the wildlife than was available before the treatment. I would say that this 

 is a very conservative estimate. The increase goes primarily to livestock. 



Curt Hughes 



This is the year of the Bicentennial! Very little has been said about 

 the resource basically responsible for us having the greatest count2?y on this 

 planet. That resource is land. The land tenure system we have and utiliza- 

 tion of the land was developed by people with a broad background of experi- 

 ence and knowledge. 



I believe it worth our time to review this background. 



The breakdown of the feudal system began with the invasion of England 

 in 1066, This was the beginning of change in the westward movement of o\ir 

 civilization. The Magna Carta Charter of English freedom started the process 

 that became responsible for our Constitution. 



The most powerful idea as a result of the Revolution was Equality. The 

 nine basic principles of the feudal system were eliminated. This was the 

 first country in the history of civilization to give the land to the people. 

 The free enterprise system developed with the land settlements. 



The new land system in America provided freedom of action to buy, sell, 

 transfer, contract, will, give, use, or leave idle. This developed into a 

 system to emphasize rights and to ignore responsibilites. There was an ex- 

 tensive land area and few people. 



In about 1785 the Land Tenure system became the law of the land with the 

 passage of the Northwest Ordinances. Government regulations were to be kept 

 to a minimum. In the next 100 years land acquisitions and methods of settle- 

 ment changed as the need arose. 



I am going to tell about my family's experience with land. 



At the end of the last century my Mother came to Montana to teach. Her 

 geography called this area the "Great American Desert". 



During the late 1840's famine swept Ireland, and many people starved to 

 death. My grandfathers, both named Hughes, came from adjacent counties in 

 Ireland. They wanted security and settled on land to produce food — one in 



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