Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-26
sTocKMAN's VIEW or LEASING
DeIatous OF Nebraska stock
growers Association Writes
on Bill.

LEWELLEN, Deuel. County, Neb., Feb.
ALTO the Editor OF The Bees-Much has
been said in your paper regarding the leas-
ing proposition. l submit this article as q
statement Of the conditions as they exist
Ia western Nebraska, feel justified In
giving this, as I have lived in this section
twenty-five years and am familiar With
every part of the range section Of the
state,
There are about 5000, 600 acres Of gov
ernment land In this state, All OF II IL
used for grazing, and practically all OF 1t
is fenced into pastures. These pastures
vary in size from forty acres to 10000; the
size is usually guaged by the amount Of
decided and leased land owned by the
fencer, The enclosing Of public land by
private parties or by corporations Is .
plain violation Of the law, but has been
tolerated for the reason that It was bench
cial to q large number OF ranchmen, and
until recently 1t interfered with the rights
Of no one, and no one complained. Under
this system the stock business has been
very satisfactory and successful. The man
who desires to own steers only could have
! them by themselves. The man who desires
to use good bulls could do so and feel as
sured that ne was getting the Dement'S.
The man who preferred scrubs to serve
his COWS Is at liberty to use them and
damages no one but himself. In addition
to these advantages, we all have our cattle
In sight where the commission man., or
agent Of the bank loaning money on them
| can see and tally them on short notice.
The conditions Of the ranges at present
time. show that western Nebraska is car
rying every head Of stock that It can sup
port. There is no room for any more stock
and we would be much better on as a
community IL there was less. The public
omain Of 5000, 900 acres In Nebraska Is
occupied by cattle and sheep men and IN
such a wide territory occupied by different
men and interest then naturally crises
conflicts and In cases injustice mRy have
been done; parties feeling agrieved have
appcaled to the government and the Land
department, SO we are told, has decided
that all fences enclosing government land
must come down. This means that We
must return to the old system OF running
cattle on the open range or cult business
A great majority of US prefer the present
system and would be satisfied with pres
ent conditions II the. government Eouln
keep hands on and 'let us alone" Tne
question is now up to Us whether we prefer
a lease law or a return to the old system
Of the open range. .
Those who oppose a lease law are people
who own a small amount or No decided land
and are using Q large AMOUNT Of govern
meat land; those who have decided land ana
are nsing government. land and think theY
can continue to use 1t irrespective OF any
fence order; those who have decided land
and are not situated so they can use any
public land; those who have never had ANY,
thing, never expect to have anything and
always object to their neighbors having
anything; and, last Of all, the chronio
kicker. A large majority Of those In the
stock business, and especially those who
have money OF their WI invested, prefer
some kind Of an equitable lease bill, / pre-
fer the bill framed by the Ameyican Cattle
Growers sssoolatian, because ] have not
seen or have pnthiHg better to propose, 4
lease law justly administered will not ma-
teFiaIIy change conditions IN western Ma
braska and In many ways 1t will be q ben
eft, II will give 3 legal sight to feaea aAd
use government land without being . VIC
latoF Of the laEi It will put Us IN position
to save winter range and protect ourselves
better against loss; It Will not retaTd tbs
development Of their part Of tho state, hui
will put Il on 2 more substantial basis, ana
It Will bring 10 the government from Ne
braska alone a revenue Of $4,000 per year
from a source from which 1t now dsrtyel
|, almost nothing. / suggest that tbs wsI
4 and business that can stand such . tai pr
entitled to q fair hearing and consideration
8, p. DRLAToUR,
PRESIDENT Nebraska Stock GroweFs' A