The Cairo bulletin., 1907-10-02

m than one steer To ten acres. ANA III
X. not necessary to be much az a mat
is ematician In order to see that whel
NJ such Is the case a homestead of or
IL. hundred and sixty acres will not q
le far toward the support OF fainil,
le In consequence OF this fact, HON,
is stcaders do not take up the lands /
|, the tracts In question They are lei
II open for anybody to Craze upon tina
X wishes 10. The result Is that the me-
who use them moderately and no
with view to exhausting their re
i, sources are at the mercy OF those VIII,
, care nothing for the future ANA Sim
, ply intend 10 skin the land In thu
, present For instance. the sma
! sheep farmer who has a home and
i1wp Wishes that tpmn-gta AlIi.lss on IN
, his children improved in.t value Will
naturally run his flock SO that the
land viii support it, not only today,
but ten years hence; but a big alb
sentee sheep owner who has no home
ON the land at all, but simply owns
huge migratory tiocks Of sheep, may
well find 1t 70 his profit TO drive
them over the small sheep farmers
range and eat 1t all out. He can then
drive his fiocks on. wheretas the small
man can not. or course to hermit
such a state Of things is not only evl
for the small man. but is destructive
tof the best interests Of the country
Substantially the same conditions cb
tain as regards cattle. The custom
has therefore grown up of fencing
great tracts Of government land with
ont warrant Of law. The men who
fenced this land were sometimes rich
men, who, by fencing 1t, kept out at
ual settlers and thereby worked evil
70 the country. But In many cases
whether they We're large men Or small
men. their object was not to keen
out actual settlers. but to protect
themselves and their own industry bp |
preventing overgrazing Of the range |
on the part Of reckless stock own |
efs who had no place lii the perma |
nent development Of the country and
who We're Indifferent to everything
excent the profits Of the moment Tol
permit the continuance If this illegal
fencing inevitably tended to very
grave abuses, and the government has
therefore forced the fencers to take
town their fences. lii doing this We
have not only obeyed and enforced
he law but we have corrected manvl
fagrant abuses. Nevertheless. we
lave also caused hardship. which
hongh unavoidable. | was exceed.
ngly unwilling to cause. IIr some
way or other We must provide for the
Use OF the public range under con
Iitions which shall inure primarily ID
he benefit Of the actual settlers IN
II near it, and which shall prevent its
eing wasted. This means that in
ONE shape or way the fencing of pas
ure land must be permitted under re-
trictions which will safeguard the
lights OF the actual settlers. | de-
Ire to act as these actual settlers
fish to have me in this matter.
fish to find out their needs and de-
Tres and then to try to put them into ,
fleet But they must take trouble,
lust look head TO their own ulti-
late and real good, must insist upon
eng really represented by their pub
c men, If we are to have good
esult A little while ago | received 4
very manly and sensible letter from
ne OF the prominent members of the 4
aramie County, Wyo., Cattle and .
orse Growers Association. My cor Y
spondent remarked incidentally in
IS letter. Il am a small ranchman. |
I'd have to plow and pitch hay my =
III and then went on to say that 4
e great majority of their people
Id complied with the governmental Z
der, had removed their fences and a
Id their cattle. but that they must
i some kind OF lease law whica q
ouid permit them to Craze their a,
eek under proper conditions or else !,
would be ruinous to them to con =
lue In the business. The thing q
we most at heart az regards this a
bjeet is 10 do whatever will be OF Y
benefit TO just exactly the a
ople for whom this correspondent OF :
ne spoke-the small ranchmen who q
We to plaw and pitch hay them a
Ives. All | want to 10 is to find :.
I what will be to their real benefit. q
: that is certain TO be 10 the bene- "a
Of the country as a whole. II may Z
that we can secure their inter y
IS best by permitting all homa- "A
'aders in the dry country TO inclcse
or a certain number OF %
I'M together. big tracts Of range fer m
MINER use, the tracts being proper -
ned 10 the number Of nelghboriug 81
who wish to run their e.
tie upon it. II may be that parts -
the range will only be valuable for "a
npanies that can lease il and put =
&c herds on It; for the way prop y
y to develop a region IS to put Il q
these uses to which It is best adapt. n
The amounts to be paid for tn ~
sing privilege il TO me a matter If q