Evening star., 1901-12-14

account at the end Of the year. which often
reached from 80 to 60 per cent of his entire
herd.
Small Herd, Sure Profits.
1t has been said that more money is
made by an eastern farmer, say in Wis
consin, out of three or four hundred head
of sheep carefully herde6 and literally
fed, than is made by a western sheep
owner with herd of two thousand, who
trusts to Providence to bring him favorable
seasons and small percentage of loss.
This is undoubtedly true, and is even more
so in the cattle business.
The western rancher who has a liberal
supply of land and an irrigated field from
which he can harvest an ample supply of
hay can take one hundred head of cattle
ana make generous income from his
comparatively small herd with a sureneSS
and profit which is impossible to the
man who owns thousand head of cattle,
drifting from one range to another, trust
ing to the winds to clear the praries of
snow and to openings in fences to find
place TO water
The cattle men Of the west, representing
the range industry now recognize the de-
slraoliity OF controlling exclusive use of
United states free grass, and are appealing
TO congress to enact law allowing them
to lease the public lands. They have raised
an alarm as to the beef supply of the fu-
ture, making the assertion that II the
range industry perished meat would come
high to the American consumer.
In making this appeal the western cattle
men underrate the intelligence of the people
as represented in Congress, for 1t is easy
enough to ascertain that more beef comes
to the Chicago markets from the densely
settled area of Illinois than from all the
range country of the west 1t is the man
who can pasture. feed and care for his live
stock who furnishes the beef to the markets
of the United States. 1t is recognized
proposition, impossible of controversy, that
if the western ranges of today were sus-
nd
by home builders and small farmers they
would be capable of furnishing ten times
or more the live stock which is now shipped
from them.
The settlement and cultivation of the
western states is to the interest of the east
ern consumer, and not for monopoly by
range men, who allow twenty-five acres of
pralrae for the support Of one COW.
The Farm Cattle Industry.
The Importance Of the range cattle busi-
ness is declining rapidly. but the impor-
tance Of the ranch and farm cattle industry
Is increasing in tremendous ratio, for each
census reveals additional millions of Amer
leans who demand quota of meat in their
rations No people in the world are SO we'll
fed and no people in the world eat so much
meat per capita.
The American workingman is poor indeed
VINO does not have meat upon his table
every day In the year, and yet the average
Workingman in Europe considers himself
fortunate # he has meat once a week 1t
has been possible to supply the increasing
demand of this nation and it's foreign trade
because of the spread of farms into that
area of the United States which was for
merly devoted to vast herds of range cattle.
The decline of the range industry per Sc
Is beneficent feature of our domestic ex-
pansion, for it has declined by reason of
the encroachment of more intensive meth
DDS, and it is a guarantee that the Ameri-
can people will not get meat hungry even
though the population of the country is
doubled within the next fifty years
j. d. WHELPLEY.