we can say with considerable certainty that there are two fields on the Pacific slope which can be reached by railways at a reasonable cost from deep water—in one case of about fifty miles and in the other case of about 150 miles—which will afford certainly six billion tons of coal, more than half of which is of a very high grade of bituminous and of anthracite. It is estimated to be worth, in the ground, one half a cent a ton, which makes its value per acre from $50 to $500. The coking-coal lands of Pennsylvania are worth from $800 to $2,000 an acre, while other Appalachian fields are worth from $10 to $386 an acre, and the field in the central states from