, 1906-02-05
LEASING RANGE.

Sheepmen returning from the Den
YER meetings while not all satished
with the presidents proposition touch
ing the management OF the pubic
range say they have a much clearer
idea of the matter than before.
At the Casper meeting discussion all
turned on the question of leasing eth
er at a fixed sum per acre or by com
petitive bids. Mr.. Pinchot, chief for
ester representing the administration.
set the minds of the stockmen at rest
on that point. There is no intention to
lease the range in that manner
Mr.. Pinchot says the government Is
going to take over the public domain
and administer 1t in the interest of the
stock industries, very much on the
plan that the grazing lands in the for
est reservations are being admins
tered. The expense of such admins
tration will be much less than in a for
est reserve, and a fee will be charged
sufficient to maintain the work. In this
way it will be able to apportion the
lands fairly and to protect them from
overgrazing.
In other words President Roosevelt
declares, Gentlemen, you are using
Uncle Sans public domain and in so
doing you are not careful of its usage
and you frequently raise Cain among
yourselves. While | think you should
continue to use this vast territory you
must do 1t in accordance with some
set Of sensible rules that will not only
protect Uncle Sam but your own Inter
est You need an overseer.'
Following out this line of thought
the ADMINISTRATION proposes to assume
a sort of police power over the range
say who shall use 1t, preference being
given to those on the ground or those
living contiguous to the range, N
what is equally important, decide how
many head may Craze upon a given
area. The cost of the service Will be
assessed against the users or benefic-
iaries.
A law question may be raised to the
effect that there is no federal statute
giving the president authority to lay
Town rules n administer such a ser
vice on the open range-while such
authority does exist for the forest re-
serves-yet the proposition has the
sanction of common sense and the
president will no doubt find some way
to carry out his policy.-Cheyenne Tri-
bune.
From the foregoing it would appear
the Tribune a the understanding that
it is the purpose of the administration
to proceed with the leasing of the pub
lie domain forthwith, without waiting
for additional legislation. The Repub-
lican does not believe this is either pos
sible or desirable. The public lands
commission, in its report, states that
additional legislation will be required
and Mr.. Pinchot, the gentleman quoted
by the Tribune, is one of hat commits
sion; in fact, he has given the matter
more attention han the other mem
bers.
The Tribune says the public range
is to be handled upon about the same
plan that the forest reserves are now
managed, but all this is a mere guess.
An act of congress must first be pass
ed. The forest reserves are in an en-
tirely different situation from the open
public range. The former are com
posed of reserved lands and the public
has no right whatsoever on them, while
the open range is subject to entry I'M
der the land laws of the United States
and the people have many more rights
and privileges no accorded them in the
forest reserves. The reserves are un
der the direction of the department of
the interior. In the matter of cutting |
timber, there is a wide difference. Up
on the reserves no one is permitted to
cut timber without first having obtain. |
ed a permit from the forest supervisor
and the work is performed under his
supervision, but upon the public domain
n may cut timber to the amount of
$50 per annum without being compelled
to obtain a permit of anyone.
Ranchmen, farmers and stockmen
generally can rest assured that the
public domain will not be taken from
them without due process of law-with-
out an act of congress that will settle
the question in an equitable n