45 



grower and still make a profit. It is not fair to the people who are 

 compelled to bear the expenses of local government for large untaxed 

 areas, nor on the other hand to the cattle men and woolgrowers of the 

 East whose products come into competition with those grown almost 

 without expense on free Government lands. The policy which governed 

 the settlement of the prairie States might well be modified to meet 

 the demands of the stock raisers, especially as a very large percentage 

 of the Government land now remaining is not agricultural and can not 

 be made so by irrigation. The best policy is that which will the best 

 promote permanent settlement. It is necessary that timely action shall 

 be taken to open up the public lands for settlement in tracts extensive 

 enough to encourage men to build ranches and make permanent improve- 

 ments upon them. The continued existence of great bodies of free lands 

 covered with free grass is demoralizing to all those who take advantage 

 of the opportunities presented thereby. As suggested above, probably 

 the most feasible plan would be to provide for long-term leases of the 

 public lauds for grazing purposes. 



BENEFITS OF IMPROVING THE RANGES. 



The number of cattle owned in the State of Texas on January 1, 

 1899, was estimated at 4,533,897 head, valued at $7G,6G5,937. At the 

 same time there were 2,513,917 head of sheep, valued at $4,448,039, 

 and 1,137,015 horses, valued at $20,088,788. The total value of 

 sheep, horses, and cattle, exclusive of milch cows, at that date was 

 $101,202,764. Nearly all of the sheep and a majority of the cattle 

 and horses were grazed or fed within the territory included in this 

 report. It can be safely taken as correct that 75 per cent of the 

 8,215,000 of live stock of these three classes is pastured on an area of 

 less than 200,000 square miles, or, in round numbers, about six and 

 one-fifth million head of stock are pastured on one hundred and thirty 

 million acres of land. iSTow, if by any of the methods which have been 

 suggested here, or by any treatment which may be devised, the carrying 

 capacity of these arid land pastures could be improved and increased 

 even to the extent of 25 per cent, it would mean an increase in taxable 

 values of the State of at least $25,000,000. It is the opinion of a majority 

 of stockmen who have raised cattle and sheep in Texas and Kew Mexico 

 during the last twenty-five years that there has been a marked decrease 

 in the amount and value of the natural forage, resulting in a proportional 

 decrease in the number of cattle grazed. As has been stated above, an 

 average of decrease taken from estimates made by 300 stock owners in 

 Texas in 1897 was about 40 per cent. There is no doubt whatever in 

 the minds of men who have studied the capabilities of the Texas soils 

 that the lauds themselves are nearly as fertile as they ever were. In 

 fact, it is a general law that the lauds in exclusively pastoral countries 

 are continually improving in fertility as opposed to lands devoted to 

 the cultivation of cereal and staple crops, because little of the essen- 



