22 Western Live-stock Management 
large if the law is to be effective. At the present mo- 
ment, there is a law before Congress for a 640-acre grazing 
homestead. Six hundred and forty acres is too small and 
if such a law be passed, it will not affect any large por- 
tion of the range lands. If, however, the ranges were 
classified and the homestead in each case made large 
enough to support a family, whether that be two sections 
or ten, the law would really be effective. Another way 
in which the result might be reached more cheaply and 
quickly would be to fix the size of the homestead taken 
the first year at one section, those taken the second year 
at two sections, the third year, three sections, and so on 
until all of the land was taken. This would leave the 
classification to the judgment of the homesteader and 
he could take his choice whether he would homestead a 
section the first year or wait until the next and get two 
sections of what was left by that time. 
The leasing system would put the range under control 
with the least difficulty. It would not involve a vast 
shifting of population as would be required by home- 
steading or the enormous influx of capital and outflow 
of interest which the sale of the land would necessitate. 
The men who are now in the country, the men who have 
already built homes and roads and schools, would be given 
a positive control of the land they now use in the sup- 
port of their families. For this they would pay a small 
annual rental, a sum within their means, and a sum for 
which they would receive immediate and compensating 
returns. On the other hand the rental in the public 
treasury would be most useful in the further building of 
roads and schools and in the general support of the com- 
munity, whereas under the present system, these 290 
million acres must have roads and schools and a general 
