, 1907-03-01

gers booted, suprred and in garb Ionic
clad.
The editor pictures President Roose-
welt building a fence around Wyoming
so high and formidable that no n
now on the outside can get in and
no one inside can get out unless picked
up bodily and thrown out by the
mighty force Of the cattleman.
It's all bosh. The Tribune cares no
more for the cattleman han the sheep
man. In our early campaign for the
farmer We had the sympathy OF Meth.
err. But both are all right when they
are all right, yet both must obey the
law and respect the rights of the peo-
pie who want to settle up the state.
We want no more dead lines" no
more Tom Horn-Kels Nickel affairs.
A legalized fence and a small acre
age charge are infinitely better than
a shotgun brigade and free range.
Too long the young sons of sheep
men and cattlemen have been brought
up with hate in their hearts for one
another. Too long have boys of fifteen
gone about with six-shooters and Win
chesters guarding their illegal hold
ings. The time has come for a change.
| President Roosevelt knows it and ey-
cry thoughtful citizen in Wyoming
knows it.
The time has come to put the cattle
and sheep business on a business
basis. George Mitchell in his Wheat
land speech sounded the keynote to
the whole situation when he said: Il
can make more money with 500 cattle
under a fence than with 1000 running
at large" and somebody broke in "or
with two thousand"
A leasing system will not retard set
Element. 1t will not keep out the home
| steader. Why? Because President
Roosevelt and the congress OF the
United States will never consent to a
leasing law that does not protect the
rights of the homesteader and give the
settler and small stockman every right
and opportunity possessed by large
ranchmen.
The Leader overlooks the fact that
the homesteader and small tockman
can as well afford to lease as the big
stockman. That is the milk in the CO.
coanut and with his lease from the gov
eminent he does not need fear the In
timidation of the big cattleman and
big sheepman.
Under the present system of free
range, of gobble n fence who can,
the homesteader and small stockman
is at a constant disadvantage and
might and influence do dominate fire.
quently the situation.
But under a leasing system with
President Roosevelt favorable to the
| rights of the people, with Secretary
Garfield a friend of the people, with
Commissioner Ballinger a friend oil the
people does anybody think the lease
system will be administered in interest
of the cattle baron and sheep king?
II the Tribune thought so we would
| fight it to the last ditch.
On the contrary VIZ believe 1t will
encourage the irrigationist, the dry
farmer ard small ranchman who can
also lease and have the power oil the
federal government back of them.
Furthermore the range itself must
be protected in interest of the cattle
man and sheepman themselves who
too often in their eagerness to make a
free horse travel a long ways exhaust
the pasturage and encroach upon each
others territory.
The Tribune is not committed tc
the Burkett bill or any other particu
lar bill. What we want is equitable
range control.
The lease law when it does come
must be subject to the land laws and
must give every man, big and little,
rich and poor, equal rights under it.
We believe such a law will hasten
the day. of the, passing of the 100000
and 100000 acre ranch.
Indeed when cattle outfits like the
| Swan Land and Cattle company and
sheep companies like the Warren Live
Stock company build reservoirs, buy
steam plows, study dry farming and
teach their cowboys and herders to
use the hoe as well as the rope and
sheep shears it is quite evident that
even they see the handwriting on the
wall.
No law made by human hands can
stay the march Of the farmers in Wyo-
ming. But laws may be framed that
will encourage the farmer.
When millions of acres in Wyoming
become too valuable for grazing as Is
the case today the simplest laws OF
business and economies will turn those
millions of acres over to the man with
the pillow.
Only Christmas day Al Bowie, man,
': :