[11] 



soon stop four fifths of the fires resulting from carelessness west of the sum- 

 mit of the Cascade range. They are very rare now on the east side, and 

 though ten years ago they were more frequent, they never were destructive 

 of valuable timber, because the grasses, even when dried into hay, were 

 always light within the timber belts. Pasturage of stock is a protection 

 there, as fifty year's experience has proved that summer grazing prevents 

 dry grass fires in western Or^on and Washington. If it were d^irable to 

 conserve the forest growth it could be done by selling the land, or leasing 

 it, on defined conditions, as is done in the Australian colonies, where men 

 of weight and influence are not in the habit of making war upon the most 

 important industry possible in a country closely resembling these range 

 states; wherein there are yet (although grants, reservations and private 

 ownerships cover nearly all the water courses ) exclusive of Texas, 534,000,- 

 000 acres of public lands, of which Oregon has 35,892,318 acr^. Give the 

 people of those dry plains the wise and Uberal inducements and security in 

 their investments which have been made for sheep, cattle or horse breeding 

 in Australia ; and In addition to sheep husbandry already established, 400,- 

 000,000 acres of thoee dry pasture lands will become a field of production 

 which will feed the looms of the nation, without the necessity of importing 

 a pound of wool, and in addition will supply lamb and mutton to the peo- 

 ple. 



Senator Warren, of Wyoming, in a paper in The Illastrated Ameri(-an, 

 estimates the numbers of Uvestock now feeding in the arid land states, and 

 ranging chiefly on the public lands, as follows : Cattle, 14,000,000 ; sheep, 

 24,000,000 ; horses, 2,000,000 ; mules, 50,000. Under our existing land sys- 

 tem, the contest for range privil^es to which no man has an exclusive 

 right leads to rivalry and strife which not infrequently colminate in law- 

 lessness and bloodshed. Give leases to applicants on nominal terms, or sell, 

 under conditions, at very low rates, securing to those making permanent 

 improvements in either case the appraised value of such improvements, 

 whether on the plains, parched and dry, or on the grassy highlands, which 

 are a haven of comfort for man and beast In the summer months. From all 

 the range country at elevations producing the pine trees, timber and water 

 will be carried to and conserved on the plains, and timber preserved on the 

 mountains by local energies, guided and impelled by personal and local in- 

 terests. Double the number of cattle, sheep and horses will be kept, and bet- 

 ter kept than now ; and lands now deemed not worth the purchase will fur- 

 nish homes for thousands and tens of thousands of happy people— lands on 

 which yet the wood growth is sage brush and the permanent live stock, 

 jack-rabbita. The lease and conditional sale system in use in Australasia 

 induced the change from loose herding to the Paddock system of keeping 

 stock, and one third more stock is better kept, and at less cost, it is claimed, 

 on the same area of land than under the former method. What Aus- 

 tralians can do, Americans can do. 



