The people's voice., 1945-12-14

Montana's income has been highest in
its history; never before has the state
been better able to pay the tax which
was not imposed.
House Bill 10 is not the only in
stance of large-scale depletion of Mon
tana's school funds legalized by legis-
lators who seem to me lacking in the
proper sense of responsibility for the
public welfare. There is another in
stance, which l consider also deplor-
able. This is the maneuver by Mon
| tana stockmen, or some of them,
which in the last dozen years has
cost the public school fund probably
a couple of million dollars income
from state school Landslide birthright
of Montana children.
To understand this we have to go
back to 1927. Chapter so of the Laws
of that year established a schedule of
grazing fees on Montana school lands,
ranging from an annual payment of
$40 per section for poor land to a
top of $40 to $100 for extra good land.
In 1888 the stockmen, pleading power
ty, persuaded the legislature to cut
these fees exactly in half: 500 sec
tion became the lowest grazing rent
al, $50 the highest They solemnly
assured the education authorities and
the state administration that as soon
as times improved they would support
a return of the rentals to the old level.
They didn't make good on that prom.
Use. Instead they have resisted. for
several years, every attemDt to bring
the income from school lands back Nd
TO where it should be. Meanwhile
they have enioved some of the fattest
years in the history of the Montana
livestock industry.
In 1943 the legislature, moved-but
not very moved-by the protests of
the friends of education. ordered an
Investigation of the situation by
committee of five. and DESIGNATED the
membership of that committee thus:
one from the stockgrowers associa-
tion. one from the woolgrowers' asso-
citation one from the state grass con-
commission. one from the
state board of education. and the state
of agriculture. This
made it virtually inevitable that three
of the five committee members should
be stockmen.
AS a result of this investigation, a
new law was adopted this year. II |
is Chapter 207, Laws of 1945, and
it to your attention. First, |
the bill calls for an appraisal of state
lands, on a carrying caDacity basis. |
"as rapidly as practicable"-bu it
ioes not provide funds with which
he state land department, which new
er has been properly stated, could
lire skilled help to make this study.
Until this appraisal has been made.
he stockmen will pay little more
han they have been paying-S24 in
stead of $40 per year for section of
poor land, up to $50, instead of $50,
or the very best. Remember that the
I'D rate ranged from low of $40 to
high of 800, before the so per cent
,ut the stockmen won in 1898 on their
,lea of destitution; consider the fact
hat their income in 1914 was some SS
million dollars, or five times what it
vas when they got the fees cut. With
heir income up 500 per cent, they
rant the public schools an increase
# 20 per cent in rent for the four mil
ion acres upon which they raise their
attle and sheep.
But perhaps the schools are lucky
O get even this much, for unless Chap
er 207 of the Laws of 1945 is repealed
nd rewritten, they might get even
ess when and if that appraisal is ever
made. The law assumes that it will {
ave been completed by Feb. 28 194S, {
nd provides that after that date the
razing fees shall be based upon an
nimalunit-month schedule related to
arrying capacity-and that I think
) an excellent thing. But until or un-