Items of Interest March 14, 1914 Issue

Items of Interest

Administration bills have been introduced in the House and Senate at Washington to make available for immediate development the coal, oil, phosphate, and potash deposits of the West along the lines of the Pinchot conservation theories. To guard against monopoly and to insure full development, the bills provide for the leasing of the public lands under conditions set forth therein. In regard to oil land, it is provided that the federal government shall issue a permit for two thousand five hundred and sixty acres, which permit will give the possessor the exclusive right to explore for oil in this territory for a period of two years. During this time exploration work aggregating two thousand feet in depth must be done. If oil is discovered, the permittee is entitled to one fourth of the land in fee, the other three fourths to remain with the government and be subject to lease in small tracts upon a royalty basis. This, it is believed, will provide a liberal return to the explorer for his tenure. Under the leases or patents granted, no drilling of wells can take place within two hundred feet of the outer boundaries of the lands leased or patented, and provision is made for general regulations requiring precautions to prevent waste of oil or the entrance of waters into the oil sands or oil-bearing strata. Forfeiture of the lease is the penalty for violating these conditions, and this can be effected through court procedure.

A promise to withdraw all the oil lands in German New Guinea from private exploitation, pending investigation of their nature and extent, has been given by the German minister for the colonies. An appropriation of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars was passed for the purposes of survey. The companies bidding for the concession had all demanded the exclusive rights of exploitation. The government was opposed to this, as a plan for the operation of the oil fields by the government was under consideration. It was pointed out in the lobbies that the discovery of oil in German New Guinea might lead the government to enter into the business of producing oil in order to facilitate the establishment of the proposed oil monopoly in opposition to the Standard Oil Company. The main obstacle to this, hitherto, has been the difficulty of guaranteeing an adequate supply of oil from independent sources.

During the period intervening between the foundation of the German empire and the present day, German schools abroad have increased from forty to twelve hundred, with an attendance of approximately sixty thousand pupils. These institutions are established more especially in those parts of the world where German colonies are of particular importance. Their aim is to provide instruction on patriotic lines to the children of German colonists, and secondarily to spread the German language and German influence among other nationalities. In South America, especially, German schools are numerous. In Constantinople, Bucharest, Antwerp, and Brussels are German colleges. Other schools are to be found in Italy, Belgium, Roumania, Turkey, and even China. There are also about forty primary schools distributed through Russia, Spain, Asia Minor, Egypt, and China.

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