, 1907-01-25
REPLY OF GOVERNOR BROOKS.

In a recent issue The Republican
published an article under the caption,
Mistaken Negative Policy" r%egretting
that the Wyoming Gockmasters had
placed themselves in opposition to the
national government in the matter
of leasing the public domain, and that
they endorsed fully the policy OF Gov
ernor Brooks. The article was n plain,
straightforward argument for n leas-
ing system, without personal illusions
or ]insinuations rs to ignorance, mis-
conduct in office, etc. In an argument
of this nature, such references or in,
nuendos should have no place. Readers
of The Republican should refer back to
the article mentioned and read 1t in
connection with the following reply by
Governor Brooks:
January 90, 1907.
Cheyenne Tribune:
Gentlemen: Mistaken Negative
Policy" Is the title Of a recent edi-
torial on tue land question, published
in The Laramie Republican, In when
the writer takes the woolgrowers
and myself to task, for what he con
ceives to be a policy Of i%naction; and
then with all the assumption born of
a lack Of knowledge of range condi'
tons, and a federal appointment, pro
ceeds to outline the beauties and ben
efts of government leasing.
Ordinarily I>refrain from newspaper
discussion, well knowing that a lay
man, lacking time, ability and equip
ment, enters the newspaper arena a
his peril; but this editorial deserves
a little comment.
The negative policy referred to Is
embodied in my published statement
that what Wyoming needs is to De
left alone and given the opportunity
to work out her own salvation with as
little interference by the general gov
eminent as possible"
Then taking as his text, Mr.. Chap
lin, with apparently no conception OF
its real meaning. proceeds to make
several unwarranted and u~njustihable
deductions: First, that | favor per
hitting the illegal fences to remain
as they are; now | have never said so.
In fact whenever fences are MAIN
tanned on the public domain IN such
manner as to check the homesteader
or retard settlement, l most heartily
favor their Immediate removal. Sec
ond that | favor land frauds. What
Bosh! If fraudulent LAND entries ana
proofs are as commo as intimated,
some of the registers in the land o.
fees are o doing their duty, and
instead of sending out a lot OF ire
sponsible land agents to harrass our
people. and retard u development, }
respectfully suggest that the govern
ment investigate the methods of ad-
minis.ration in our local land offices.
/ contend that q Let well enough
alone policy is not a negative policy,
In fact, frequently it is n of the
most difficult of all policies TO pursue,
In this case. 1t is not a policy oil IN
ertia. for Wyoming is settling up and
developing more rapidly than ever be
fore in her history. l think likely
Mr.. Chaplin's records will show thai
more land filings have been made In
his district during the past ten years,
than in any other like period, and the
end is not yet. for | am confident
more homesteads Will be ken IN
Laramie county during 1907, than ever
before. One swallow doesn't make a
summer. Mr.. Chaplin argues that be-
cause the state can lease a few hun
dred thousand acres of land adyant-
ageously, then forsooth all the people
want all the land all the time. This
state has leased about 600, 900 acres
of selected lands, and in many in
stances the leasing OF these selected
lands, particularly in large areas, has
been positively injurious to Wyo-
ming, however. the state now re-
ceives a considerable revenue from
land rentals. This revenue will be
greatly decreased, if the government
goes into the leasing business, for
half the state lands would be nearly
valueless, except for the fact that in
a measure they control considerable
government range.
Mr.. Chaplin's plan, outlining the re-
port made by the public land commits
sion, is for the government to charge
five cents per head, PER season., for
sheep and twenty-five cents for cattle.
Figuring four seasons in the year, that
would be twenty cents per head for
sheep, and one dollar for cattle an
nually. Or as it takes five to ten
acres of our grazing land to u a
sheep a year, and forty to seventy-hve
acres for a COW, the price per acre
per annum would range n TO five
cents. The money derived from gov
eminent leasing. over and bov the
cost of administration, is to be used
on our roads. Think OF it! We have
as fine roads as any state in the
union, the cost Of construction ana
maintenance is comparatively small,
and the government is to help keep
them in repair. from its surplus on
range leasing; but then of course,
there isn't going to be any surplus,
The money will be absorbed in admin
istration, by giving a lot o federal
officials a fat job.
Still all this wouldn't he so bad, il il
wasn't for the endless annoyance and
interference, which is absolutely GER
tain TO follow any form of govern
ment range supervision. At present,
wyoming has over four million sheep;
and no other industry IS doing so much
to increase the value of our lands,
build up our cities and develop the
state. If the same policy is adopted
for the open range Is the government
follows in the forest reserves, then
our sheep will be reduced about ninety
per cent, and instead of running four
we will be allowed to keep four hun
dred thousand. Positively, l shuddeT
at the business catastrophe, which