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Show 100 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDLBN AFFAIRS. reached until the lessees of Indian coal lands can plaae their product on the mnrket in snccesafd competition with the similar products of the adjoining States. The Secretary is well convinced that the royalty now required is too high to permit this to be done. Upon very careful nnd painstaking considemtion of the subjeot he hns reached the conclusion that the best interest8 of the said nations will be subserved, under exiisting conditions, by a royalty of 10 cents per ton of 2,000 pounds of ooel screened over menhea 1 inoh aquare. This roydtg, it is estimated, will yield s. revenue upon eaoh &are of ooal mined of shout $300. The regoletion in question is therefore hereby modified in ecwrdsnce with the viewa herein expressed, and the regulstion issued by the Department on November 4,1898, under the provisions of section 13 of said act of June 28,1898, ia also modi-fied so ae to make the royalty uniform in said Territory under said act and the regu-lations isaued thereunder. The modifications herein made shall become effeotive from January 1, 1898. The agreement provided for a royalty on asphalt of 60 cents per ton, tipayable same as on coal," granting to the Secretary of the Interior, however, the power to reduce or advance the rate when he deems it for the best interests of the Indims to do so. The regulations pre-scribed the same rate. The matter of modification of the royalty on asphalt was first presented in a report from Inspector Wright dated June 9, 1899, with which he transmitted letters containing the result of the investigation of the mining trustees, through correspondence with parties who have been engaged in the asphalt business. The conclusion reached by the trustees, end concurred in by the inspector, w a t~ha t the royalty on asphalt was too high to admit of the placing of the Indim Territory product on the market in successful competition with the Trinidad md California material, and that it should be reduced to 10 cents per ton for crude and 60 cents per ton for the refined asphalt. This office reported on the matter June 24, 1899, and carefully reviewed the correspondence submitted. After pointing out the dis-proportion between the.proposed rates of royalty on crnde and refined mphalt, as recommended by the trusteea and Inspector Wright, the report ooncluded with the following remarks and recommendations: on page 9 of his letter ocoor expressions whioh suggest to this office that Mr. Monltou's disonlrsion of this matter has been from a standpoint of the production of asphaltum for roof painting, etc. Thk expression is as follows: -.=-.-. .. ~~ ~-~~ ~ would oertainlv enter the msrket vhere the Trinidad 'and Calif&nis ar best of street p- av?n~-. l. 1 From this language the offioe infera that the product of the asphalt deposits in the Indisn Territory can be used for paving pnrposes with no other refining pmcese than the grinding and crnahing. If this is sq and it appears to be borne out by Mr. Baxter'e oommnnioetion,wherein he says crude rook asphalt that bbas been used has been consumed by hie company in the rnsnuf&ctul'e of psvernenta in St. Louis and other cities in Missouri, it would seem that the royalty of 60 oents per ton should be oharged on the orude asphaltum as it is produced. If, however, the other expenses mentioned by Mr. Modtan, such an refining, eto., will be necesssry before the baian Territory asphaltum om he put on the mmrbt |