2.^8 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



stockmen, like farmers, must have control of the land upon which they 

 operate; but methods have not yet been proposed for an open and equita- 

 ble division of grazing lands among applicants therefor. 



The permit system, also, in one form or another, has many advocates — 

 possibly largely for the reason that this method has been put into practice 

 on forest and Indian reserves and its results are known to those who would 

 expect to take advantage of it. The permit system, however, is practically 

 no better than free range with a tax added to the stockman's expenses and 

 a more or less unsuccessful attempt on the part of the government to reg- 

 ulate the number of animals in a specified district. As under the free 

 regime the stockman is not protected by assurance of permanent or long 

 continued tenure of his range, he, consequently, desires to get the whole 

 value out of his concession while it lasts and often yields to the tempta- 

 tion to place more animals upon his territory than his permit calls for. 

 The destructive effects of the permit system as they are to be seen on cer- 

 tain Arizona reservations are not reassuring as to the good results of this 

 method in practice. 



Australian Experience and Results. 



It is doubtful, in brief, that a satisfactory method of disposal for 

 western grazing ranges and their use as such has been devised and we 

 naturally turn at this time to Australia for suggestions. This country, 

 which is and always has been, more a pastoral than an agricultural region, 

 for the last 75 years has been making and remodeling her laws relating to 

 the disposal of Crown lands to settlers. The fruits of this long experience 

 are of unusual significance to us at the present time. As they now stand 

 the land laws of various of the Australian states present the following sen- 

 sible features: First, grazing lands are divided according to their capacity 

 to carry stock into as many as four classes and settlers are permitted to 

 occupy smaller or greater allotments of territory according to its quality. 

 Second, these lands are occupied under long tenure leases, with renewal 

 privileges, which give practically permanent control to the stockmen. In 

 addition to the motive thus created to improve their leaseholds, they are 

 also usually required by law to fence and otherwise improve their hold- 

 ings. Third, the classification of lands and their allotment to settlers is 

 done by Boards of Commissioners acting for the government with a view 

 to correct judgment and equitable division of the public lands. 



These are the leading features of those laws which have resulted from 

 the better part of a century of Anglo-Saxon experience in a pastoral coun- 

 try. 



The operation of these laws with reference to the development of 

 pastoral industrj^ is stated to be highly satisfactory. Vast areas of semi- 

 desert lands, divided into comparatively small holdings, are legally occu- 

 pied for long terms by stockmen who, prompted both by law and their 

 own best interests, improve their holdings. Thus it is that in Australia 

 an immense pastoral country has been fenced, substantial improvements 

 are installed, provision is made against famine in dry years, an^imal pests 



