Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-29

saw tDaC he HIS uu ihes ~.
school lands OF this state. You say tnae
you have an interest and say tlat !
have an interest. Every man IN VIZ
broad land is interested IN II, anu ),
we permit one man TO Craze anu tlelu
upon these lands TO the exclusion y,
the rest of the state, or II we peIllI'
one man, or set of men, 10 lnc'ose
these lands, just so long Will renee
Getting continue, 49,.
If YOU ale in favor OF free grass. then
pass a law to make il free to all ana
give every man a chance, But II on
the other hand you are in favor oil par,
ties who own large stock and no Iahu
paying something for the grass Ihey
take from the school lands, why 90
YOU not come up and assist us TO pass
a law to compel these persons 10 pay
for the use OF these lands? III they use
them and get the benefit OF them let
them either buy or lease them ana not
cheat the school fund out OF more than
a million dollars year. believe IL
TO be the solemn duty of this legisla-
ture to enact laws for the protection OF
the school fund. The stockmeu in
convention have declared that they are
willing to pay fol their ranges, that
free grass is thing of the past, and
ask YOU to pass law requiring all 10
nay for il. There is not room enough
in this state to supply all the men WITH
free range that want ii, and until
this bone of contention, this great
temptation for free range, is removed,
YOU need not expect settlement OF the
present difficulties. The time has come
when men who want TO become per-
maneut and useful citizens OF the state
srd do legitimate stock business see
that to remain in the state they must
either own or lease their lands, and
they ask u to lease the land 20 them
! or sell them, and pass laws to protect
! them IN their rights. And those who
are willing to pay for the use of the
( land ask us to make n law to compei
| all men in the same business 70 do the
same thing. II you do not make a
I law to compel all parties to either
| lease or own their lands, n law sim
( ply to lease ii will do but little good.
! While u large number would lease or
buy there are those who would not;
I but would prey upon the rights OF
I those who did lease. We do not pro-
pose 10y this bill 10 compel men to
1 fence the lands they lease, indeed we
would rather that they would not, but
we propose to require any man owning
over twenty-five head, exclusive
( Of calves less than one-year old, to
either keep his cattle within his in
+. closuTe or to own OF con-
trIl uninclosed land AIDE
1 quate to the support of all stock
over the twenty-five head thnt he
I turns upon the commons. In other
words we propose that every man
/ shall own or control some interest in
the commons before he gets the bene-
tlts Of them. Then if we simply sell
I or lease these lands and do not re-
/ Guire them to fence them how are We
I to protect those who do own or con-
/ troll lands from those who own herds
of ste TX and no land, unless we make
IL n penalty for any one to permit his
stock TO run at large without being in
any way interested in the lands he is
| grazing. We propose 10 give every
man in the state, whether he owns or
! controls single acre of land, the
| privilege OF turning out
twenty-five head of stock,
! exclusive OF those lees
! than one year old
| but the man who OWLS over that num-
Der must OWE or Goatrol land ade-
( quate for their support, and he can
! fence IL ii lie likes, or can leave it on
! the commons II he chooses, and will
incur no penalty for turEing his stock
I upon the commons. Eut the man
| who owns his herd of cattle and owns
and controls no land and wants free
| range, and Is around over the country
| cursing wire fences, and encouraging
| the communist, and hiring the tran
| sient criminals for two dollars anC
! fifty cents night to cut his neighbor's
! fences to make him free grass, mus
either obtain land Of his own or least
ii, from the county or the cattle bust
ness.
If you compel him to own or contro
lands upon the common before ht
turn his cattle upon IL, he will likely
feel livelier interest in il than be
fore and will fence it. II he fences il
he will become rs much interested il
the protection of fences rs anyone
and e he does not fence he will still
have no object in destroying fences
| because we require him by this law Il
I own or control sufficient land upOl
| the commons for the support OF hi
/ stock, and if there is penalty for vic
| lating this law he will not dare to q,
/ Into the stock business until he h9
| prepared himself with sufficient gras!
for their support. In this way we
seek to remove the cause.
/ Fleming-l will ask Tie gentleman
If under the laws of this state man
can buy sufficient land to Craze any
great number Of cattle upon.
Antlnply--i rnInr tha Inv no ANN Of
but under tile rules OF the land boart
he has done it. IL makes no differ
ence whether he can buy or not
There is n law by which man cal
buy seven sections, and there is Law
by which he can lease all he wants
and ! have during this session intro
duced bill, and believe II to be tn,
sense of this entire body that il shoulC
becomea law, by which thisland can al
be leased, in quantities to nit thos,
who want land, subject 10 actual set
Element in tracts of one hundred aut
sixty acres the actual settler to oh
tain title upon condition that he re.
sides on 1t for three years; we vii
then get the benefits of the lease o
the land for actual settlement.
should favor law To authorize leas,
OF lands sufficient for the support o
the stock owned by a man, and tina
the lease should be for suflicien
length of time to justify those leasin,
them to fence, and ut the end of tn
lease turn over the fence to the state
when we have leased them we shout,
protect the lessee In his rights, an,
can only do so by removing the temp
tatiotn to free grass by compelling al
to lease or own lands. A great
many men will lease these