The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-30
ON THE RANGES.
Passing of the Cattle Barons"
 uous Life of the Sheep Men.

]
 During the first week in December
 2,00O men who represent what Is said
 to be the largest industry in the world
 will hold their annual convention in Chicago. These men are the delegates
 of the 8,000,000 live stock raisers of the United States. They represent the own-
 CTS of nearly 5O,O00,000 cattle and as
 many sheep, and total capital invest
 ment of s450O,OO0.
 Most of the delegates to this annual
 convention of the National Live Stock
 association come from the great cattle
 and sheep ranges of the far West, whence come also most of the cattle
 and sheep which feed not only the Uni-
 ted States but a constantly increasing
 proprtion of the civilized world. As a
 rule they are quiet, well dressed, pros porous men, used to the good things of
 the world and accustomed to handling large business affairs. A visitor to their ranchhouses on the western prairies and mountain slopes would probably
 be surprised to find Oriental rugs on
 their floors, grand pianos in their par
 lors, and all the luxuries of modern life
 at their elbows, for they are men who like to live well and who are not afraid to spend their money. Likewise they
 have plenty of money to spend.
 At the same time visitor to the cat
 tie country would look almost in vain
 for the cattle baron of ten years ago.
 Within that time the cattle business
 has been completely revolutionized, and
 instead of a few hundred men practical
 ly controlling the cattle and sending
 out great herds of 100000 or more head
 each, there are now millions of owners,
 and the great bulk of the beef cattle
 run in herds of few hundred.
 Less than ten years ago the cattle
 shipped in to the great markets from the ranges were all Tong horns" and they went directly to the stock yards from the ranges to be cut up into beef. These long horns were surprisingly hardy. As cattlemen put it, they were the best "husters" in the world. They could live "on air" and could stand al most any amount of hardship and pri- vations. Also they were cheap, and a Joss of few hundred head in a bliz- gard did not mean much to the owner of 100, 900 when he could buy others for IIpIll SD u piu tSCl. iCy NVlC cVht tc market when they were to ' years old, and they brought about 3h or 4 cents a pound on the hoof Now the catle bred on the western ranges are grade short horns and are brought to maturity and market when they are g. year -olds on the average. Nor does the man On the cattle range ship his cattle | directly to the market All but small 1 of them are sold as feed 1 CTS" That Is, as soon as the young | steers have got their growth they are taken off the ranges and sold to farm CTS and dealers in the great corn rais- | ing states. The averat feeder" weighs 800 or 900 pounds, and the stock man gets four cents pound for it. The corn raiser feeds it on corn for, five or six months, by the end of which time the feeder weighs from 1900 to 1,500 and is sent to the stock yards as prime beef" where 1t brings as high as seven cents, or even fraction more. a pound.
 In other words, the present cattle raiser of the great west sells his 2- at present for at least as much money as he got for his 5-year- old long horns five years ago. At the same time the man who prepares feed srs'' for the market makes a profit not 1nly of several cents pound, but also adds from 300 to 500 pounds to each of he catle he handles.
 This revolution in the business has been brought about by the substitution If pure bred beef cattle for the old long lorns. These pure bred animals not ,nly mature in one-t third of the time aken by the Texas steers" but they urnish q much better article of beef They cannot be left to take care of themselves, however, as could the old ong horns. They must be given much nore attention and must also be pro- ,, ected from undue exposure and priva- ion. Where a long horn would go out ,, nd rustic good living for himself, one 7. f the new grade steers would lay down !, nd die. Consequently it is no longer {, ossible for g man to handle so many ' f them, and >he average size of the {, erds has been cut down to less than : ne-tenth their old size.
 The gradual settlement by home leaders of the most fertile parts of the Id cattle ranges has also had it's effect I cutting down the size of the herds.
 It is also true that within the last five ears hundreds of cattlemen have gone ut of that business and started into he raising of sheep. The demand for oth wool and mutton has been an in- reasing one, and the sheep men have cen as q rule exceedingly prosperous his great increase in the number of heep men has necessarily greatly cut own the amount of country which is pen to the cattlemen, and as a con- squence there is at present a bitter valry on between the breeders of 1eep and cattle. Tn many instances ris rivalry has broken out into open arfare, and in some of the western .ates the cattlemen are organized for le purpose of keeping out the sheep at ,e point of the Winchester rifle.
 To appreciate the bitterness of feel lg which exists between the two a sses of live stock men it Is necessary , understand something about the re- its of feeding. sheep in cattle coun- y.
 In the first place most of the sheep nd cattle in the western country are d on government land, which cannot ] fenced, and which as a matter of w, is open on equal terms to all com s. According to the unwritten law of l.