FOREST SERVICE. 



319 



Grazing permits issued and number of stock grazed, calendar year ended Decem- 

 ber 31, 1922. 



ECONOMIC CONDITION OF LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY. 



During the last year the sheep industry has staged a wonderful 

 comeback. The rapid recovery in the price of wool, together with 

 the strong demand for lambs for fattening purposes, made more 

 general by the undoubted shortage in this class of stock, gave the 

 flock masters excellent returns. With the improved conditions the 

 demand for sheep by men who desired to get into the business forced 

 up prices, A break in the price of wool in June, 1923, brought a 

 comparatively small loss to the wool producers themselves, the ma- 

 jority having sold their wool early in the spring. The cattle indus- 

 try, however, has shown little or no recuperation. The demand for 

 young steers from the southwestern ranges in the spring of 1923 was 

 disappointingly low, and many cattlemen were unable to liquidate 

 their indebtedness. If a strong demand for young stock and feeders 

 does not materialize this coming fall, many of the range cattlemen 

 of the West will undoubtedly find themselves in a very precarious 

 position. 



In order to assist all classes of stockmen using the national for- 

 ests, the policy was continued of dividing the payment of grazing 

 fees above a minimum of $10 into two installments, the first to be 

 paid at the time the stock entered the forest and the second in the 

 fall. Every possible leniency has been shown the stockmen who 

 were unable to meet their grazing payments for the season of 1921. 

 It will be remembered that early in that year Congress, upon recom- 

 mendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, authorized a postpone- 

 ment to September 1 of the payment of all grazing fees for the 

 calendar year 1921. Conditions not having improved, Congress later 

 postponed the date until December 1 in order that the stockmen 



