, 1908-03-04
AN
FOR HELP
CONTINUED from rag, L.


ed. The sheep business is carried OF
In n different manner from the cattle
business, as sheep are constantly herd
ed by day and penned at night. The
herder has his house on a wagon, and
camp are moved to greener fields
the only necessity being water pro-
vision.
Free Range a Detriment.
With free range the incentive Is tc
get all you can, which in the end
works to the detriment of all. The
men with the liked places of business
as a rule are raising hundreds of tons
of hay and various crops for winter
feeding, and wish to acquire by lease
or purchase the adjoining grazing land,
in order to carry on their individual
ideas. While men may differ as to the
manner In which they should be per-
mitted to acquire a definite portion of
the public range to carry on their bust.
ress, the very great majority of those
with a fixed localized business desire
by some fair method to so acquire the
use of public land.
Poll of the State.
In order to obtain a %concensus of the
views of stockmen upon the subject,
the Laramie County Cattle and Horse
Icroware, aSSociotion onmpenna5 n nolI
Of the state to ascertain the views of
the people regarding the leasing of the
pubic domain By sending out d series
Of questions to the 5000 men engaged
in the stock business Up to February
!, 1908, We had received 613 replies
from 252 p~ostofice districts in the state
cut Of Il possible $50. This shows SIC
favoring a lease and 81 opposed. Those
in favor Of the lease law own 8 per
/, cent of tho patented area, 5h per ent
Of the cultivated area, 269,721 head OF
sheep, 1925 0 head of cattle and $500
J head of horses. They also raise S7,317
!, tons of hay valued at $3.50 900, all Of
which is fed to their stock during the
winter months.
The Banner Year.
Our banner year was 1907 in the adj
clifton of lands 10 private ownership
an area of five townships, or lis, 200
r acres, going to patent. At this rate it
will take 1868 years to get the balance
of the 1910 unappropriated townships
in the state into private ownership.
During 1907 we had approximately
, 3,035 homestead filings in the state
1000 of these being in the extreme
southeast corner of the state, in a dis
trict about 40 miles long and 25 miles
wide. We also had 626 desert land fl
ings throughout the state. On the 9th
, er hand, during this same period we
had nearly 500 accomplishments of
, homestead entries and over 300 desert
, entries, the reason given in the major
ity of cases being that the applicants
could not make d living upon these
lands. Some few des ,rt filings were
relinquished because the entrymen
l could no comply with the new inter,
probation of the law, and these, in num-.
erous cases, were selected by the state
as lieu lands for the parties who had
relinquished them.
Good Lands Under Patent.
Nearly all the lands in the state
along creeks and rivers are now under
patent, leaving only the high lands
) rn~appropriated. Where it is possible
in a few instances to reclaim some
of these lands by building reservoirs,
yet it is only by corporate interests
/, that this will become possible. In or.
der to obtain a business basis, the ma
iority of the stockmen are willing to
5 pay the government a reasonable fee
for the use of these lands in order that
they may conduct their business on an
individual paying basis. Under the
fencing systems, which has grown and
become almost general because the
; law against enclosing public lands, for
nearly a quarter OF a century, has not
bSSh CulOlSeu ny Jhc SONeIuuleul lue
quality of u live stock, especially
! cattle and horses, has improved 100
per cent in the past ten years. Now,
to turn this improved stock loose in
discriminatory on the public range,
which has to be done where the own
ers are forced to remove their fences
from the public lands, will simply ruin
the live stock business and put it back
ten to twenty years.
Both Breeders Losers.
With one man expanding his time
and on a Hereford breed OF
cattle and his neighbor on a Shorthorn
breed. the individual idea of neither
breeder can be conserved upon the
open range. The live stock owners do
not wish TO be placed in the attitude
of wishing to maintain their business
by unlawful means, /. e., enclosing pub
lie lands in violation of a United States
statute, and, therefore, they wish re
lief through the repeal of the fence law