| Show THE LEASING BILL after almost ten years of effort a leasing bill designed to protect the interests of both the government and the operator has successfully passed both houses of congress it seems to be the con census of opinion that the bill in the present instance thoroughly satisfies all parties interested and will prove to be a boon towards the development of the natural resources of the west although deposits of coal phosphate sodium oil oil shale and gas are provided for in the bill the greater interest attaches to the provisions of the bill which cover deposits of oil and oil shale particularly here in the west where not only on account of t the immense acreage of government land that has been withdrawn from entry and development for naval petroleum reserves but on account of the seeming hesitancy of capital to interest itself in lands available under the placer act because of the many different constructions placed on the meaning of that law in the past one of the outstanding features of the present leasing leasin bill of great interest to those who have been operating under the placer law is the positive recognition of that law by the present congress many persons have received the impression from a casual reading of the leasing 6 bill that the lands for which they were attempting to secure patent under the old law would be taken away from them and require them to operate under the leasing system this is not the case with valid claims initiated under the placer act as is readily seen from a close perusal of see sec 37 of the new bill edward T taylor representative in congress from colorado and one of the conference committee on the leasing leasin bill in the house has the following comment to make on this particular feature the senate and the house have both always retained in every bill of this kind the provisions of section 37 and expressly recognized and legalized and attempted to re affirmatively protect the property and legal rights under the laws as they are now and have for over forty years been on our statute books of the honest prospectors the bona fide locators in good faith and holders of rightful claims claims that are valid and existing under existing laws at the date of the passage of this act these claimants even though they may not have perfected a legal discovery under the laws are entitled to go ahead and maintain and perfect their claims under the present existing laws and obtain a patent to their lands just as though 6 this bill had never been passed and 1 I hope no court or federal department will ever attempt to deny these people the rights which congress looks upon as vested and is attempting in section 37 to guarantee to them congress has no right to pass an ex post facto law depriving citizens of their vested legal property rights and no court or executive official has any right to misconstrue the law to give it that effect or to flagrantly violate the plain intention of congress in this matter in addition to the above may also be mentioned the of the wording of the bill in this same paragraph regarding discovery the subject of what constituted legal discovery of oil led to considerable discussion while the bill was in committee not only does the lesing leasing bill make it very clear that the usually accepted discovery does validate a claim but by the insert insertion i on of the two last words in this same see sec 37 including discovery put at re rest S t for a all I 1 time any hesitancy a company or individual may have to continue the development of government oil lands under the placer act by the insertion of this section congress goes on record as recognizing the validity of the placer act in its entirety the leasing bill was signed by the president on february 25 |
