These were the reasons which led to the arrangement for the present meeting of the Section. The Council is not unaware of the force of some of the objections to the arrangements. To meet at this time or at any other time after the opening of the first session of the Bar Association means that the time of the meeing is limited. Thus, other meetings which many here present wish to attend practically force us to adjourn tonight shortly after eight. The time for general discussion, therefore, will be about an hour. Some of us felt that it might be possible, without seriously interfering with the attendance of members, to call the meeting on the evening preceding the first session of the Association, but in view of the dismal experiences of the years between 1921 and 1927, the Council were afraid to try the experiment this year. In short, your Council is fully aware that there is no ideal time for, or method of, conducting a meeting of the Section. It has made this year those arrangements which under all circumstances they felt represented the greatest advantages and the least evils.

I am sure that the Council as organized as the result of the elections which will take place at this meeting will want the benefit of some discussion of these matters this evening. In the discussion, however, let us all keep in mind the necessity, if these meetings are to result in good rather than harm, of a large attendance adequately representing the active bar as well as the law teachers and also representing all the varying shades of opinion on matters pertaining to education for and admission to the public profession of the law.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

SECTION ON MINERAL LAW

The second annual meeting of the Mineral Law Section of the American Bar Association was held at the Olympic Hotel, Seattle, Washington, July 24, 1928.

The first session convened at 10.00 A. M., and was called to order by the Chairman, Gurney E. Newlin, who presided.

The minutes of the last meeting were read by the Secretary and approved, after which the Treasurer made a report which was duly adopted.

The Chairman announced that pursuant to the authority contained in the resolution adopted at the Buffalo meeting, he had appointed a Committee of Nine on Conservation of Mineral Resources, consisting of Messrs. Chester I. Long, Chairman, James A. Veasey, Warren Olney, Jr., James W. Finley, F. C. Proctor, Henry M. Bates, Paul M. Gregg, Clarence E. Martin, and John P. Gray, and that this committee by its Chairman would report concerning its activities during the past year.

Chester I. Long, Chairman of the Committee of the Conservation of Mineral Resources, then reported that the committee had selected three of its members, namely, Henry M. Bates, James A. Veasey, and Warren Olney, Jr., as its representatives on the Committee of Nine to cooperate with three representatives of the Federal Oil Conservation Board and three representatives of the American Petroleum Institute; that the latter committee had organized by electing Henry M. Bates, Chairman, and after consideration of the matters referred to the committee, it had submitted a report and recommended an act "To Promote Conservation of Petroleum and Natural Gas, to Avoid Waste Thereof, and to Encourage the Establishment and Maintenance of Underground Reserves of Such Minerals, and for These Ends to

Authorize Certain Agreements," which report and proposed act had, together with a report of the Section's Committee on Conservation of Mineral Resources, been printed in the Advance Program and distributed to all members of the American Bar Association prior to the meeting.

Chairman Long then presented the following resolution:

WHEREAS, The Committee of Nine of this Section, appointed under the resolution of the Section of August 30, 1927, to study and report upon laws and proposals for the conservation of the mineral resources of the United States, has, in its initial report filed with the Section, confined its study and recommendations to the question of mineral conservation as that subject relates to the American Petroleum Industry, owing to the immediate and paramount need for proper conservation measures in that industry to safeguard the national defense, promote the public welfare, and incidentally to stabilize the economic situation of one of the country's most indispensable industries; and,

WHEREAS, The committee in its report makes the following recommendations:

(a) The recommendation of a specific bill, to be submitted to and passed by Congress, covering two phases of petroleum conservation: (1) Providing that no agreement by two or more persons for the cooperative development and operation of a single oil and gas pool shall be deemed in violation of any act of Congress forbidding monopolies or agreements in restraint of interstate commerce. (2) Providing that no agreement between oil operators generally to restrict drilling and curtail production during periods of over-production, either in the United States or in particular districts thereof, shall be deemed in violation of any act of Congress forbidding monopolies or agreements in restraint of interstate or foreign commerce. To protect the public interest against the general agreements among operators of the character last described, as distinguished from agreements restricted to operators producing from a single pool, the proposed bill, in effect, vests in a federal agency, to-wit, the Federal Oil Conservation Board, complete regulatory power over the making or maintaining of such general agreements.

