ITEMS OF INTEREST May 17, 1913 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Coal land to the amount of thirty-four hundred acres and valued at approximately one million dollars has been surrendered to the United States government by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company in consideration of the dismissal of a suit involving fifty-eight hundred acres owned by the company. The land is located in southern Colorado. The future entry on the land will be permitted under the regulations and prices recently fixed. The land, which is in Las Animas county, was originally taken up as agricultural land, and was filed on under the law that permits owners of forest land to return it to the government and receive in return agricultural land. Subsequently the land was turned over to the fuel company. The government's complaint against the company was that the entrants to the land knew they were getting valuable coal property. For four years the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company had fought the case through the interior department, where it obtained a favorable decision. Subsequently suit was started by the government in the federal court, resisting the company's contention that the ruling of the secretary of the interior was final. New evidence was introduced, and the recent settlement resulted from negotiations that have been in progress for several months.

"Expenditure of three billion dollars by the government and the several states for highway improvement is at first thought a startling proposition, even though the expenditure be distributed over a period of fifty years, but when we consider the magnitude of the interests affected, it will be seen to be a wise investment," said Jonathan Bourne, Jr., in discussing a plan for road improvement which he has submitted to the joint committee on federal aid in the construction of post roads. "If the expenditure for construction increased the value of the farms only 3 per cent, the owners would get back immediately in property values more than the amount of the investment. If the amount expended annually for road maintenance reduced the cost of hauling 30 per cent, the saving would cover the cost of maintenance. In my opinion, the adoption of my plan would double the total value of farms and reduce the cost of road hauling 75 per cent."

There is an expectation that President Wilson will in a short time request the attorneygeneral of the United States to institute proceedings in the Supreme Court to set aside the act of Congress of 1846, receding to Virginia that portion of the original District of Columbia lying on the west bank of the Potomac river. That receded area comprises almost one half of the original federal district, and it was turned back to Virginia on the ground that there seemed no likelihood that it would ever be needed as a part of the federal capital.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

ITEMS OF INTEREST

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access