, 1908-02-07
THAT'S WHAT DR.. SWlGART
CALLS ROWING BANDS OF
SHEEP THAT EAT MEMS
FRoNT-DooR GRASS.
General Manager of Strong Copper Min.
ina Company Favors Whole Sec
ton for Entryman, Giving Him the
Same Advantage as Those Who
Control Railroad Grant Sections in
This Country-lnteresting Phase.
Leslie. Wyo., Feb. 4, 10.


To the Editor of The Republican.
The letters you have been publish
ing all over the county lately are both
interesting and instructive. They give
individual conditions and individual
IDEAS and should be encouraged.
Too Big a Stick.
Great rowing bands of sheep AMI
Eomesteaders are incompatible; one or
the other must go. The more arid
portions Of the grazing lands of the
state included in the railroad grant
are centralizing and becoming the
property of the few. The odd sections
owned by the railroad company are
being sold in great blocks at from so
cents to $1.25 an acre, while the gov
ernment sections open to the home,
steader in this railroad checker-board
are limited to 100 acres for each entry
man. This gives the owner of the
railroad section too big a stick.
In Favor Of Man Outside.
If the entryman wishes to commute
he must pay $3.50 an acre, while the
ontryman outside of the grant must
only pay $1.25 an acre. Yet the diff
ference is in favor of the man outside
of the grant, and the homesteader with
in the grant is at a double disadvan'
tage. His homestead Is for 100 acres.
yet the man who owns the railroad
section adjoining has as much right
10 range his stock on the other 4S0
acres of this government section as the
needs is i bigger stick. If the gov
eminent would encourage home build.
ing it must put it's entrymen on a par
with those who buy a railroad section.
Duties of Government.
The conditions within this railroad
grant are unique, and it occurs to me
that the congress should pass a law
giving the entryman a right to take
up a whole section, $40 acres, any
where within the grant that it re-
mains untaken, and if he commutes let
him do so on terms equally good as
those granted by the railroad company.
ii requires about six acres for one
cattle" If a homesteader can cut
twenty-five to forty tons of hay, he Can
run about a hundred head of cattle
and enough horses to do his hauling,
with a few pigs and chickens, but no
sheep, on his homestead. He would
thus be more nearly equipped as his
leighbor of the railroad section.
Purely Business Matter.
If these alternate sections are leas,
ed Or sold, it is easy to figure who will
get the greater portion of them. 1t is
not a question of sentiment but a pure,
ly business proposition. So long as
there are eight cents profit in a ten
cen drink, men will find a way to sell
whisky. AMI so long as the sheep in
dustry pays three and one-third times
as much as any other live stock indus,
try, men will find a way to run sheep.
If they own these hills they will run
sheep on them till they are eaten of
end trampled down so bare that whip.
poor-wills and jack rabbits will have
to carry haversacks and the cat
tie of a thousand hills will be number,
ed with the buffalo.
Whole Section for Entryman.
To meet this aggressive movement
and stand against it with any hope OF
success, the government should inaug,
urate a liberal policy toward the en-
tryman and faithfully stand by him,
For this reason, | believe, he should
be permitted to take up a whole Sec
ton. This would enable the entryman
to place his dwelling house far enough
away from the borders of his posses.
sion to prevent his front yard from
being trampled into a race track by
these predatory bands of Atwood coy,
otes of the present open range.
Respectfully, l. R. SWIGART.