216 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



Besides, from the nature of the business, more peo- 

 ple are cattle-raisers than sheep-raisers. A settler can 

 start out with a milk cow and a work team and hope to 

 see them increase as his fortune improves. The sheep- 

 man cannot make such humble beginnings but must 

 perforce start in with a band sufficiently large to pay for 

 herding and handling them. 



Every settler who takes up a piece of land or buys a 

 little home becomes at once a horse and cattle-raiser, 

 but, based upon the data available, not more than one 

 in every twenty-five is a sheep-raiser. Therefore the 

 Forest Service believes that the cause of forestry will be 

 advanced by giving the cattle-raiser the preference over 

 the sheep-raiser whenever it becomes necessary to decide 

 between the two. This cannot be called discrimination ; 

 it is rather a decision as to which of two good things is 

 the better for the whole people. 



The Permit System. The use of the National For- 

 ests is granted the stockmen through a system of per- 

 mits issued generally about the first of April of each 

 year, and for such periods of time as experience has 

 shown meet the conditions on the various forests. 



The permit issued shcfws the number of stock to be 

 grazed by the person holding it, and specifies the range 

 on which the animals are to be grazed. The charges 

 are made on a per capita in preference to an acreage 

 basis. The per capita permit is more flexible and the 

 control of the ranges far more satisfactory than where 

 an acreage charge is made and a specific area leased to 

 the permittee. In granting these permits priority in the 

 use of the range is first considered, and preference given 

 to those who have continuously used the range for the 

 longest period. In order that there may be no monopoly 



