IB 



and when range herds of cattle or llocke of sheep invad- them their s 

 port is destroyed. 



The laud commission, designa! ed to select State lands in Wyoming. 

 has received applications from such settlers, which aggregate over a half 

 million acres, for the selection of grazing lands adjoining i heir farms, an. I 

 there is no knowing what these oai)])lioatioM would aggregate if tin* 

 commission had not given notice that no further requests ..r tins Km,! would 

 be considered at the present time. The number of those reqiiewtH oud the 

 statements made by applicants can lead to but. one c<.ncluhi<>n: that the 

 need for relief in this matter is urgent; thai tin* injury which is beinflr 

 wrought from this omission is serious and widespread Many <.f these 

 ranchmen state that their ability to support themselves and their families, 

 their ability to remain citizens of this State, rests entirely upon some relief 

 being afforde^ 1 ; which relief must give them the opportunity to use and 

 control the grazing lauds contiguous to their farms. Now, this question, 

 so full of serious import to Wyoming, is a matter of no cons. M|iicn<-> to 

 California, of UQ consequence whatever to Kansas, to Dakota, to Nebraska* 

 and the only way in which we can expect it to receive adequate ami intelli- 

 gent treatment is by the transfer of its management to those who under- 

 stand it and have a vital interest its proper solution; and that authority is 

 the State. 



I am in favor of the transfer of this matter to the State, because I be- 

 lieve in that way homes can be secured for the homeless at less cost than 

 if the work is placed under the control of the national government. I 

 believe that ditches built by the State, or by private parties under the 

 supervision of the State, will be better built, will be built at less cost than 

 if built under the control and supervision of the United Slates; and if the 

 settler is to pay for this, the settler is the one to be beueh'tted by the eco- 

 nomical procedure. 



I believe that Wyoming, of all the arid States, is the last one to look 

 with favor on a surrender of the control of this matter to the national gov- 

 ernment. We occupy the crefit of this coutiuent, we have in our mountains 

 the greatest store-house of water in the whole arid region. If the solution 

 of this question is left to us, if we are given the means to carry on this recla- 

 mation, then the extent of our development will only be limited by the 

 extent of our opportunities. If this matter is transferred t. the Tinted 

 States then our development will not depend upon our opportunities, but 

 upon the influence 0f the States below us. 



The only objection which I have ever heard urged to the transfer of 

 the entire control of this matter to the State has been thecontention that 

 State legislatu res are essentially dishonest; that State legislatures can 

 not be entrusted with the management of so great a trust. 1 have n 

 believed that that objection was a valid one because in the first plae. 

 is not necessary, it is not desired that an absolute grant be made fr in 

 the United States to the State. All that is desired is that the grant be 

 made conditionally; that the State be made a trustee; that the g- 

 conditions under which these lands are to be administered and reclaimed 

 be nxed by congress and that on the failure of any State to comply with 

 those conditions that congress b 3 authorised to again assume control. 



I do not believe it, because to admit that the State authorities are 



