William Howard Taft

“ The grant of 1866 covered every alternate section of public land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of 20 alternate sections per mile, on each side of the railroad line, not reserved, sold, granted, or otherwise appropriated, at the time that the line of the road was designated by the filing of a plat in the General Land Office. The granting act provided further that the word 'mineral,' when it occurred in the act, should not be held to include iron or coal. ”

“ As the lands which the railroad companies were invited to relinquish could not be known coal lands, it is not to be inferred that Congress intended that the railroad companies should in compensation acquire coal lands by their lieu selections. ”

“ See Brown v. Hitchcock, 173 U.S. 473, 478, 19 S.C.t. 485, 43 L. Ed. 772. It may be that the authority of these cases would require us to yield to the contention made on behalf of the Secretary in this regard. ”