Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-30
LAND fLNCLkS' SIDE OF CASE
Oattlemen's Part in Con roversy Stated BY
kancher from Cody, Nebraska
TAKES UP RECENT CURT PROSECUTIONS
Declares such Men as Richards
and COmstock Have been OF
Great Good TO the
state.


Every question has two sides and there
Tore there are two SIDES to this land
tencins question, asserted e. F. Stewart,
sIhail rancnman from near cody, Neb., who
was at the Merchants hotel Friday The
cattieman sloe OF the question mas never
oeen presented to the public" he added.
NOW, / don't want to exaggerate but
want to he tair In this statement, basing
"hat say on twenty years residence in
tne western part of Nebraska as a small
ranchnan. NO intelligent person is ignor-
ant OF the fact that there Is law on the
statute books prohibiting the fencing of
puohc lands ana yet everybody is ignorant
ut IL ever being enforced before or any
body being prosecuted under its provisions
Mr.. Comstock and Mr.. Richards have
been of untold benefit to this western
country instead of being detrimental to It,
for these reasons: ny coming in, buying
up land and enclosing government lands
and putting out water plants they made 1t
POSSIBLE for cattle to Craze over thousands
of acres which had heretofore been of no
benefit TO any one because there was no
water tributary to 1t.
Thousands of Dollars Saved.
when they put out water plants and
put up fences they saved thousands Of
dollars worth Of property to small ranch
men that in previous years had been de-
stroyed by prairie fires. For two reasons
they have made the land more valuable
than before fence was put up; first by
putting out fire guards and thus keeping
the small ranchmen from being burned out
us they had been every fall; and second
by not overgraging the land so that the
country Is producing more grass than prior
to the fencing. ..... ....-..
"ComstoCk and Richards have never
taken anything OF of that land which
could not be put back by a single shower
in the month of April.
Since have been living in western Ne
braska | have seen hundreds of thousands
of people pass over this very land. II
seems strange to me IL II was Of any
value, they would not have located when
they were hunting for homes All the
immigrants that finally settled in Wyom-
ing, Utah, Washington, Oregon and the
Pacific coast states, passed right over this
very land, and all the land agents and
all the influence that was possible was
brought to bear on these settlers to get
them to stay in western Nebraska.
wouIdn't Look Mt II.
you couldn't get a man 10 take up a
quarter section of land in this section IL
Npu Dulll Il btlNh Houst VII II anu So'S
him a warranty deed to the place, pro-
viding he had to live there a year.
III the land is so valuable some
think, 1t is strange to me that every man
and woman in this country has not taken
Il homestead on 81. | know of hundreds
of people who have lived in the western
part of the state for twenty years and
who have refused to exercise their home
stead right and take a quarter section, and
now they even refuse to take the 64C
acres under the Kinkaid law.
I'm all my twenty years experience in
the western section of the state l don't
know of a single case where there was
any intimidation used or any ons in the
least interfered with If he wanted to set
tie on a homestead, but on the other
hand the land agents have done all In
their power to get people to come and
settle on the land, but no inducement
these agents could offer was sufficient tC
entice the people to take up lands.
ynlkinE without Knowledge.
"a whole lot has peen said about the
Bartlett Richards case by people who know
nothing about It. I have known Mr.. Rich
ards for twenty years and know him to ID
a law-abidlng citizen in every sense of tn
word. lie would have been glad to hav
taken down his fences when the order wa
first issued, but with conditions which OK
istcd in that country at that time and wit
the number Of cattle he had on hand,
would simply have meant financial suicid
to have complied with the order.
There arc few men in the United State
vino have any conception of what cOndi
ton il would have put a man in TO remov
the fences when he had on hand 10000 hea
of cattle. | believe there is not man 1
the United States who would have acte
different from the way Mr.. Richards acted
To have pulled down his fences when OF
dered he would have had to put his cattl
ON the market at half price and II woul
have completely wrecked him.
III the people Would stop to consider I'll
proposition and would think IL over delif
erately the -cattlemen would not be Gel
sured as they are now. Especially shout
the people of Omaha give this matte
thought for the cattlemen of the west hay
done much for Omaha; they have built u
the South Omaha live stock market al
they spend their money here, but asit
from all that, they are entitled to soT
consideration and to square deal Tea
ing down the government fences has co
the state of Nebraska hundreds OF thol
sands of dollars and 1t has not bencftc
single person one dollar"