Semi-weekly herald., 1911-12-21
WHAT KIND OF SHEEP is
MEXICAN SHEEP,

see an article in Saturdays Dem
ocrat from the assessor or some 9TH
er man, for there was no name signed
to it, saying | should have modified
my statement which appeared in The
Herald in regard to the assessment of
sheep as there are two classes of sheep;
one American, the other Mexican; the
former was assessed at So per head;
the others at S1.50. Now | believe
that l know as much about sheep as
any other man in the great San Juan
not know what the writer of that
article meant when he said Mexican
sheep" Now in market quotations
We read of Texas sheep, Arizona
sheep, Wyoming sheep and ETC., that
is sheep raised in those respective
states. SO American sheep would be
sheep raised in America and Mexican
sheep would be sheep raised in Mexico
now this is plain enough--but Mex
ican sheep as referred to in the DEM
ocrat is not plain to me for it is GER
tain that the class of sheep designated
Mexican sheep is raised in America if
he means sheep owned by Mexicans;
then l fail to see any justice in as
sessing him one-fourth less than the
white flockmaster, for they use the
same line of bucks; use the same
range; shear ip the same corrals;
ship their wool to the same firm in
Boston; sell as well as we do; and on
an average they shear about the same
amount per head as we do; and they
ship their lambs to the same market
that we do; and the only reason that
they don't get as much for their lambs
as we do is their slovenly way in
managing their flocks on the lambing
grounds and in rearing the lamb crop
all of which counts in sheep husband
ry in this country.
That article seems to carry the idea
that if man is too lazy to raise
good lambs he ought not to be taxed
as much as other men who attend to
business and is successful. If you will
look up the premium list of the last
Durango fair you will find one thrifty
Mexican who took first prize on lambs
This was certainly Mexican lambs, if
there. is such thing as Mexican sheep
in America, for they belonged to
Mexican. This / presume is $3.50
stuff. Now the Mexicans and
the Navajo Indians were the first
settlers in this basin and they raised
the first sheep here and the white
man came in and purchased sheep
from them to start with, so it is
fact that the foundation of all the
flocks in this basin are from the Mex
lean and Indian flocks, except one and
a part of that flock was sold in Du-
range Saturday to the highest bidder
and brought $5O5 per head. Two or
three years ago they would have
brought $500 or $1,000 per head un-
der similar circumstances. This shows
them beyond doubt that range sheep
are down and will yet go down lower
for the next year of two, but expense
in caring for a flock is yet above par.
There are some men who seem to think
that all they need is flock of sheep
and check book, this class of men
hob ups in the sheep raising business
and in one or two years the mort
gage is foreclosed and they are down
and out. These men perhaps could
class the sheep in this basin. l re-
ceived letter in September from the
assessor of Archuleta county, he said
the commissioners instructed him to
assess sheep at s1.5O but the market
condition have been such that he would
ask them to cut the assessed value to
S1.25. When they equalized they had
only one class over there.
J: M. CORNELIUS.