Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-03-25

fore the cattle men, because cotton Is a
one-y year crop. and breeding a herd of
cattle is a three year job The great
asset Of these people Is their indomitable
courage, their gayety in adversely and
their apparent inability to know when
they are licked They have seen hard
times before and have lived through
them.
We CHANGED to come INTO Fit. Worth
at an oppOrtune moment. The town is
full OF stock raisers and cattle men be-
cause OF the annual meeting OF the
Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Association
and the annual livestock show. At this
moment, one ventures to say, there are
more bow-legsed men In FIT. Worth
than In any other spot OF the same size
on the luce OF the globe. They are a
gay and lively crowd oc riders, and no
one would suspect from their demeanor
that they were anything but rich and
prosperous.
DROUGHT. LIQUIDATION.
HIT CATTLE RAISERS.
For more than two years this part Of
the country has had its troubles First.
there came a long period Of drought, when
range cattle died by the hundreds. and
even by the thousands. This was fol
lowed by 4 period Of denation and forced
liquidation and a fail In prices Cattle
had TO be sold at far less than the cost
Of production. Men with breeding herds
that 1t bad taken years to establish had
to break into them and sell their cattle
to pay their debts. These herds must be-
replenished. How long this will take It
Is difficult to say. Local expert opinion
differs. Some OF the stoCkmen assert that
fl will take IN rqa vaare 70 gaf karL rrhora
they were in 1914 Others, more hope
full, say they can get back IN a year 70
year and a half This time viii be
taken mainly In paying or their debts
and getting back to a pre-war condition.
with the herds esta blished on their old
basis as 70 numbers and quality.
The big element Of chance IN this
whole process viii be the weather They
must have rains to grow the grass and
rains for the cotton lands The cotton
men say that one good crop az prevail
ing prices will put them square with the
world once more and enable them to pay
up. The primary interest, however, Is
cattle, and the country will not lie nor
NAL until the cattle business is normal.
The stock rasers and the bankers both
say that the breeders will have to be
carried and protected Ter two years, and
possibly three. and viii have to have
money loaned 10 them to keep them
affoat. They al are eager 70 know at this
juncture whether the war Finance Cor
poratlon Is to be continued or some sim
liar and equivalent agency for extend
ing governmental money aid is to be
maintained. In some sections the local
banks will be enabled 70 extend what
help is necessary. In others they Will
not. The possibility Of Government aid
Is desired as n form Of insurance against
money drought during the period Of re-
covery.
STOCK RAISING
WEALTH PRODUCER.
Stock raising is at once a hazardous
enterprise and one OF tho surest of
wealth producers. The cattle man is
more dependent upon and subject to what
the railroad bills Of ladlng term the acts
Of God than almost any other producer.
One hears casually the most tragic and
pitiful stories of losses from drought or
freezes that have in them an almost per
sonal element Of disaster. For example,
one Of the stockmen who last February,
in a freeze In another part Of this coun-
try, lost $250,0O0 worth Of horses and beef
cattle in four days, wiping out Mt one
stroke twenty years OF accumulation and
industry and patient breeding And of
another, who lost almost as much by
drought, so that when conditions were
at their worst he and his cowboys went
about over the range shooting the young
calves as they were born, and their
mothers. These old stockmen are not n
sentimental people; they are accustomed
to realities, they are hard bitten men;
and yet some of them, is they told these
stories did 1t with misty eyes. They
visualize and make n moving drama Of
their domestic losses.
No one ever came into Fit. Worth with
out wanting to come back again. The
qualities and the direct approach to the
problems Of daily living the courage. the
gayety, the humor that we like to think
of as ingredients of the American spirit,