The Washington times., 1914-07-12
RANCHERS Want AID
IN RAISING TITLE
Ask Government to Rent Them
Large Tracts of Unappro-
priated Land for Pasturage.

CASPER. wyo. July 1.-THE high
price of beefsteak to the hungry city
man and the disposition of S0o, 900, 900
acres of Government land west Of the
eastern boundary of Wyoming and Colo
RADIO are related, say hundreds of cattle
raisers recently attending the cattle
mems convention.
Put cattle on this land and the price
Of fresh beef will go down with a crash
In the markets of every city in the coun-
try" was the unanimous opinion.
Millions of acres are located in the
dry country, and under present condi-
tons are not capable of supporting live
stock; and other millions of acres are
in so-called forest reserves and can
not be utilized by the cattle raisers.
What the cattlemen desire Is that the
Government lease to them certain large
tracts of unappropriated land, giving
them exclusive use thereof for a term Of
years and charge them a fair rental.
In addition to paying this rental the
cattlemen will agree to build reservoirs
and irrigation bitches and make the
dry lands capable of supporting cattle
in large numbers.
The land is worthless today" say the
cattlemen. 1T is too dry for farming,
but with the expenditure of a compare
tive small sum Of money millions of
acres could be rendered sufficiently
productive upon which to Craze cat
de-"
Under present conditions the cattle
ralsers cannot afford TO make these
improvements, ali of which would De
for the purpose OF getting water upon
the land. And just as soon as they put
1a,
controk but which is open to settle
ment. some settler will come along and
take possession of IL under the home
stead laws. The improvements will go
with the property itself.
The laws do not permit the cattle
man to homestead an area sufficiently
large upon which to range his cattle
and if he goes into partnership with
others with the intention of buying
their claims when they have proven
up he is guilty of conspiracy to de-
fraud. Nor will a homeSteader file q
stands, for the reason that he cannot
make a living upon it.
Let the land remain as 1t is without
beneiting any one. or lease it to the
cattle men. and let US put a herd upon
every hill" say the rancheIs.
Since the Government began building
great irrigation dams and systems in
the West and demonstrating to settlers
that it is possible to change the dry
valleys into productive farms, those
engaged in the cattle raising business
want to take advantage of that lesson.
They see that under Government con-
troll the public lands can be made to
yield much better results than under the
present system. They see that more
country can be developed and that
those using the public domain can af-
ford to spend money for improvements
which will permanently benefit the
lands as well as return good profits
TO the cattle raisers II system can
he devised which will protect them for
a term of years in the enjoyment of
the improvements they have made.
The cattle men believe that under
Government supervision of the public
lands they can raise twice AZ much
cattle as they can now produce. and
the expense will not be any greater
for the two than II is now for one.
That condition would, of course. cause
a big slump in the price Of fresh meat
to the consumer