Arizona republican., 1906-01-11

| increase productiveness. But tha: lrental for such land should be within what the lessee can at present afford to pay, and the term of lease should be sufficiently long to form basis of cre- dit by which the lessee may be enabl- 1 ed, if necessary, to borrow the money to make the necessary or desired inn provements. We think that lease foI | five years will not afford sufficient en- lcouragement for such improvement and that a minimum of one half cent per acre is too great for the first few years of such a lease, although il might later on afford this or a much higher rental.
 l But we do not favor making it obli- gatory for the cattle man, in order that he may graze cattle on the unenclosed public lands of the territory, to lease land or obtain a grazing permit and pay a fee Or rental. The opportunity and privilege of leasing, fencing and | improving would be taken advantage of gradually as the individuals them selves may be able to find the means to avail themselves of the opportunity. And any sweeping laws or regulations applying to the matter on the date of passage, would force the weaker ones to the wall and bring ruin and disas- ter to the individuals now engaged in the grazing industry.
 Fourth. Such leases could be is- sued by the present land office offi- cials after due application and adver . tisement, conditioned upon certain es- sential requirements within the ability of the ordinary applicant, at compara- lively small expense; and we favor this method on account of it's simplicity and economy.
 Fifth The net revenue from such leases should be devoted to supplying and distributing seeds and forage plants, and experimental work in the propagation of such seeds and plants; and if more than sufficient for this purpose, then to the development of water supply on the public lands.
 Sixth It is impossible for any ad ministrative' official to estimate and fix a proper maximum number of head of livestock which might be safely grazed within a certain definite area during d certain definite period, because during one season a certain district might easily support 10000 head, while in the season immediately following 100 head alone might starve to death. It is purely a matter of rainfall, which no official is wise enough to foresee.
 The safety of the cattle grower, therefore, lies in providing himself with reserve pasrurage or feed sufficient to keep his animals alive and strong enough to breed during the season of drouth, which has always and must inevitably come. If the total number of head allowed to graze on the public domain in Arizona were kept within the range support during a season of drouth, the number would be so small that the industry would not be worth attention and there would be no op- portunity to expand or increase the number to fit the improved conditions of a good year before the good season had already gone by.
 Reserve feed or pasturage necessar- fly implies that same must be enclos- ed under fence in order to preserve it from being consumed until such time as it is most needed. We favor encour- aging this relief and resource, by op- portunity and privilege; but do not favor coercing the present owner in immediate undertakings and burdens which his present personal resources cannot Gt this time afford.
 We think that the area permitted to
 
 based on an estimate of what is nec- essary to support a family; and that is quite variable in Arizona. Classifi- cation of the lands should be accom- plished in order that the leasehold may be made larger where the lands are in ferior.
 Probably a maximum of three miles square, or nine sections of land, would afford reasonable encouragement for fencing and improvement on the bet ter grade of Arizona range lands. Ger tainly one section of Arizona range lands would not be worth fencing for the vegetation it produces and would not support family. What it might hereafter produce is a matter of experiment. Fully 95 per cent of the lands of this territory, or nearly sixty mine million acres can never be irrigated and it's value for stock graz ing purposes, timber or mineral, and as water shed for gathering the rain fall to be impounded and used on the lesser percentage of irrigable lands, is all that can be taken into consideration by this generation.
 Senators Tillman and LaFollette ought to be able to keep the senate