, 1900-02-19

S1abNo4 VI 1iit I III NohBitoo aSStill-
bled:
That all lands in the United States
now open to settlement or location, or
which may hereafter be open to settle
ment or location under any OF the land
laws of the United States. are hereby
granted to the respective states and
territories in which the lands are stu
ated."
In the same congress, on June IT,
1897, Mr.. Shafroth, of Colorado. intro,
duced a bill Oh. B. 34S5) under the fol,
lowing title: ITO grant the arid lands
of the United States to the respective
states in which they are situated
On January IL, 1899, Mr.. Vandiver, oil
Missouri, introduced a bill to donate
the public lands of the United States
to the states and territories lin which
they may be located. Each of these
two last bills had some provisions as to
what the states should do with the
lands. but the Hartman bill left the
state absolutely free to do as it saw fit
with the lands, and all three of them
allowed the state to lease the lands.
And yet in spite OF all these Brother
Moeller makes the statement that all
bills relative TO the cession of lands
have emanated from Wyoming repre-,
sentatives. Such misrepresentation OF
ignorance can hardly be excused.
Now as to the situation in this con-
gTess: Senator Warren has introduced
a bilt providing for the cession to the
state of five millions Of acres of desert
Stevens. of Texas, has introduced a
bill providing for the leasing of all the
public lands under the management
and control of the commissioner of the
general land office. Senator Foster, OF
Washington, has also introduced a bill
providing for the leasing of all the pub
lie lands by the secretary of agricul-
ture. These bills provide for the leas-
ing of all the public domain. Mr.. Mon
dell introduced a bill which provides
that each state and territory which
shall by its legislature so will, may
have the privilege of leasing not to ex-
coed two million acres of the public
domain situated within it's borders
with certain restrictions and limi-
tations-the lands so leased to remain
a part of the public domain subject tC
entry under any of the land laws.
From the above it will be noted that
no bill for unrestricted cession of the
public domain has been introduced by
anyone from Wyoming. Senator War
rem has a bill for unrestricted cession
of a limited quantity of land; and Mr..
Mondell has introduced a bill allowing
the state to lease certain lands. but
leaving them open to entry under the
land laws, and the lands to remain in
the hands of the general government.
We have gone into the matter above
at length in order to show to what
length the opposers of the measure
will go to gain a point.
Another thing which causes us to
smile is the way the Voice sheds tears
on account of the abuse to the Door
sheepmen, who are going to be, as the
Voice claims. the losers if the open
range is closed. There seems to be a
change of sentiment in the democratic
editor of the Voice toward the sheep
men. bud How long has it been since
Brother Moeller was throwing rocks at
the sheepmen, and saying that if they
came to Johnson county the county
would go to ruin? AT that time the
sheepmen of the county probably paid
some attention to the bowling of the
democratic press. They have, howev-
er. een their wool increase in value
from 3 and 6 cents to Is to 20 cents and
their sheep from $1.25 to $500 per
head, and have fast become %independ-
ent. 1t is not likely that after the
abuse they have received at the hands
of the democratic Voice they will nav
much attention to his cringing and
fawning attitude. The sheepmen are
able to take care of themselves, and all
those with whom we have talked have
said that the sheep business would
never be on a business basis until they
were allowed to lease the range, and
know what to count on each year.
The Voice has also a very logical
argument against land leasing in that
it causes an increase in taxation, and
gives the following table as evidence:
1890 ........ A mills
1881 ......... ......... 300 mills
1892 ......... ......... ..5,2O mills
1898 ......... ......... $50 mills
1eot