How to Get $30 for $100

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Petrol Services, 32 Broadway, New York" recently spread a captivating advertising message: 4O-ACRE GOVT. OIL LEASE IN

OIL-RICH WYOMING & NEVADA FOR ONLY $100. For months, a spate of such ads, by numerous outfits like "Petrol Services," have moved thousands to shell out $100 or more to lease oil rights on Government lands. They hope to sell out at a fat profit if oil is struck near their holdings.

Last week Interior Secretary Oscar L. Chapman knocked such hopes on the head. He pointed out that any qualified citizen can get a three-year oil and gas lease on public lands at $30 per 40 acres, instead of the $100 and up charged by brokers. Citizens can take up to 2,560 acres in a single lease, up to 15,360 acres in one state. But, added the department, such leases are issued only on lands which are known to be outside of the geological structure of any producing oil or gas field (lands in known fields are sold to the highest bidder, usually oil companies). Said Interior: "Nevada hasn't produced any oil, and so far as we know, doesn't have an oil well."

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