The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1953-07-24
That Notorious Land Grab

The growing of livestock has been
one of the most important industries
in Montana for more than rs years.
The growers themselves, both cowmen
and sheeDmen, have always been con-
sidered to be among the most honorable
OF Montanas citizens, and their word
to be as good as their bond. General
~ speaking, they are exceedingly in
dependent, asking no odds from any
one, asking only an even break and
a square deal and giving everybody
else the same.
The livestock business is a long
time proposition and cannot be sud-
denly terminated without great fl
nancial loss. A properly balanced stock
ranch requires a considerable invest
ment in the following:
% A ranch home, sheds, fences and
other improvements
90 feed base, so called, this is,
land for the production of hay and
other feed for carrying the stock
through the winter
CD Enough grazing land to balance
the feed base.
(D Whatever livestock the spread
will carry.
The very nature of the business re-
quires that the stockman plan sew
eral years ahead all the time, and the
grazing land is the indispensable
foundation of the whole business.
without it, the value of the rest of
his spread is very little from a stock
raising standpoint.
substantial part of stockraising in
Montana and other parts of the West
is adjacent to the Forest Reserves and
other public lands on which many of
the ranchers have had so called graz
ing rights for many years. However,
these rights are only temporary and
subject to cancellation at a moments
notice, according to the within of some
bureaucrat* This could force a stock
man to throw his stock on the mar
ket at a great loss when he is least
prepared to do so. This was demon
strated at Malta, Montana last spring
when the Government suddenly de-
cided to cancel it's grazing land con-
tract with the Grazing District.
All that the stockman asks is that
his temporary grazing permit on pub
lie land be made permanent, and trans
ferable in case he sells his ranch,
and this is the intent and purpose of
II. r. 1929 introduced in Congress by
Representative D'Ewart Under it, he
would still be subject to the same
rules, regulations, and control of the
Forest Service or other Government
Agencies in the future as in the past.
Therefore, all the wild and absurd
charges by the dudes and the tender
feet that oVergrazing would prevail,
or that conservation and wildlife would
suffer, or that hunters, fishermen or
campers would be shut out, is entire
~ without foundation.
Again the charge that watershed
control would be seriously affected is
also without foundation. 1t is the limb
cred areas in mountainous country
that retard the melting snow until
later in the season, and not the grassy
parks. Every stockman and others ia
miliar with moyntainous country
knows that the timbered areas produce
very little grazing palatable to live
stock, and that very little grass grows
under the trees anyway.
The stockman is entitled to the same
degree of protection in his business
as any other industry or occupation
without being villified and called all
kinds of names such as land grab
ber," etc BY the same token, wheat
farmers might be called Money Grab
bers," because through parity price
supports, they receive annually, sub
Sidy from the Government of about
SIS per acre for every acre of wheat
they produce, averaging in Montana
about $4,000 per farmer, per year