44 



vious to its annexation to the United States contains no public laud 

 other than that belonging- to the State, and the use of pasture lands 

 within its borders is regulated entirely by State land laws. With the 

 exception of California it is the only one of the Western States where 

 the ownership of the ranges does not lie entirely in the National Gov- 

 ernment. The only way in which the noninineral lands can be filed 

 upon is either under the right of preemption, under timber claim laws, 

 desert land laws, or those relating to irrigated lands. There is no sys- 

 tem for disposing of areas unsuited for agriculture other than under 

 some one of these laws, and the result is that the grazing lands are 

 held as commons open to any stockman who can ruu his cattle upon 

 them. There is no law ivliich recognizes the existence of pasture lands or 

 in any n- ay provides for their management and disposal. 



The problem of range improvement in Xew Mexico, and in every one 

 of the Western States and Territories where there are still large 

 bodies of Government lauds, is not wholly the introduction of new and 

 better grasses nor the cultivation of better forage crops. The first and 

 foremost necessity, if the extravagant waste of the public domain is to 

 be prevented, is to devise some system by which grazing lands can be 

 placed in a class separate from agricultural lands, and under which 

 property rights in lands now free to everyone may be assumed by indi- 

 vidual stockmen.* It has been the experience in all pastoral countries 

 that proper care and conservation of the forage resources can only 

 be secured and will only be practiced where the tenure of the land is 

 sure. The necessary fixity of tenure might be legally provided for by 

 long-term leases directly from the General Government at a nominal 

 rental per acre. 



As it is at present, xhe value of the grazing on the public lands 

 depends almost entirely upon such matters as seasonal rainfall and 

 accessibility. The winter of 1896-97 was accompanied by exceptionally 

 heavy rainfall over almost the entire southern and eastern portion of 

 New Mexico. This combined with the extraordinarj^ shortage of cattle 

 on the ranges permitted the rapid develo])ment of the range grasses, 

 so that during 1897-98 the snpply of feed was unusually large; 

 and, Avhereas the sonthern ])()rtion of the valley not having received 

 any more than the normal i)recii)itation, would not carry in the spring 

 of 1897 more than 10 to 20 head per square mile, the upper portion of 

 the valley at the same period was covered with grasses and would have 

 carried at least 50 head to the mile on almost any i)ortion of it. 



Aside from the effect of overgrazing on the lands themselves and on 

 the natural grasses with which they are covered, it is well to note that 

 millions of cattle .and sheep are grazed on free lands in every Western 

 State and Territory. These lands contribute no taxes for the support 

 of the State governments. The cattle when marketed may be sold at a 

 much lower figure than those raised on taxed lands owned bj'^ the-stock 



" F. V. Covillc, in Forum, Septomber, 1898. 



