The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1907-02-12

men lost 40 percent of their stock and
sold the remainder at reduced rates
The cattlemen, he said, then went tc
Santa Fe and had bill passed per
mitting the fencing Of public roads
"As we could locate a public road al
most where we pleased, it was moi
long before we had the fences back,
he said. He favored government
leasing Of lands in order to legalize
the fencing, and he declared that the
cattlemen would not object to home
stead settlements within the leased
tracts.
DR.. ]. M. Wilson, of Douglas, Wyo,,
| vice-president of the National Wool.
growers association, suggested that
after the defense of homesteaders by
the cattlemen sit might be well to
| look for wings on these men.
"A trail Of blood, Of assassinations
Of stock MANNED and destroyed has
been left across the country from Cal
ifornia to Nebraska as the result OF
the differences and difficulties Of cat.
Istlemen," said Robert Taylor, Of Alb
bott, Neb., in pleading for the Burkett
amendment.
3. ]. Bell, Of Albany county, Wyom-
ing, a cattleman, sheepman and far
mer, said he was willing to have gov
eminent control if Wyoming men were
permitted to say what the grazing fees
shall be in that state.
Although Secretary Of Agriculture
Wilson and Chief Forester Pinchot
were present, Mr.. Bell pointed out that
it was a mistake to put 400,000,000
acres in the hands of one man to fix
the price to be paid for grazing. 'It is
too great a test of one mans hon
esty,' he said.
After a number Of other cattlemen
were heard, DR.. u. M. Wilson, of Doug
las, as the spokesman for the Ma,
tional Woolgrowers' association, Of
which Senator Warren is president, op-
posed the amendment. He said that
to turn loose an army Of special agents
to enforce the proposed law would be
to invite corruption.
Presidents Letter.
"The White House, Washington, Feb
ruary IL, 1907.
MY Dear Senator Warren: In ac-
cordance with our recent conversation,
I am very glad to send you this short
statement of my position regarding
government control of the range. am
fully in accord with your view that the
local control Of the range should be in
the hands Of western men familiar
with stock raising, and believe in full
local participation in the management
of range land. OF course, you must
not divide the responsibility to point
where you can hold no one responsible,
but cooperation between the stockmen
and the governments officers is alb
solutely essential.
The grazing fees should be small,
especially so at first. am not anx-
ious that the government should get a
net revenue from grazing on the pub
lie range, but only enough to pay for
administration and improvement, and
any surplus might well go to the
states and territories in which the fees
are collected.
AS soon as a bill for range control
is passed, it goes without saying that
such control should not be taken hur-
riedly but gradually as grazing dis
tricts can be organized. There is one
prime essential in this policy Of range
control-the homesteader must be pro-
teeted in his rights to create a home
for his family, and he must have what
ever range rights are necessary for
that purpose.
1T is unlawful at present to fence
the public domain. All fences unlaw-
fully maintained will have to be taken
down. Unless congress takes action
to 1egalize reasonable and necessary
fencing through government control OF
the range. there will be a very serious
loss to stockmen throughout the west,
whose business in very many cases
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