Valuation of Coal Land, (2be6c6a4-11a3-4f19-99a1-9782ee9286d3)

Discussion * of the paper of H. M. Chance, presented at the butte meeting, august, 1913, and printed in bulletin No. 79, July, 1913, pp. 1315 to 1341. George H. Ashley,+ Washington, d. C.:-Mr. Chance's long practical experience in reporting on coal lands admirably fits him for a discussion of the value of such lands. On behalf of the government geologists, I wish to express my appreciation of Mr. Chance's friendly, constructive criticism of the government method of valuing coal land in the first part of his paper and, at the same time, to reply to some queries he makes. All admit that coal has no " intrinsic "-monetary value, in the sense that a pound of coal of certain chemical and physical characters is worth " intrinsically " so many cents or fractions of a cent. The term has, however, been found very useful as including those natural factors of coal value, among which are its position and location in the earth, that affect its sale price in contrast with the other cost elements involved in the labor and capital necessary in mining, preparing, transporting, and selling the coal (extrinsic factors). Mr. Chance, while recognizing the " dual origin of value," does not offer any better terms. The survey agrees with Mr. Chance in his definition of coal conservation, that it means the fuller utilization of the heat contents of the coal, and the more complete recovery of the coal from the ground. Coal land withdrawals have not been made to keep such lands off the market, but to prevent their acquisition as non-coal lands before they could be classified so as to be disposed of under the proper law. Nor has the pricing of the more valuable coal lands above the minimum been to raise money for the reclamation fund, to which the money goes, but primarily to discourage the alienation, for holding or speculation, of coal lands not intended or needed for development, and, secondarily, to secure to the people the ?unearned increment," which they are certain in any case to be charged.