TENURE AND USE OF ARID GRAZING LANDS. 53 
now more or less well adjusted to the conditions, but it also fre- 
quently induces misinformed men to attempt what can not be done, 
with consequent loss and suffering to themselves, their families, and 
the public that has to pay for their mistakes. 
Besides this, the general plan makes it possible for a certain type 
of man to play upon the credulity of the sincere farmer and for others 
to blackmail the stockman who has large investments in his range. 
From every standpoint the system is thus seen to be a poor one. 
It not only does not introduce a higher type of industry into the 
region but it displaces the industry that is already there and leaves 
the land in worse shape than it was originally. 
Government leasing system.— A government system of leasing is to- 
day in operation on grazing lands in Australia, New Zealand, and 
Texas and on certain lands of other States. Various justifiable criti- 
cisms of it have been made, but in operation it produces much better 
results than the open-range system now compulsory on our arid 
grazing lands. It authorizes individual control of the land for a con- 
siderable period, and by so doing encourages the stockmen to use 
their best skill in its management. This is the most important result 
of any system of control and the main thing sought. To that extent 
the leasing system is to be commended. 
There are two serious objections to the method, though they are 
not insurmountable. Existing custom with respect to land leases 
assumes that the lease transfers the land to the lessee for his indi- 
vidual use for a given period of time, and leaves the character of the 
use to his judgment. The price paid for the use of the land is ordi- 
narily expressed as so much per acre. Consequently there follows a 
tendency to overstock, particularly toward the end of the term of 
the lease, and a continual squabble over the price. To avoid these 
difficulties, it would be necessary to include in the lease a statement 
of the number of animals that might be put upon the land, retaining 
the privilege of counting them at any time. And this number of 
animals and the price per acre or section should be based upon the 
grazing capacity of the land, making the charge constant for an 
animal unit. However, when these conditions are written into the 
lease, two of the main features of the permit system have been 
introduced. 
The second serious difficulty lies in the fact that the kind of law that 
will suit the conditions in one region will not do at all in another place; 
and so far no one has been able to devise a lease law that would 
cover all the necessary provisos and exceptions and properly localize 
the application of such limitations. Because there has been no way 
of getting the men most affected by such a law to agree on a form of 
law that all would be willing to support, the opponents of any and 
every sort of change in the status' quo are able to argue that these 
