Williams news., 1905-10-14
ugh, which renders it


 success in cattle raising d matter of problem and speculation, and when water is scarce most exorbitant prices must be paid by the stock raisers for water with which to preserve the lives of their cattle. Further, in common with most thew countries" where public in stitutions must be built, the nat ural resources of the country must be developed and expenses of coun- ty and territorial government are heavy, we are already paying high rate of taxation, namely, 3 per cent on the $1O0 valuation, which is all our investment will bear. More over, the cattlemen within this re- serve supra do not possess an ex- elusive range" in this: The sheep that range and graze upon this re- serve go over and feed upon from the same lands upon which we must depend to grow the grass to sustain our cattle, and under said Regula- tion 25 the department will secure a double revenue from the same lands, that is to say,-a fee for the sheep that may graze thereupon, also fee for the cattle. Again, our cat tie are of the ordinary class and we are long distance from the markets-from Kansas City 1900 miles, from Chicago 1900 miles, and we have no line of railroad com peting with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and, of necessity, must pay the high rate of freight de- manded by that railroad: Thus, after great expense of breeding, caring for, paying taxes on, and gathering and shipping our cattle, we have little profit left to us as a result of our incessant toll and as siduous care, when the taxgatherer and freight tolls have had their de- mands paid to them.
 Therefore, we most respectfully and earnestly request and petition you to reduce the schedule of fees, for cattle, for grazing on the San Francisco Mountains forest reserve from the minimum of 20 cents per head for the regular summer graz ing season, and from the minimum of 35 cents per head for the entire year, to the lowest possible mini mum that may be made; for, if the fees be allowed to remain at the schedule, as per Regulation 25 as supra, it will prove ruinous to us in view of the heavy burdens we are already bearing.
 Further, we respectfully request that no cattle under one year old be charged for and that in Regula tion 26 the words "six months" be changed to read "one year," for the following reasons:
 The calves in this range are born at all times of the year and it is impracticable (nearly impossible) to distinguish a four months old calf from a seven months old calf; that calves are not generally weaned from their mothers until they are one year old, and the fact that they are weaned would be fairly compe- tentevidence of the fact thatsuch calf is twelve months old or over Where as, were tax imposed upon cattle six months old, some person, of course, must judge and guess the age of the calf and the arbitrary and oft times extremely uncertain idea as to the age of the animal, would provoke interminable dis pute. Moreover, as a matter of equity to the cattle men here, they derive no revenue from their cattle until their cattle are at least three years old-Sun, Oct. '.
 The public schools of Douglas have an enrolment of S45.
 Cochise county is now the rich est county in the territory, having a valuation of $1O,9S7 ,493 53, while Maricopa county, which has occu-