The Prescott daily news., 1917-01-29
CATTLE TICK COSTING STATE $3,75O,OOo YEAR
So Speaker Lee CazOrt of House of Representatives, Believes $5O,000 for Eradication is a Good Investment.

Appropriation by the Arkansas leg islature of $50,000 for tick eradication work will result in the saving of $3,- 750,000 year to Arkansas farmers, according to Lee Cazort, speaker of the House of Representatives.
 The $3,750,000 represents what farmers are losing annually because of the cattle tick If the legislature will appropriate the S50,000 MT. Ca zort says the tick can be eliminated from the state in two years, because there then will be available an appro- priation of more than $1O0,O00 from the federal government If the legis- lature fails to appropriate Arkansas will get none of this government money.
 The house has passed Mir. Cazort's bill providing for statewide tick era dcation work, and also has passed the Cazort-Josephs bill appropriating the $50,000 necessary for the work The matter now is up to the Senate.
 Mr. Cazort, whose home is in La mar, Johnson county, is a farmer, and a successful one. But he realizes, as does every other farmer who has tried it, that it is impossible to make a suc- cess of live stock raiisng so long as the state is infested by the cattle tick.
 Cattle Necessary to Crop Rotation.
 During the past few years great deal has been said by agricultural ex- perts and business men to the farm CTS about diversified farming, and they have done great good for the state, because it has been the experience of every country in the world, no matter how fertile it's soil, that constant till age without the proper rotation of crops will rob that soil of it's produc- tiveness," says MT. Cazort. Ut is true that Arkansas now has thousands of acres of land worn out through the one-crop system, and that diversified farming alone can restore these worn out soils to productiveness and lasting fertility. However, 1 am firmly con- vinced that it is utter foolishness for us to talk to the Arkansas farmers about the proper rotation of crops un- less we show him that such rotation will yield him a closer profit. He must see in it clear way to pay his debts, to remove the mortgage from his farm and chattels, and to feed and clothe his family before he will turn from the system that will yield him these things, even to small extent. If the Arkansas farmer could be in- duced to turn from the so-called one crop system and the robbing of the soil to that of growing legumes and ! forage crops and the sowing of his land to pasture, we must provide him way to dispose of these crops at profit. The only way to dispose ot these crops at a profit is by raising good live stock.
 "Under the present conditions it is impossible for us to raise the best live stock in Arkansas because of the cat tie tick. It is because l believe in diversified farming in order to build up our soils, and because l am sure we cannot have profitable diversified farming without good live stock that I have taken the stand against the 1. ,,,.n do al in, rNaU tO rid the state of him as soon as pos sible.
 A Good Investment.
 "I cannot understand how any wide awake business man or farmer can criticise the proposed $50,0OO appro- priation for tick eradication. It is true that we have an ideal climate and can produce a wealth of feed for cattle. Nevertheless, at the present time Iowa has more than 100000 cattle, while Arkansas has little more than 1.OOO. .OOO head and Iowa's cattle are worth on an average $26.50, while Ar kansas cattle average only Sl5 per head. The cattle wealth of this state totals s15.OOO,000, while Iowa's cattle are valued at $118,000,0O0. With the advantage of climate and rainfall in favor of Arkansas, there is only one reason in the world why Arkansas should not equal or exceed Iowa in production and that is the cattle tick.
 "The cattle tick not only makes it impossible to bring in pure bred or Is aa4tl, ,uhich mol1ld make