(b) To meet a similar need in the oil producing states, the committee further recommends the enactment of state legislation in the oil producing states withdrawing agreements of the character set forth above from the operation of the State Anti-Trust Laws, but, owing to the existence of different types of Anti-Trust Laws in the several states, no specific bill is proposed by the committee.

(c) The committee in its report, after referring to the advantages to be gained by bringing about the cooperative development and operation of single oil pools, and the utilization of natural gas and natural gas pressure to their highest efficiency for oil producing purposes, both of which the committee finds are important conservation measures, states that it did not have the time fully to study the need for state legislation in these respects, nor the form the legislation should take, if ultimately it should be determined that

The Act as amended by the Association is designated Appendix A, p. 637, infra.

such legislation was both wise and desirable. Thereupon, the committee recommended a further study of these subjects.

Now, therefore, the Mineral Section of the American Bar Association resolves as follows:

1.

That the report of the Mineral Section Committee be adopted as the report of the Mineral Section to the American Bar Association upon the matters treated therein.

2.

That the Mineral Section recommends the proposed act of Congress be made a part of the committee's report for the approval of the American Bar Association at this session.

3.

That the Committee of Nine heretofore appointed be continued and that the Chairman be authorized to fill any vacancies in such committee that may occur from time to time, and that such committee be empowered to do the following things: (a) To study and report to the Mineral Section the question of state legislation to relieve oil operators from the provisions of the Anti-Trust Laws of the states, with proper limitations and safeguards in the public interest, and, should the committee find that such legislation is desirable and in the public interest, to draft an appropriate bill or bills for submission to the Section with its report. (b) To study and report the question of state legislation in relation to the cooperative development and operation of single oil pools, and the conservation of natural gas and gas pressure for oil producing and other legitimate purposes, and, if the committee should find it desirable, to draft the bill or bills necessary for these purposes for submission to the Section.

4.

In carrying on the work imposed by this resolution the committee hereby appointed is authorized to cooperate with the Federal Oil Conservation Board, any state legislature, or any other public agency desiring cooperation at its hands, or with any other organization having as its purpose the conservation of the petroleum reserves of the United States.'

After prolonged discussion the resolution was amended by adding the following, to be designated Paragraph 5:

That it be the sense of the Section on Mineral Law of the American Bar Association that any legislation recommend to promote conservation of petroleum and natural gas be extended in principle, in proper cases, to any other irreplaceable mineral resources.

The resolution as amended was thereupon adopted.

The Chairman appointed as a Nominating Committee, Messrs. H. O. Caster of New York, Chairman, Burtin Musser of Utah, and James C. Denton of Oklahoma, which committee reported

nominations for the offices of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and members of the Council.

The report was approved and the persons named therein were unanimously elected.

The afternoon session of the Section convened at 2.00 P. M., and was called to order by Chairman Newlin.

Cornelius F. Kelly, President of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, delivered an address on the subject of "Relation of Anti-Trust Legislation to Conservation of Mineral Resources." (See infra, p. 639.)

Dr. George Otis Smith, Director of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, and President of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, of Washington, D. C., delivered an address on the subject of "Brakes for the Mineral Industry." (See infra, p. 655.)

The attendance on the part of lawyers interested in mining law was gratifying, and the excellent addresses were well received and greatly appreciated.

The Secretary reported that during the past year many new members had been secured for the Association through the effort of the Section, and that many old members of the Association had been enrolled in the Section, which now had, on its mailing list, a total enrollment of 363 members.

He further stated that all lawyers interested in mining law should apply for membership in the Association and enrollment in the Mineral Law Section, information concerning which could be obtained by addressing the Secretary at National Press Building, Washington, D. C.

After giving the speakers of the afternoon a rising vote of thanks, the Section adjourned sine die.

PETER Q. NYCE, Secretary.

NOTE.-Names and addresses of officers and members of the Council of the Section of Mineral Law appear at p. 18, supra.