Arizona republican., 1907-12-15

casses can be seen any spring. lying in snow drifts or leaning against the endless fences of the railroad right of way.
 Now the free range is no more. Yet the majority of cases and the average rancher expects to find a loss of 30 to 75 per cent of his stock at the end of a severe winter.
 The full significance to the wealth of the country of this reckless waste of animal life is only disclosed by a care ful examination of recent government figures of the value of cattle. The story they tell is startling.
 On January l. 1907. there were 51.- 56S.731 cattle in the United States. ex- elusive of milch cows. This was the largest number in the history of the country. The value of these cattle was estimated at $SS1,557.39S In spite of the size of this figure it is more than S25. 100000 less than the total value in ! 1901, when there were six million less cattle. In other words the hardships and losses due to the range winters have not only retarded the growth of the number of cattle in the country but they have also caused a marked deter . ioration in the quality of the survivors.
 On the basis of the government fig ures the average value of the cattle of the country on January 1. 1901. was a trfle under $20 apiece Six years later. on January l, 1907. after the ranges had been fenced in and grazed out, the average value was a little over Sl0 or a pereciation of nearly fifty per cent. As was seen, this loss is abso- lute as we'll as relative and the .coun- 1 tTy'S cattle are not worth today the price of the smaller herds of six years ago. On the basis of the 1901 values the farmers and stcckmen or the Coun- try ought at this moment to be richer than they are by SS0,000, ,000. Clearly 1t is up to Uncle sam to find some means of putting stop to this enormous de- preciation.
 It the-r first search for a solution ef the problem. the government ex- perts turned to Canada to discover if possible how conditions had been met there. Curiously enough they found the situation entirely different. owing to milder winters and richer forage for the steers
 III -AlbtEtd, lDt coming SIOCh- grow ing province, the warm Chinook" winds blowing up from the lower Co., lumbia river lick up the snow and make season of bright, cloudless days with occasional scanty snowfalls, brok en by frequent and prolonged periods of warm weather. Sometimes the tenn perature drops very low but seldom dangerously so and, anOmalOuSly, the average is considerably above the av- craze further south. This cuts down the suffering and loss of livestock to marked degree. The problem for the Canadian stockgrower Is also sinlPl- fed by the fact that Canadian cat tie are free from that other curse Of the range, Texas fever, which alone caused a loss of from $40. 900. 900 to sl00,000.0001 in the United States in 1906. Alberta in particular, owing to it's location in the northern latitude is free from the ravages of injurious in- sects of all sorts, one of which is re- sponsible for the deadly Texas fever.
 But the day of the free range is over Tn Alberta. as it is in Texas and the Dakotas. The picturesque cowboy is doomed and the English young son no longer rules. from the saddle do- mains as large as municipalities. The same fertile prairie that has enriched