62 BULLETIN" 1001, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



controlled under the permit system if discretionary powers were 

 given administrative officials. 



As has been said, where a lease would apply best the long-period 

 permit is not essentially different from a restricted lease. The permit 

 system places supervisory powers in the hands of officials, who thereby 

 become responsible for the proper conservation and development of 

 the lands, and makes necessary the selection of men who have this 

 broad outlook. Its administration keeps them constantly in close 

 touch with users of the land. This possibility of ready adaptation 

 to various conditions is one of the greatest advantages of the system. 



Not yet thoroughly appreciated by all who have studied the subject 



is the fact that these various policies not only do not conflict, but are 



more or less complementary. It is not proposed that any one be 



adopted in lieu of all the others, but that the value of each in its 



place be recognized and that each be properly applied. As has been 



said, the one which may be made to apply most generally at present 



is the permit system, and the way in which it can be most properly 



localized and restricted in use is by the passage of a law similar to 



that introduced in the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress by 



Senator King (S. 1516), which authorizes the President to establish 



" grazing commons." In its original form that bill would extend the 



grazing system now in use in the national forests to lands to be 



designated by presidential proclamation. Some modifications of 



existing practices which such a law would establish would be necessary 



to give the degree of adaptability which has just been described. 



The argument presented here is not in behalf of any particular 



permit system, but is an attempt to present the relative merits of 



all proposed methods. 



. CONCLUSION. 



In conclusion, it can not be gainsaid (1) that the arid grazing lands 

 are today mostly overstocked and deteriorating under the present 

 form of use; (2) that they are being operated at a low standard of 

 productivity because of poor organization; and (3) that this form of 

 use is brought about by our land laws. It hardly need be stated 

 that this sort of use ought to be stopped and that it is high time we 

 changed these land laws. Though improvement in organization of 

 the range stock raising business does not necessarily follow as a 

 result of a change of methods of tenure, improvement is absolutely 

 impossible under existing laws. 



Students of our national development have pointed out that in 

 the occupation and conquest of our country we have passed through 

 two stages of development and are now just becoming aware as a 

 nation that we have reached a third stage. "During the first stage 

 individual enterprise for personal and family benefit was dominant 

 and conquered the wilderness. The idea of husbanding natural 

 resources received practically no thought. The next stage was one 



