The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-12-17
LEASING OF PUBLIC LANDS.

LEASING OF PUBLIC LANDS.
General Brisben, In . letter to the
Helena Herald, advocates the leasing
Of the public grass lands Of the United
States to native Americans for q term
of five years or less and the establish
ment Of q National cattle trail from
the Gulf of Mexico to the British
line. He favors these propositions
because 1.-The English own nearly
one-sixth of all the herds west Of the
Missouri Biver, and they will soon
own q half. These British cattle are
fed on American free grass for the
benefit Of people who r not Ameri-
cans and do mol livs in the United
States. The dividends derived from
these foreign investments are de-
clared annually and sent to England,
r ,land, Scotlandand France. neither
the people DOL the Government of the
United States deriving one cent Of
benefit from them" He thinks the
grazing lands of the United States
are worth ct q fair rental about
SIS, COO. 600 per annum, and holds
that the Government should devise
some means Whereby it could secure
this revenue, especially II the lands
are tn be used to enrich foreigners
rather than our own people.
As to the Texas trail the General
says: I'VE must not prescribe a
state because it is unfortunate. Some
of the Texas cattle have fever, and it
is not safe to drive them over other
peoples ranges, but we cannot wall
up Texas and her 5000, 600 head of
| cattle because some Of them are dis
eased and dangerous to other cattle.
What then? Give Texas q trail over
which her cattle can be driven, quar-
antined and made safe. Texas must
not be boycotted on account of a mis-
fortune, but rather helped out of her
present distressing difficulty, which
few in the North appreciate or I'M
derstand. 1t will be objected that
the trail will cost something, and
suppose it does? Is not an industry
that exports Annually over $1S,OO0,-
600 worth of meat deserving of the
fostering care of Congress Besides,
if Congress can expend millions of
money and donate billions of acres of
the public lands to railroads, she can
afford to expend q small sum. and
grant a small portion of land to
establish a great natioual cattle high
way for our stock and in provid-
ing a supply of cheap meat for
the people. Texas has just Is good a
right to get her products to market
as any other State in the Union, and
I stand squarely with Texas on this
subject of national cattle trail"
General Brisben was a member OF
tie Cattlemen's Convention recently
held at st. Louis, and 1t is fair to
presume that in his communication
he voices the opinions of the advo-
Gates OF the propositions named.
While admitting the force of his
we do not cOncede that he
has made out a strong case by any
means. There r many weightv OBJ
jectioDs against leasing public graz
ing lands which the General appears
to have overlooked, and which may
be briefly summed up as followe: If
the public grazing lands be leased
they must be leased in large tracts to
be of any benefit to large cattle
growers. They would of course be
off to the highest bidder. The
result would be that owners Of small
herds would he shut out and be COM
to abandon the business of
stock growing. They would be
swallowed up by syndicates and
corporations and hence the Industry
would be placed in the hands of, q few
men. Cattle growing would be-
come one of the great monopolies
of the country and consumers of
beef would be turned over to the
mercy of the few producers of the
article. The SIS, 600. 900 rental of
which the General speaks, would be
paid by the people in the increasd
price charged for beef. And then,
the leasing of public lands
would lead to disputes and more or
less i~ll-feeling among stockmen
themselves, unless each ones tract
was bounded by unfordable streams
or impossible mountains.
The General would permit none
but native Americans to rent grazing
"Put none but Americans on
guard" over u cattle ranges, would
be the motto of the old soldier. While
would prefer to see American
enjoy the benefits of Ameri-
can grass, we cannot see how foreign
can be shut out of the cattle |
growing industry. We may as we'll
attempt to legislate it out of our mines
and mills and smelters and out of
eastern coal fields and other indus
tries IN which it is engaged. The
General is inconsistent in the use of
his "foreign capital" argument, for
in the next breath he tavors q INA
cattle trail" from the Gulf of
Mexico to the British line. Why q
cattle trail to the British line? If Eng
lishmen are to be debarred from rent
ing our grazing lands, does anyone
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