70 



lands to the states, (4) attaching the privilege of using 

 national forest range to the ranch instead of the owner 

 of the livestock, and (5) opposing fixing grazing fees 

 on the national forests at the true value of the forage. 



The stockmen organizations were not unanimous in 

 pressing foregoing objectives. There were voices of 

 moderation among them, but as usual, the voices of 

 the extremists were the loudest. They were supported 

 in varying degrees by some western members of Congress, 

 among whom the late Senator McCarran of Nevada was 

 one of the more active proponents of the stockmen s 

 programs. 



The only real &quot;victory&quot; the stockmen may be said 

 to have won was in relation to grazing fees. Among 

 others, some congressional committees had questioned the 

 Forest Service about the very low fees compared to what 

 stockmen were paying for comparable range on private 

 lands and some state lands. This led to a comprehensive 

 appraisal by the Forest Service of the grazing fee 

 schedules. It was a thorough job, under the direction 

 of Chris Rachford, and took into account all factors 

 influencing range-use, including the generally more 

 accessible private lands and the fewer restrictions 

 on their use. 



