The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-07


Gus one. stfH; there are men willing
to play 81 to the limit "a single pur-
chase OF 50, 900 head recently went
to Arizona. Good times encoura&e
ENTERPRISE.
Contannes 20 Fourth
There Is humble but essential
branch OF the business " hich mas sp
far failed to benefit much by these
good times In spite Of peans
incurred as Hgnre of the past. Ine
.cow-puncher continues to flourish.
He also continues to draw the wage
fixed BY long custom around thirty
dollars month. Here and there ne
begins to protest. AS one veteran
phrased his mild reproach when ne
QUIT the outfit he served for ten years
Now that any yearlin ts WORTH
more than make q month. they done
lost all respect for me. =
But all there things are mercy
the surface details that catch the
eye. The real changes lie deeper.
For instance, there is the question. O.
the land For thirty years the cattle-l
man has been losing the range, thal
is essential to his existence, betore
the inroads Of the farmer. Even tnel
barren plains Of the Southwest, long
deemed At for nothing but grazsn Y,
have been invaded in thousands py
the dry farmer, so-called because
he optimistically denies the assertion
that it is impossible to raise crops IN
this season without Irrigation me
dry farmer dotted the range with ms
hundred and sixty acre homesteads;
and as he naturally took up the IN
and in some sections he literally
drove the bowman from the range:
Bitter feuds were waged and violent
methods resorted to on either SIDE
hut with the pressure of population
and economic necessity behind MIN
the hester stuck.
Farm Takes It's Place.
Today economic necessity seems
to have gone over to the enemy.
The steer is. valuable animal VIC
can pay for his range. The large
owners are leasing state lands on a,
wide scale and even buying home
steads which carry water rights, up
til we have the anamo1ous spectacle,
of the farm giving place to the range
Some Of the leases of public domain
are of a magnitude to open an east
erner's eyes. There ts point N ~
eastern New Mexico where the FL
IPaso and Southwestern railway pass
les through a gap in barb-Wire
fence. The curious traveller is IN
formed that he is entering the pas
lture Of one of the big ranches. TWO
hours later the train passes through
Ia gap in q second fence. He mas,
Iemerged from the pasture. The re-
uuiem OF the open range has often
been 1es sung. but the most exactingl
lplainsman can not be cramped by
fences sixty miles apart.
These are some Of the changes al
ready brought about, but the great
er ones are yet to come. They Will
all lead in the direction Of increased
Iefiiciency and more intensive care
in the handling Of the stock. That
more progress has not yet been made
in this direction is due largely to the
conservatism of the old guard in the
Industry. Not that the catt1eman is
lunprogressiye, but he has seen too
M any ups and downs In the game TO-
give over lightly the tfme-tTied way
OF running his business a big stock:
man shook his head when he heard
Of recent sale OF cows IN texas ~
500 head.
The COW game is the biggest gam
bic on earth" said he, and they
keep on raising the ante"
Better Care.
But should the high prices hold,
as all signs indicate, the animals VIII
be treated in way more commen-
no longer be left to the mercy Of
nature, to be whe1med In drifting
snow, to die by the trampled water
holes In a dry year. to sink in boys
or drown In swollen streams.
Ranching and farming will be COM
hined until the biggest owner raises
ample winter feed as some of the
smallest do today. There Will be adj
euuate protection against storms. adj
equate care for the calves IN spring
time. There may even be artificial
propagation OF range grasses an
idea hailed as wild, but quite within
the bounds of practicability. Diseases
will be combated with far greater
rfgor.