, 1922-04-13
WHAT WYOMING WANTS.
NEEDS OF OUR STATE
OUTLINED BY WRITER

Seeing ourselves n others see Us
Is not always possible. frequently
idisagreeable and sometimes enlight.
ening, for the man standing back of
the players chairs frequently sees
things which are entirely overlooked
by the participants themselves. Thus
II comes about that the observations
OF a writer Of keen insight into az
fairs Of the day. Edward G. Lowry,
who has been travelling from coast
to coast. feeling the pulse Of the body
polite. and who paused long enough
TO give the great state Of Wyoming
the "once over" are here reprinted,
inasmuch as the writer hits the nail
squarely on the head for the most
part.
Even II Wyoming was flat on its
back. II would not tell its troubles to
the first casual stranger who came
along and asked to look at its tongue
and take Its temperature. This Is q
high, wide and handsome state, in
habited by a free-handed. hospitable
n generous people. They are amply
competent to take care Of themselves.
They do not pull long faces when
times are bad. They go out and
rustic for what they need. and usual
~ get it. Here are produced cattle
and sheep, oil and bituminous coal.
Essentially. Wyoming Is a live
stock state. Cattle-raising and sheep
raising engage the attention and pro-
vide occupation for the greater num-
Der of people. The livestock men
have had the same troubles here as
In other cattle states. but they have
shown a sharper recovery than some
OF their neighbors: Colorado, for ex-
ample. They took hold Of their stu
alton promptly. On a day last Oc-
tober they discovered they could get
money from the War Finance Cor
poration II they would form a cattle
loan company and comply with GER
tain conditions and regulations. They
organized a company that same day.
and a week later it was f%unctioning.
1t has a capital of a million dollars,
and the State. chiefly through 1t. has
borrowed $~7,265,OO0 from the War
Finance Corporation. The banks OF
the State have cO-operated and par
ticipated in this borrowing. All the
livestock men will tell you that this
prompt action through this agency
virtually saved the whole State from
a tremendous smash. 1t gave them
confidence, and with the return of
confidence opportunity came. higher
prices for sheep and cattle.
las elsewhere. the sheep men are
better off than the cattle men. be-
cause the advance in mutton and
wool has been greater than the ad-
vance in the price Of beef. How
ever, neither of them is complaining
now. They still owe a lot Of money.
and the herds on the ranges and the
ranches are depleted. say some 90 per
cent, some say 40 per cent. At any
rate. they are below normal and
must be replenished. Most OF the
s~tock-raisers say they intend to re-
plenish by breeding and not by pur-
chase and hat they will be able to
pay themselves out of debt within
two years unless they meet with some
unexpected reverse. The troubles in
this State began in the spring Of
1920. In April of that yea there
was a tremendous snowfall. The
ranges were full OF cattle. all bought
~ produced at the very peak of the
then prevailing high prices. Thous-
ands of sheep and beef cattle were
lost in this snow. On top of this dis
aster came the period OF falling
prices. Stock-rafsers tell of buying
beef steers at $50 to 500 each, send
ing them to Arizona to fatten through
the winter. then bringing them to
Chicago last year and selling them to
the packers for an average OF $3.50
to $45 apiece. Lambs got as low as
4 cents a pound, which was just about
half the cost of raising them. The
whole state last autumn seemed just
about to go broke.
1T is from this deep hole the
Wyoming men have pulled them
selves. And they have got as far