, 1907-01-25

Ii is certainly questionable to attempt
to force legislation by such threats, but
will be better for Wyoming to lose
the fences many times over, than sub
nit to government leasing or rangv,
supervision.
wyoming has one million acres of
school LAND Unbiased. These are sec
lions l6 and SO, located in ~inaccessi-
bic and out OF the way places. II
the government will Permit the state
to make lieu selections of land in place
of these school sections, we will sup
ply the ranchmen with all the land
for many years to come.
keep the fences. and also materially
aid in supporting u common schools
Our open range is not d~eterioratlns'
and II VIII be far better to bear the
Ills we have than fly to Others we Know
not of. In a short time the open range
problem in Wyoming will solve itself,
Just as it has In other states, for, II
left alone for twenty years, there
would not be enough open range TO
quarrel about. Let us welcome The
Man with the Hoe" but politely re
quest the general government to stay
away. BRYANT b. BROOhS'
Assumption born Of lack of knowl
edge and a federal appointment
mo conception Of its real meaning
81 respectfully suggest that the gov
eminent investigate the methods of ad
ministration in our local land offices"
The foregoing are not all of the per
sonal illusions the governor makes in
his article to the editor Of The Repub-
lican, but it is not our purpose to re.
ply in kind. Such argument" bears
no fruit. Such questions as the leas
ing question or any other public ques-
cannot be settled by i"nsinUations
of ignorance, maladministration or lack
of conception. Whether or not the ed
itor of this paper is ignorant is as ut
terly foreign to the subject as irrlga-
ton on the planet Mars. Possibly 1t
has not been II good fortune to be
come as familiar with range conditions
has his e~xcellency, but that is also
utterly beside the question. There are
others who have and It begins to look
as though they were in the great ma.
jority. At the meeting Of the National
Live Stock association held in the
city Of Denver, every member present
went on record as favoring a leasing
system. The cattlemen of Wyoming
quite generally favor such a system
and a very large proportion Of the
sheepmen would welcome a plan under
which they could legally control their
range. 1t would not matter If such
plan did not bring in more than enough
money to pay the actual expense of ad-
ministration. The less money paid by
the stockmen to the national govern
ment the better.
The Republican does not favor any
sort of a leasing system that would not
give the lessee absolute control of the
land, unhampered by supervisors or
needless regulations as to the number
Of live stock to be grazed thereon. The
main object of the leasing of the pub
lie domain should Oe legal control
thereof. The irice per acre should be
just as low as possible. If there was
anything left after paying the expense
of administration, it should be expend-
ed within the limits of the state where
in the money was raised. Before there
can be absolute permanence in the
stock industry, there must be posses
sion under the law. This is about all
that is sought through a leasing sys-
TEN The right to say to ones neigh
Dor, 81 am legally entitled to hold the
land upon which l am grazing my
stock, and you must respect my rights
Governor Brooks says he never said
that he favored permitting the illegal
fences to remain as they are" If we
had not the right to ieduce as much
his language, we humbly beg his
pardon.
In a published interview the COVER
nor made use of the following Ian
Fences are being ruthlessly
torn down and destroyed in this sec
ton, much to the detriment of Chey-
enne, Laramie county and the state,
and no benefit will result therefrom to
anyone"
What called forth this comment from
Governor Brooks? Complaint had been
lodged in the United States court al
Cheyenne against A. W. Bristol, a Lar
county stockman, that he had a
amount of public land under
,ence contrary to the statutes. He was
upon that complaint, found gull,
" and ordered to remove the Illegal
.~nclosure. Instead of carrying out the
order of the court, Mr. Bristol r2efer-
red to stand in contempt thereof, and
after long delay, the court issued a per-
emptory order to the United States
marshal for the district of Wyoming
to destroy the fence, which was done.
The marshal was merely carrying out
the order of the court. In all fairness,
was that a ruthless destruction of
the fence in question? Ruthless means
"cruel, pitiless." There was no cruelty
in the act.
In the face of the governors Ian.