Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-11-11
RANGES MUST BE RE
NEWED.
ACCORDING TO ADvICEs BY MA
TIONAL LIVE STOCK .ASSOCIA-
TON, OR CATTLE WILL REACH
FABULOUS PRICES.


TlON, OR CATTLE WILL REACH
FABULOUS PRICES.
According to information received
at the headquarters of the National
Live Stock association in Chicago,
congress will have the western public
land situation brought to it's attention
this winter in a new and startling
manner. - +, -. a..
6 A number of prominent cattlemen OF
the west are prepared to show that
during the past five years there has
been an enormous decrease in the num-
ber of cattle in this country, a decrease
which seriously threatens the beef
food supply, and, unless speedy action
is taken by congress in the course of
a very few years beef will be selling
at such fabulous prices that only the
wealthy can afford to indulge in the
luxury of a beefsteak.
The cause of this rapid decline in
the number of beef cattle is said to be
due solely to the contraction of the
western public grazing lands and the
increase in the consumptive demand.
The rapid settlement of the west has
caused the regions left to become
crowded and this crowded condition
has prevented the re-seeding of grasses
and consequently millions of acres of
once good pasture have been turned
into absolute desert. ..
Most of the large herds have been
dispersed and slaughtered and. the bulk
Of the cattle supply is now being fur
nished by the small stockman, but the
evolution from the large herds on the
open range to the small herds in pas
lures is too slow owing to unfavorable
land conditions and, where a few
years ago the markets were supplied
with cattle four, five and six years of
age; even yearlings are being slaugh-
tered to make up the supply of beef
The stockmen claim that the unfav-
orable methods of administering the
public lands of the west are back of the
threatened shortage and at the conn
ing national convention in Chicago
next month an effort will be made to
throw the whole matter into congress
and ask that a commission be appointed
with expert assistance to investig gate
and devise plans for improving the
situation.
The stockmen in the national associ-
alton have been struggling for years
to devise some plan for amending the
land laws that would remedy existing
evils. but have been unable to agree.
One faction is in favor of leasing the
lands from the government. Another
wants the lands ceded to the states;
another wants the laws left as they
are and irrigation works constructed
to redeem the lands.
AS compromise for all, it is now
proposed to have congress take charge
III LAL0 "AOlS msILCcI duIl, dII6r luV6SLl-
cation, to take such action as will
tend to stop the waste and destruction
now going on and encourage the estab-
lishment of small stock farms.
The plan will also recommend gov
ernment aid in building storage reser-
voirs on the farms near headwaters of
sterams.
The big packers admit that there
has been a serious decrease in the Wis
ible supply of cattle during the past
five years and they are looking forward
to. higher prices in the near future,
but say the people will be forced to eat
mutton instead of beef, though even
mutton will become scarce later on, as
the same conditions which are dimin-
ishng the beef supply will also affect