West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-04-09

ing the work rs it rims, on the north
and south ranges, will not exceed
twenty-five dollars a month A gfeal
many Of the cowboys have families OF
their own, or perhaps parents or other
relatives, To support. BY no possible
stroke of fortune can COWBOY have
more than six months work i'm the
year on the ranges. The average is
below that, especially in Wyoming and
Montana. His rations-corn meal and
bacon-are found by the ranchers. The
cowboy principal personal expense is
tobacco. That he feels unable to get
along without, and II will cost him all
OF i've dollars n month. So, admitting
that he has six months work, he takes
one hundred and twenty dollars home
win nm to- keep himself, and probably
others through the long and rigorous
winters of the great West. As a rule.
the cowboys live I'm the back towns.
far away from the railroads. This is
I especially the case with those native
Dorh' rs great majority of them are.
! The cowboys seen lounging around the
! railroad towns are mostly Young men
! who have gone from the East. There
Is nothing TO which the great body of
/ the cowboys can turn their hands i'm
| these, isolated regions during the win.
! ter few are hired by hunters and
trappers to accompany them to their
! hunting grounds. Some. from choice.
| remain on the ranches, and help take
/ care of the home stock. but for this
/ they receive no pay. as the ranchers
! nave their hired men for that work.
- III may easily be seen, then, that
| the cowboys have serious struggle
| against actual want. and, such is the
| system of the Ranchers Society, they
dare not protest Experience has
| taught them that To ask for an increase
IN wages means immediate discharge
| from the service. But that is not the
worst OF 1t. The moment man is dis
charged by any member of the Ranch
ers society his name is sent to every
other member. The name is turned to
IN the books of each ranch. and a black
mark placed opposite il. That is called
'black listing the cowboy. He might
as well leave the country at once.
These facts about the Ranchers' So
ciety have only recently been found
out, and then only by the bitter expert
| ences OF men who had protested, in the
name of their families, against the
starvation wages the ranchers pnid
them. More than that, members of
the ranchers' clique have issued orders
TO their men that they must not spend
any time in reading books or newspa-
rerS. | don't know what this means,
unless il is desired by the ranchers that
the cowboys shall not keep themselve,
informed as tn the labor movements of
| the day. Such of the cowb bows as are
able TO read-and even to them the OBJ
portunity to do so rarely comes-re-
gard this order as tyrannical in the ex-
IRENE.
The despotic system of the Ranchers'
Society has slowly awakened the iso-
lated cowboys TO the necessity of hav-
ing league of their own, or of becom-
ing members of some labor organiza-
ton, by which they may be enabled to
act IN unison and compel compliance
with their just demands. They are
talking the matter up all they dare:
but, scattered a. they are over hun
dreds of miles of almost uninhabited
country, the possibility of their organ
ling in special league by themselves
is remote. They have heard in a gen
eral way OF the Knights of Labor. 1t
Is part of my mission here, unofficially.
10 see whether the ten thousand cow
| boys of the West can not be admitted
to that organization and have the ben
eiit OF its strong arm in fighting the en-
crOachments of the millionaire cattle
owners monopoly.
The great bizzards and snow
storms of the West are among the best
agents the big land grobbers have in
montana, wyoming ana other Terrific
RES. In Montana especially the cattle
OF all brands are turned loose in the
tall after the be4t gathering has taken
/ place and the fat cattle sent off To
market When winter comes on the
nerds drltt together until there will be
may be twenty-five or thirty thousand
cattle punched BY and by there comes
a snow storm, and the bunch grass is
covered up beneath two fec of snow.
/ ne storm Is sure to be followed by a
/ big fall in temperature. The mercury
! VIII 90 TO may be thirty degrees below
\ zero. Then all nutriment leaves the
/ tau prairie grass on which the cattle
I have fed since the bunch grass was
| showed under. The herd becomes
/ crazed with hunger. and q stampede
| follows The great body of the sfarv-
ing cattle start south like an ava
| lanche, heading straight for local
/ tiles where hOmesteads have been
taken up ia the greatest number.
/ ihey bear down on the settlements
and besiege the hOmesteaders. who
| vainly try 10 keep them on with their
rifles. They shoot the hungry animals
l down by the hundred. and sometimes
manage 10 hold them in check until
their ammunition il exhausted. Then
| the fight must end The cattle Sweep
down on the hOmesteads, and not only
/ eat up every vestige Of hay the home
sieaders have stored up for their own
I small herds, but tear down the houses
and outbuildings which the settler
builds ont Of the prairie sod. and de-
vour the roots Of the grass that remain
I -ucculent in the sod Homesteads
I hundreds az time. are cleaned up bv
/ "a herd Of hungry cattle. quickly and
/ thoroughly ON single stampede
/ Then the herd continues ON it, way.
/ taking the hOmesteader' herd Of two
I or three hundred with it. and leaves
. him homeless, ruined man. He NAV
B have hi- homestead all clear 81 tho
I Government claim. but be i'm debt for
F cattle or supplies. lie can paw. and
the creditor comes on him. takes hi.
saddle and whatever be- may have left.
"Ihc homestcader Is discouraged
. The wake Of the stsmpeding herd ia
/ quickly followed by the agent Of bio
land owner re makes the di.coura0ed
settler an offer for bis claim. and tho
....HH Bloc