RESOLUTIONS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL 

 CONVENTION OP THE AMERICAN NATIONAL LIVE STOCK ASSOCIA- 

 TION, AT PHOENIX, ARIZONA, JANUARY 14 AND 15, 1913. 



INDORSING THE ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL FORESTS. 



We believe that the administration of the national forests throughout the 

 West is conducted along most efficient and just lines. Many matters of detail, 

 which at first occasioned some discontent among stockmen, have been satisfac- 

 torily adjusted, or are being remedied with consistent rapidity, and there is a 

 very evident intention on the part of the officers of the service to manage the 

 forests so as to obtain from them the greatest amount of reasonable use con- 

 sistent with their preservation. The American National Live Stock Association, 

 in convention assembled, at Phoenix, Arizona, January 14 and 15, 1913, therefore 

 heartily indorses the administration of this service as being of distinct advan- 

 tage to the stockmen of the West. 



We further believe that the live stock industry is best served through owner- 

 ship and control of the national forests by the federal government, and we are 

 opposed to any proposition which contemplates their transfer to the states. 



URGING FEDERAL CONTROL OF THE UNAPPROPRIATED AND UNRESERVED SEMI-ARID GRAZING 



LANDS. 



The American National Live Stock Association, in convention assembled, at 

 Phoenix, Arizona, January 14 and 15, 1913, hereby declares that: 



We believe that the prosperity and development of the stock-raising industry 

 on the public grazing lands of the arid and semi-arid West is seriously threatened 

 by the present indiscriminate methods of grazing, and that thereby the perma- 

 nent value of such lands is greatly impaired, and we strongly recommend the 

 early passage by Congress of a bill providing for federal control of these unappro- 

 priated public grazing lands and a just and reasonable method of leasing such 

 lands. 



We favor a bill to operate either under the jurisdiction of the Department of 

 the Interior or of Agriculture, and along the general lines definitely recommended 

 by this organization at its annual convention in Denver in 1908, and approved at 

 all its conventions since that date. This measure would be of great practical 

 advantage to the stockmen and farmers of the West; would give full protection 

 and encouragement to the actual settler and home-maker, and, through the distri- 

 bution of the net revenues received in the construction of schools and good roads 

 in the districts from which the funds are obtained, would be of great public 

 benefit. We also vigorously urge Congress to provide without delay for the 

 classification of the unappropriated unreserved public lands into grazing and 

 agricultural districts. 



