, 1908-02-04
GOVERNOR BROOKS POSITION BE.
FORE THE PEOPLE.

One OF the most notable speakers be
fore the recent State Wool Growers
association meeting in this city was
Hon. b. b. Brooks, governor of Wyo-
ming. with considerable JUNCTION he
said to the people that nobody had ev.
er accused him of being an alarmlst
or playing to the galleries, and then
with what he chose to call calm, de-
hberate statement he proceeded to say
that If the administration leasing pol
icy were t be put into effect the live
stock industry is doomed, and If the
livestock industry fades away, all bust,
ness will shrivel like drouth-stricken
grain" In this same whitening line
the governor says: Credit would be
destroyed, banks would fail, business
houses would close their doors, rail-
road freights would decline and la.
boring men would be out of employ.
ment."
Rather dark n gloomy picture of
probabilities under leasing. OF course
nc one would think of adopting leas.
ing as a national policy were he CON
WINGED of the %soundness of the gov.
ernor's position; were he certain that
the governor did not actually have his
'other eye on the gallery.
by their fruits we shall Know them.
Figs do not grow upon thistles." What
has been Governor Brooks personal
attitude and practice toward leasing,
in fact? A mans real opinions may be
best judged by what he does and not
by what he says. If Governor Brooks
is actually opposed to leasing n be-
lieves that it would bring a blight up,
on our fair state, is it not altogether
reasonable to suppose that he would
himself shun it as he would an adderg
For many years Governor Brooks
has been a very large lessee of state
lands and during the time this discus
sion has been agitating the people, he
has leased from the state a large guam
tity of state land, more than would be
sufficient to aid several small families
TO keep the wolves in sleeps clothing
from their doors. Governor Brooks
and his associates have under lease
approximately twenty thousand acres,
and its situation is such that it contro'S |
probably double that amount of land.
If the governor is sure of a wither-
ing blight that would stihe everything
that it would touch and put us forth
with out Of business. is it reasonable
TO presume that he would himself take
advantage of such a policy to the ex
tent of five times the quantity of land
The Republican has advocated as the
maximum under a lease law? Is his
position in this respect tenable for a
single moment? By acquiescence and
ote he absolutely condemned" The
Republican for advocating a policy for
all the people of the state that he has
been a large and very successful bene
hciary under.
He may attempt to defend his &C
ton by saying that the lands he has
leased are the property of the state
and are different in that respect from
the lands of the federal government.
1t is the difference between tweedledum
and tweedledee. From the standpoint
of the individual lessee there is abso-
lutely no difference between state gov
lands and United States gov
eminent lands. The individual is in.
terested only in having the exclusive
use thereof; the right to say, This is
my possession and you must keep on"
the right to fence and control at will
1t is of no Importance to him whether
the money goes to the state through
the state land board or through the
United States government, 1t must in
this condition be understood that the
president, who is at the head of the ma
tional administration and hence the on
ly one that can be quoted with abso'
lutte authority, has ever stood for a
policy that will not collect from les
sees more than sufficient to pay the
e Of administration and if there
should be a surplus it must go to the
states in which it is collected. The
one thing that the individual lessee is