Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-08-07
CALIFORNIA LETTER.
A Review of the Cattle Raisin: Region
 of the wcs.- California Lcsi,iAture.

New Yorker, has recently spent cot
 pie oi months on his cattle ranch l
 Montana. On bis return, he vas intel
 viewed and is reported as saying thu
 excessive profits can no longer be ex
 pected, but declares thht the rang
 country Is greatly overstockrd and thi
 Tact and the prevailing droutb, hay
 caused enormous losses; also that farm
 CTS are compelling the cattle men f.
 abandon many valleys and rely upOl
 The table and mountain lands for pas
 irrage. He says the eastern cry thu
 cattle men are despots and prevent set
 tiement by farmers, is nonsense, tina
 certain sections cannot be cultivated [,
 advantage and to slch cattle men u.,
 confininz theIr haEds.
 The Ofexonian, the repressn,Gtiv,
 newspaper of Oregon. Idnho ard Wash
 ington, recently said that the herds wer,
 being badly reduced in eastern Wash
 ington and Oregon aud that still tht
 stock business was OverdUne because Oi
 want ot pasturHge accustomed to con
 siderable extent by the influx ot farn
 CTS and eating and trampipg ou of tie
 grass.
 He Gazette. cf Reno, Nevada, oi July lG. sad tina. fat cattle w.ll find
 ready sals ihis fall; that feed is scarce on many ranges; that the big butchers woull be puzzled to fill their orders; that already buyers were in the field and that Lux X Miller had standing offer of five cents and over "for any kind of ami msls that can be killed for food"
 While the open range for cattle is de- creasIng m this state, the feeding of them Is rapidly rtHsing. As your readers know, some Arizona stock men are acquiring by lease or purchase, land ID CalIio. uia for raising alfalfa and the. fatieniE ui cattle. If the low price of gr4In Continues, farmers on thls coast and in the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, will gradually grow more stock and less grain, and some close obsery- ere think that this change m tn. pro- duction Is more likely to continue the depressed price of cattle than any in- crease III the open range country.
 \ careful reading of the papers pub lisned in the open range sections from the Missouri river to tine Pacific ocean and from Mexico to British Columbia. produces a decided belief that the open range cattle business is declining. and for the very reasons that cause the de- cline 1t must continue. But a few years since, lt was only necessary to ind un- occupied water to successfully start stock rAnoh, but the testimony from every quarter shows that feed is now the prime consideration; the supply of water IS each year increased by deveI-I DpLIent and storage, but constant graz .ng rapidly diminishes the natural grass es, Some say that gIsss on tie rapg ges can be produced by sowing slilaria. out 1t s a noticeable fact that If such experi- nenis are being made, their success is pot widely chroniclel. If at all, whereas t is frequently published that alfalfa is being grOwL to supply ir part the de- icIency ot natural grass. and alfalfa re- Iuires rich land and considerable water.
 It msy be said thRt the unusual lack If raiU the past two years, causes the ack Oi grass; but this Is only partly the ,suse Many of your readers know hat some Arizona ranges, which a few ears ago sustsined large herds, which Inder the most liberal falls of rain, vii! low import but few head. Natural grasses are everywhere eaten and tramp ,d out so that no amount Of rain, with pssturage, will reproduce hem It IS quite su.e that the oosu ange country will not only not in 'rease its numbers of Cattle, but greatly diminish its production or beef; O! course [ will grow many cattle, but each year larger proportion will have to be ship | ed elsewhere for fsttening, and il would therefore seem that the prices oi l at cattle are most likely to advance | han decline.
 Governor Stonemsn's extra session of | he legislature Is ID its third week, has | lresdy cost the state treasury nearly | i2j,OJO, without the passage of even one | 'rOpOsed measure and the certainty that | will not pass any ID the form suggest d by his excellency. 4 New York pa 'er says California IS subject 10 unusual | ,olitical collie and cramps. This IS rue. For investments of capital on a srge scale. perhaps no other state pre- snts SO many temptations as this. O. curse, much depends upon the laws nd theIr construction by the courts. IsrdlY any body IS willing Co submit to royIsions of law that no school boy ould mIsunderstand or would m.sinter. ret. This IS as true of individuals as corporations, From the retail liquor eRler and Chinese EgshmRn up through Il grades of people as vel as the rail 'ay and other corporations, state laws nd municipal ordinances governing or agulaiing their occupations, are resist . through all the courts. This dispo-
 tion to lItigate everything, and never lbmi. when beaten if any resource at lsir command can be used 10 defeat or OstpOne a contest not absolutely hope ,ss, caused this extra session. Lux Miller vs. Hsggin, ct al, each very ealthy, had slIt ht law involving the pRriaD doctrine; the lower court de. ded In favor of Haggin ct al, and le supreme court twIce in favor Lux < Miller and the ripar- ID law, but three of the seven udges dissented m favor fl the of water for irrigation and accordance with practice end proper sage. The effects of this decision, the OvernOr thought constituted ap extra rdinary occasion and SO acted. Even
 It were 60. the exercise Of the least .t of common sense, would have told i'm that an extra session, even though ,nvcned Iu good faith, without my ispiciou fl a purpose to advance hi- ,lItical interests, would be a simple 'niInuGtion ot inc Irrigated c.se of TX S Miller I've. H,rgm et al. One aed only read the legislative reports be convinced thg: th:s 10 true, and lat probably history clutsIus no ac 'unt Of another such extraordinary oc- sion R5 that of un appeal from a juig. eut ot s supreme court iO ID extra ses- on oi tie legislature tO effect a re-
 rsGl Ot ,Le decision md punish the 'urt for rendering 1T. The general sllei IS that tho governor was ID vel to ake tie amazing call to n part 'cmote his selfish designs, and thi 8 irtisan politics were aroused at once. he governor threw in the political Sredieut Pnd Lux < Miller and flag D ei al, the coin. The political grist ;ll end Hearst ss Senator, retire the 'vernor to private life. give the repub- cans another vote Tn the U. s. Senate. ld It Is believed improve their chances
 !