, 1901-01-03
THAT WOLF BOUNTY QUESTION
An Able Presentation OF the Cattlemap's
Side of The Matter.
EDITOR OF The SUM-

~ ALA' lh'h 70 49,
a united attack of all the newspapers
in the southern part of this state
against any appropriation for a wolf
or coyote bounty for the next two
years. The Laramie Republican
seems to be its leader and its editor
writes us though there were only one
side to the case. 1t will do him no
harm to hear the other side.
Summing up all its arguments
against Il wolf bounty It says: I'm
less the same is levied in such a man
ner as to be a tax only on the inter
ests benefited, it should not be pass
ed" He says further that the bust
ness and professional men engaged
in other pursuits receive no benefit
from it. This is as narrow-minded a
statement as he could make. 1t is
safe to say hat not IA business or
professional man in Laramie is not
benefited by the destruction of wolves
and coyotes. Wolves destroy full
grown cattle as well as calves, colts
and sheep, and coyotes destroy calves,
colts and sheep. The Republican "A
few days g told of one family of
wolves estimated to have destroyed
$1,000 worth of live stock before they
were wiped out by means of a bounty
on their scalps.
If the present law only held the
numbers of wolves and coyotes sta
tionary. then there is all the more
need of its continued application.
The amount of stock, especially young
stock destroyed each year by them
would reach such an enormorous
amount of money in the aggregate as
to stagger us if we knew it.
The editor of the Republican de
ponds nearly as much on the prosper
ity of the stock business as does "a
stockman. So dothe lawyers, doctors,
store keepers and professional men
generally. Without stock to con
sumo the hay and pasture what
would a ranch be worth, and how
would ranchman who do not own Il
hoof of stock, dispose of their pro-
duce? Let the stock interests suffer
and by just so much you will reduce
the amount of cash brought into the
state each year and distributed in IA
thousand channels amongst us, es-
pecially in the towns. The stockmen
who are well off live in the towns and
cities and are in nearly every instance
the backbone of their communities.
Let their stock interests suffer and
the towns will suffer. The Republi-
can, for instance. will lose subscribers,
for it is a great error to think that all
men owning or interested in live
stock live on ranches. 1t will lose
advertisements. Every store in town
will suffer, every lawyer and doctor
will find his income seriously reduced,
for, after all, it is live stock that
brings us the largest part of the mon
ey on which most of us live.
In fact there is no tax that he can
name that directly or indirectly bene-
fits so large a proportion of the peo-
pie of the state as does the bounty
law. Make the stock interest pros
,,arn,,. md tha mh,la stat, nrnS,nrS
When he advances the proposition
that every tax should be levied only
on the interests that it directly benefits
he strikes at the root of all good and
enlightened government. The same
argument was advanced years ago
against free public schools and for
hundreds and thousands of years its
narrow and selfish spirit prevented
their accomplishment. 1t was argu-
ed by rich men that they sent their
children to school anyway, and it was
not just to tax them for the schooling
of others -"DoN'T TAX ME IT
WILL NOT BENEFIT ME- they cried.
The public schools are the browning
glory of our country now, and rich
and poor alike are proud of them.
The tax for public schools is Il general
tax, imposed on all, whether each one
is individually benefited or not, BE
CAUSE IT is \ MEASURE TIA E
THE COMMUNITY.
Every tax that the Republican can
name is open to the same objection.
1t benefits some people more than
others. But if it is a tax that benefits
the community it is II good tax. That
is the only right test of any law, of
taxation or otherwise and it is also
true that the bounty law benefits the
community to Il great degree. All
credit to the mnchmen who offer
private boumties. 1t is a grevious