The Glenwood post., 1916-10-28
Herd Law Would Wipe Out Nil.
lions lnyestedin Cattle Bus
mess Says Frank Benton
MENACES STOCK SHOW


counties has written the following let
ter concerning the proposed herd law,
to the Rocky Mountain News:
There is today in the state of Col
oradO approximately, outside of dairy
cattle. about 1,l25,OOO range cattl2.
These cattle are assessed at an average
of $40 a head. or about $4,000, 900.
About 10000 range horses and mules,
assessed at $50 per head, or a total Of
over $46,O00,Oo0 paying tax to the
state and counties they are in of about
S 200. 600 year. and the herd law will
wipe this out.
1.-The foot and mouth disease, of
which we all had such a horror for fear
it might come to our state, was a trifle
compared to this iniquitous law the
Denver Post is trying to put on us.
Ranches Would be Destroyed.
"The cattlemen of Colorado are per-
fectIy willing that the agricultural por-
ton of the state east of the mountains
shall have herd law. and will help
the farmers, if they so desire, to get
one at the next legislature, but the
western part of the state is purely
livestock country, and while we have
nice, productive valleys, they are small
and most of them only raise hay, and
there would be no use for that if it
wasn't for the cowmen. Seventy-five
per cent of the ranchers are too far
from the railroad to ship out their hay
if they wanted to.
GAS a rule the cowmen have as mn"'
invested in their ranches as they have
in livestock, and as their ranches would
be practically worthless without their
cattle. then this herd law would not
only destroy $45,0oO,O0O to $5o,ooo,o0
in livestock interests. but as much
more in improved ranches.
trNow it is up to the voters to say in
November whether they want to de-
stroy $1OO,OOOO00 to $15,oOo,oOO of
property in this state.belongng to hard
working. honest people by voting 'yes, ,
or whether they have the interests cf
the state at heart and will demonstrate
it by voting MOI on this amendment,
which is entitled, 'An Act in Relation
to Running of Stock At Large.
Oklahoma Case Cited
"During President Cleveland S ad-
ministration he took a notion to drive
the cattlemen out of the Indian terri
tory where for years they had been leas'
ing millions of acres from the Indians
to Craze their cattle on. So without
any warning. one dav he ordered them
to take all their cattle out of there, and
when they demonstrated he sent troops
there to put them out. There was only
one place to send them, and that was
the markets. They were all stock cat.
tie, and no demand or sale for them.
Thousands of them only brought lit
tie more than the expense of market
ing. The cattlemen all went broke. and
in turn broke over fifty banks that hal
loans on the cattle and the depositors
lost their savings that were in the
bank. and it did no good to anyone.
"This herd law won't do any good
to anyone, but on the contrary will do
an immense amount of harm to the
cattlemen, to the business men all over
the state, but especially in the city OF
Denver. Seventy-fve per cent of the
| - 81 10
the business if this herd law passes.
Free Range is Needed
"We can not get our cattle fat if
we have to herd them. We have to
have free ranges and good fence law,
same as the one that has always been
on our statute books. In the land Of
flee district that I live in are 100000
acres of unoccupied government land.
ranging in attitudes from 5000 to 49,
900 feet; all rough, broken mountains
unfit for cultivation, and fit only for
grazing. Talk about homesteaders rails
ing crops on it. Why, last year. after
reading Brother Hoggatt's Great Divide
a few times, about the glorious crops
that could be raised BY nonirrigated
faImins 3, I got busy and put III fifty
acres Of fan wheat in this high coun-
try above my ditches, and have just
finished Quitting 1t, thirteen months
after Il was put IN the ground, ana IL
wasn't rips yet. Bit as I didn Z care
too, run Il over another year, harvested
it anyway .nvs1 g Y .s''
"Jast Is sure al this herd law pas.e,
AZ Of tEs ssttlsmsn that sin,, Win move
thsarp hsfds e. wy6sins ind Monssii.
sad' t&S' hs4H' Will aslHs sshS' fsst usdsr