East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-11-09
SHEEPMEN AND WOOLGROWERS
BEGIN ANNUAL CONVENTION

themselves, saying that in the two
years the investment has been made
that large returns have been made
on the same.
Range Leasing.
In speaking of the range leasing
/ proposition, question that is Of ma
tional importance and a question that
congress as well as the national con-
] ventions Of sheep and other livestock
men will be compelled to wrestle
I with, President Burgess said:
"You will all recall that during the
past administration a strenuous eff
fort was made to secure the passage
Of a national law providing for the
leasing of the public domain and it
was due entirely to the efforts Of the
various woolgrowers' associations
that this law failed to pass. At the
present moment there seems to be
again rising demand for the passage
of a lease law and if 1t is your de-
sire to defeat this, it can only be
done by the united, efforts of all the
woolgrowers organizations. This Is
matter that demands the earnest
attention of every flockmaster with
in our state. For upon its settlement
depends the future of the sheep in
dustry. If such a law is to be passed
the flockmasters of the state should
demand that the leasing authority
and control should rest with the Of
ficials of the state in which the land
is located, and that these officials
should base their decisions and rul-
ings upon the recommendations of
board of control composed of ac--
tual stockmen."
Tariff On Wool 70
The work of the various state or
ganzations in preventing a reduction
of the tariff on wool at the recent ses-
sion of congress was also pointed out
by the president of the oregon as
sociation, who declared that the tar
iff battle, while it had been hard and
decisive was not final for the reason
that it will be fought over again and
again and that to successfully wage
the struggle against the attempt to
reduce the tariff on wool it would be
necessary for every man to see that
the various local organizations were
recruited to the full.
In speaking of the forest service,
Burgess said that "the policy of the
federal government in conducting
The national forests is gradually ruin
ing the sheep industry" and in con-
,luding he said: THE only cloud
hat now appears on our horizon is
he difficulty in securing abundant
'ange for our flocks in sufficient
quantities to permit their operation
With profit"
President Burgess also made an ap-
zeal for the woolsales dates, plead
ng with the members of the associa-
ion to hold for these dates, and de-
laring that every grower who sold
asst year before the dates for the
ales arrived had lost from one to
our cents per pound on his wool. He
lsisted that the eastern buyers would
ot go to the expense and run the
isk of loss by sending their men out
ere far in alvance of the sales dates
they did not know that by so do
lg they could get the wool cheaper
nan they could at the sales and less
nan the market value.
Judge Lowell Speaks.
The most eloquent and one of the
addresses Of the forenoon
sssion was the one by Judge Stephen
i. Lowell of this city. He spoke in
art as follows:
The flockmaster has been the pio-
eer in the advance of civilization,
loving from the plains of central
sia. where the race was born, west
ard to the final ocean. Occasion
ly. here and there, gold has been
lie first allurement. and the miner
As planted the standards which
ark the highway of progress and
wears a few laurels as
anifest in the Phoenician conquest
: the shores of the Mediterranean.
ut the force which has counted
rgest is the livestock industry, eX-
ainable probably by the fact that
ture provided food for animals and
an from their flesh and was en-
lied to live and from the wool and
in of the sheep he found protec-
IN from the elements in the cloth
g his surroundings demanded.
The outdoor life which the occu-
tion has compelled has attracted
e strongest of the race. The COM
union with the hills, the forests and
e mighty plains has instilled pat
,tism and high courage. 1t would
a misfortune If the industry
ould wane and pass in the chang
2 conditions OF this age The great
settled west needs this sustaining
'luence this cretaor and distrbut-
of wealth The time has not ar
ed here for the livestock condi-
ms which obtain in the Old world
d upon the Atlantic coast
1t behooves the general govern
mt to be conservative in the oper-
on of its theories of forestry. in its
iustment of the tariff and the reg
,tion of transportation rates
linking men believe in the main
lance and re-planting Of the for
areas, but they differ as to the
thods which should be pursued. II
a patent fact that the waste Of the
st cannot longer continue. that the
ong hand of the central vovern-