dents of inheritance, or might even be used by the unscrupulous in blackmailing. It would appear that land taken up under this law might at any time be forfeited to the government through the action of any individual who, innocently or otherwise, obtained interest in more than one coal company. Such a title was felt to be too insecure to warrant the large investments needed for mining developments. The net result of all this is that no titles to coal lands have been passed."
On November 12, 1906, President Roosevelt issued an executive order withdrawing all coal lands from location and entry in Alaska. On May 16, 1907, he modified the order so as to permit valid locations made prior to the withdrawal on November 12, 1906, to proceed to entry and patent. Prior to that date some 900 claims had been filed, most of them said to be illegal because either made fraudulently by dummy entrymen in the interests of one individual or corporation, or because of agreements made prior to location between the applicants to cooperate in developing the lands. There are 33 claims for 160 acres each, known as the "Cunningham claims," which are claimed to be valid on the ground that they were made by an attorney for 33 different and bona-fide claimants who, as alleged, paid their money and took the proper steps to locate their entries and protect them.
The representatives of the government in the hearings before the land office have attacked the validity of these Cunningham claims on the ground that prior to their location there was an understanding between the claimants to pool their claims after they had been perfected and unite them in one company. The trend of decision seems to show that such an agreement would invalidate the claims, although under the subsequent law of May 28, 1908, the consolidation of such claims was permitted, after location and entry, in tracts of 2,560 acres.
It would be, of course, improper for me to intimate what the result of the issue as to the Cunningham and other Alaska claims is likely to be, but it ought to be distinctly understood that no private claims for Alaska coal lands have as yet been allowed or perfected, and also that whatever the result as to pending claims, the existing coal-land laws of Alaska are most unsatisfactory and should be radically amended.
To begin with, the purchase price of the land is a flat rate of $10 per acre, although, as we have seen, the estimate of the agent of the geological survey would carry up the maximum of value to $500 an acre. In my judgment, it is essential in the proper development of Alaska that these coal lands should be opened, and that the Pacific slope should be given the benefit of the comparatively cheap coal of fine quality which can be furnished at a reasonable price from these fields; but the public, through the government, ought certainly to retain a wise control and interest in these coal deposits, and I think it may do so safely if congress will authorize the granting of leases, as already sug-
