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Show CARNIV". OF LITIGA-tio: LITIGA-tio: : ENDED Tlio ten yer controversy between tho ofl men or ho west nnd tho United Un-ited Slates pratlcnll ended February Febru-ary 2G, 1920, with tho passage of tho general leasing bill to promoto . tho mining of coal, phosphate, oil , oil shale, gas nnd sodium on tho public domain. It took ten years to pass this legislation leg-islation nnd the do-nothing policy ot, tho so called conservations during this period is largely responsible for tho oil and coal shortages which this country has experienced. Under tho provisions of tho new act tho mineral claims which for nearly eleven years tho government has been trying to take from tho pioducers, will now bo leased to tho producers on n royalty basis. In tho naval reserves, on the other hand, only whllo actually drilled will bo leased. Tho discrimination Is unjust. un-just. The equities of tho operators In tho naval reserves aro as strong as thoso on other public lands ona tho creation of naval reserves could no more be foreseen by them when their work began than tho withdrawals withdraw-als could have been foreseen by op-ciators op-ciators generally. Only one good word can bo said for this situation and that Is that tho wasteful and profitless carnival of litigation over thoso lands has been onded. That tho power of the government has been used opprsslve-ly opprsslve-ly and unjustly is obvious. Much valablo development has been halted. Afr.ny valuablo oil lands have been allowed to deteriorate and have tten subjected to waste. Many Innocent In-nocent operators have been caused useless financial distress. The possibility pos-sibility remains that theso misfortunes misfor-tunes wll be assuaged by a fair and literal admlnistraton of the new act. Tlio regulations which wero promptly prompt-ly Issued by tho department of interior in-terior for the enforcement of tho act lndtcalo a constructive policy. They nro fair nnd workable' It rests with tt.o department of tho Interlbr, vfor thu enforcement of the act, Indicates a constructive policy. They nro. fair and workable. It rests with the department de-partment of tho Interior to help the oil producors on the public domain out of tho chaos Into which they ! were cast by a ruthless policy. And happily It scorns the ovldont pur-ptso pur-ptso nnd policy of tho department of the Interior to lend such a helping hand. |