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Show Cedar July 5th LEASING LAW OPENS OIL FIELDS Washington, Juno 24, A rush of applicants for rights and concession under tho oil leasing act passed by Congress last March is swamping tho General Land Office. By opening up lands hitherto withdrawn from entry to prospectors, and by stimulating the search for oil generally in tho Western West-ern states, the act is becoming one of tho most important factors in the petroleum situation. Dr. Shermnn Stabler of tho Land Classification Bureau believes that the law will result in rapid oil development develop-ment in California, Wyoming, Montana Mon-tana and Utah, particularly in the two states' first named where tho land now held by the government withdrawn with-drawn from entry runs into the millions mil-lions of acres. The chief danger, geological exports ex-ports believe, will be a too rapid development de-velopment of the petroleum of the nation, with th consequent lowering of tho prices to the consumer and an exhaustion of tho oil reserve before the nation has dveloped an adequate substitute. Tho geological survey estimates at tho present time that the total petroleum petrol-eum resources of tho United States available for exploitation total 182,-1 182,-1 000,000 bbls. The nation ia now consuming con-suming 345,500,000 yearly and the curvo of consumption is mounting rapidly. At this rate all tho petrol-leum petrol-leum now remaining in the United i States would bo absorbed in 1C or 17 I years. i For this reason the officials of the I land office intend to administer the I oil land leasing bill with due conservatism, conserv-atism, although prospectors aro to be I encouraged in every way to exploit the new lands now open. When Con-l Con-l gross reconvenes a report will be made upon tho results of tho first eight months of the operation of the act, Senator Smoot, chairman oT tho public lands committee, sponsors the act and believes it will lend to rapid development in all tho Pacific const and Rocky Mountnin states. Financial Finan-cial American. |