AUTHORIZING INVESTIGATIONS TO DETERMINE THE LOCATION AND IN THE UNITED STATES HEARINGS Y. S.Congress. House, BEFORE THE U. COMMITTEE ON MINES AND MINING SIXTY-NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 1821 AN ACT AUTHORIZING JOINT INVESTIGATIONS BY THE CONTENTS Page S. 1821, copy of.. Hudspeth, Hon. C. B., statement of Hess, Frank L., statement of Hess, Frank L., part of address delivered before Convention of the Ameri- "Important Potash Finds in New Mexico and Texas," memorandum from Comparative potash figures, 1924-25, production and sales, table of III AUTHORIZING INVESTIGATIONS TO DETERMINE THE LOCATION AND EXTENT OF POTASH DEPOSITS OR OCCURRENCE IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON MINES AND MINING, The committee this day met, Hon. John M. Robsion (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. We have before us S. 1821. [S. 1821, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session] A BILL Authorizing joint investigations by the United States Geological Survey and the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture to determine the location and extent of potash deposits or occurrence in the United States and improved methods of recovering potash therefrom. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, authorized to be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $550,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1926, and a similar amount for each succeeding fiscal year for four years, to be expended jointly in the proportion above mentioned, by the United States Geological Survey and the Department of Agriculture, respectively, for the purpose of determining the location and extent of potash deposits in the United States and new and improved methods of recovering potash from other substances: Provided, That before undertaking drilling operations upon any tract or tracts of land the Secretary of the Interior shall enter into a contract with the owners or lessees, or both, of the mineral rights therein, which contract shall provide, in the event that commercial amounts of potash or other valuable minerals are discovered, for reimbursement to the United States of not more than the actual cost of the exploration, and this claim for reimbursement shall constitute a preferred claim against any minerals developed and against any enhanced values due to the discovery of mineral in the land: Provided further, That such contract shall not restrict the Secretary of the Interior in the choice of drilling locations within the property or in the conduct of the exploratory operations, .so long as such selections or conduct do not interfere unreasonably with the use of the surface of the land or with the improvements thereon, and the United States shall not be liable for damages on account of such reasonable use of the surface as may be necessary in the proper conduct of the work: Provided further, That before such drilling be commenced the owners of the land lying within a radius of ten miles of the proposed well, in consideration of the great increase in value to the land incident to any discovery of potash and in order to prevent profiteering, be required to enter into an agreement whereby the Department of the Interior is empowered to act as referee in determining the maximum price at which the potash rights of such land can be sold, and, furthermore, that the purchasers of such rights, in consummating the purchase and in consideration of the advantage accruing from an equitable price for such rights as effected by the said department, be required to enter into an agreement whereby the potash obtained by them shall be marketed at a price not in excess of a maximum determined by the department as equitable, and, furthermore, from the net profits of such sales shall pay to the Government 10 per centum per annum until the Government shall have been reimbursed for the expenditure incurred in the exploration of the deposits in point. 1 |