Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-28
r,,y :, zUTTE FORT WORTH, TEXAS MONUNI 1H1

ins ~ 1," Thousand or more head OF
cattle turned loose upon the ,hnBv'
with fifteen or twenty MINUS uaS' 'n,
cngoged MI the year rounu, uues w.
Lno,T himself and cannot asee't.'n
,l,o cxnct number of cattle III MY
viven brand. and II he were 70 uilue,
fake to rather and count thein, ~
would bc IMPOSSIBLE for him 10 20 ~
in nny one year. Many stocks OF CIV
tle i'm that country range over lou,,
Ave and six counties, and some
in the winter time drift one nun
bred ard fifty and two nun
dred miles. This bill creates ten com
missioneTs of pnsturage' anu s.Nuo ,,o
each of them jurisdiction co-eN.1hs ,'.n.
with the limits OF tho state, anu XIX
vides that they shall transact ,he pu noa
lie business ut such times anu p,,Neo
as the interest aud convenience oi Wv
| people may require. III proNlues ~,
| Their that the governor may causo w
be detailed state troops To act as coi'
stabulary force under the directlou v,
the commissioners of pasturaSe, tha'
they shall be accompanied py tiiesc
! troops when they go in unorgah'"eu w
sparsely settled counties to inspect VIZ
manner cattle are grazed thefeih' ~
| further provides that each commission
er of pasturnge before personally IN
specting las he is authorized to do I'VE
| manner In which grazing Oh cattle Y
conducted in any county, sholi cNaul'
inc or cause ~ be examined. the rec
ords of marks, brands, conveyances
and leases in the county, or IN the
county to which 1t is attached Tor luui'
cinl purposes and TO make or cause To
be made sufficient copies aud abstracts
of brands and marks, titles, convey
ances aud leases thereirom,
which shall in proper cases. be
regarded 10y him rs evidence
in making examinations OF parties ar
rested for violating this act. WIN, can
estimate the cost of procuring these
abstracts of titles in the different coun-
ties of this state, and also the abstract
of marks and brands" 1t would take
many large volumes to hold them, ana
i'm some counties, il not all, mOnthsand
years to prepare them. Can you im-
| nginG what an immense number oil
records and books and abstr acts would
| be gathered in one pile when the COM
missioners of pasturage had complied
| with the provisions OF this act" And
eau you estimate the days and months
and years of toll, the expenditure OF
money and the labor in making up
and preparing these abstracts? AND
can YOU imagine how ridiculous these
commissioners OF pas.urage VIII appear
when they start with this irnin-icad
of books to the unorganized counties
of this state to inspect the number OF
cattle thatany person may have turned
loose upon the prairie? If they were
to 90 to any of the large ranches in
Texas to day, it would take all OF
those ten commissioners and every
man the state would be able to employ
to send with them, ten or twelve
months to gather in every head of cat
| tie. They would have to inspect each
animal to ascertain what its mark and
brand was, and start through this
musty pile of records of marks and
brands to ascertain who it belonged
TO. Just imagine how much time i,
would consume To 20 through that
Cne.herd. Then they would have TO 70
| through all the leases and conveyau-
ces of the particular county in which
the cattle were located TO ascertain
how many acres of uninclOsed land
| the party had; the deeds would moi
! give that information, and it would bt
necessary to employ Il surveyor t.
have the lands of each individual sur
veyed in order to ascertain how much
was inclosed and how much was not
| How much time and how much mon
~ do you suppose this would con
sumo? If these cattlemen with al
OF their employees, with all of theil
horses and equipments, stimulated by
their own interests, cannot round III
IN less than twelve months or tw,
years all the cattle they may own
how do you expect these grass commits
sioners to do II for them? a man may
have one brand in one county, ant
another man in another county ma,
have the same brand. When tn,
; grass commissioner should discove
an animal in his brand, how is he {,
determine, by what means can he de
termine which of the two men the an
imal belonged TO? Whel
he had inspected an animal in her,
of five thousand, how would he know
when he reached the same ANNA
: again and At what season of the yea
! would he undertake to roundup AN,
count all the cattle in the country
Ihere are fity-iour unorguniZed coun
: Ties and only ten commissioners O
pasturage. suppose 1t would be nee
essarY when they had set out on thei
grand rounds To visit and inspect tn
cattle and horses in each county of tn
state, 10 take n wagon train and
years supplies. lit took them lively
onihs to get through with each coun
W, rs 1t certainly would If they ascer
tanned the exact number of acres O
land which each person owned an,
the exact number OF stock, how loul
would ittake them to go through tn
: entire state, and how much more eX
pense would he incurred in keepin
up Wlth the transfers of marks an,
brands and the transfers of land tina
/ occur daily in every county of In
+ STAT? Then tell me, II you will, ho,
, tlls law can be enforced? II Is slmpl
j impossible. No man or set Of ME,
cah perform the duties laid down fo
U lhese commissioners of pasturage n
ven commissioners, no thousand con
Il mlssioners could do this work In n rel
. sohahle length of time. TIL
senator from Travis has cel
I, tmniy not considered this ma
ter. Inc senator has said Tim
;. no ciVilizat ion can repose on penaltie,
nut he certainly did not mean to appl,
: ,hat principle to his bill. He n,lt.
. pave forgotten that proposition whe
u ne prepared 1t. | say To him. Mi
J chairman, that no civilization cal
,onS remain In repose without pena
:. yes. For the two and II half hou,
a that me senator was trying to demon
!, stfate the wisdom Of this measure,
never heard him allnde TO the pennit
against fence'cutting, but he constant