58 BULLETIN 1001, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



land they had been using taken out of the national forests when these 

 forests were first established and whose requests were granted, have 

 since become just as anxious to have these same lands restored to the 

 forests in order that they might benefit by the very system of control 

 that was originally feared. Such a procedure would merely be the 

 equivalent of extending the system now in use in the forests to such 

 lands. 



In the opinion of the writer there is good reason for the inaugura- 

 tion of a system of control of the arid grazing lands closely similar to 

 that in use in the national forests; but to include unforested grazing 

 lands within these forests in order to establish such a system on the 

 arid grazing lands would give rise to just criticism, since these forests 

 are primarily forested areas, while the arid grazing lands are not 

 forest lands, and never will be. The argument that areas of unfor- 

 ested lands now do occur in places in the national forests, is only an 

 argument for their elimination where possible, instead of for the 

 introduction of others. 



Any sort of permit system makes it necessary for capable officials 

 to determine with reasonable accuracy the grazing capacity of a 

 large region and formulate a plan for the region during a given season 

 before they can begin to allot animals to specific areas. They must 

 know the preferences of the stockmen, the possible uses of the dif- 

 ferent parts of the grazing area, its fitness for different kinds of animals, 

 and many other details of its possible adaptations to use. All these 

 details must be known before any fair and at the same time economic 

 allotment of stock can be made. Hence this system leads to a careful 

 consideration of a large region with a view to its best management. 

 The leasing system usually lacks this characteristic. 



If the grand divisions of the grazing region were made so as to in- 

 clude areas suited to a single type or complementary types of busi- 

 ness, the management would become a simpler problem and there 

 would be less probability of serious conflict of interests arising. It is 

 probable, however, that district boundaries should ordinarily cor- 

 respond with State lines so that rulings as to control would not meet 

 the difficulty of adjustment to more than one set of State laws. 



Perhaps as strong an argument as any in favor of this system of 

 control lies in the fact that it can be applied in any place, whatever 

 state of development the business may be in at the time of its appli- 

 cation. The system can be made to fit where the business is highly 

 organized and specialized or with equal ease where the reverse is true. 

 It will work where the holdings are large or where they are small. It 

 requires no radical change in general management and yet makes 

 gradual adjustments not only possible, but by its very nature tends 

 to improve the organization of the business of the region. It is a 

 restraining influence upon aggressively domineering men and an 



