Curves showing relation of Range fees per head on National Forests

CHART No. 4

This chart shows the relation of the stumpage prices as taken from chart No. 3 to the range fees as taken from chart No. 2. These two items are the main sources of revenue for the Forest Service, bringing them over 90 per cent of their income in 1920 and a like proportion in years previous. That a unit of stumpage has decreased in earning power from 1911 to 1920 is shown by the curve. That a unit of grazing has largely increased in earning power is also shown. The sharp upward trend of the grazing-fee curve in 1916 would indicate the need of the Forest Service for additional funds. This increase has evidently been secured by a raising of the grazing fees and a decrease in the unit prices for stumpage which acted as stimulant to the purchase of national forest timber and to the conservation of privately owned stumpage for coming increases in value.

to

Sale price per

M

for

stumpage on National Forests

210

It will be seen by a

glance

at the four charts presented herewith that certain curves are erratic and others are comparatively smooth. A classification shows that the relatively smooth curves such as "Farm wages," "Articles purchased," "Livestock prices, are the ones controlled by national and world-wide laws of supply and demand, and that these curves parallel economic conditions generally A further classification of the curves shows the erratic curves such as "t stumpage prices," and "Grazing fees, on the national forests, to be controlled by local factors, individuals, or administrative bodies of negligible weight as conpared with the nation or world as a whole. This fact appears to us as warranting considerable study on the part of these in control of those curves which do not in any way parallel the curves of world or nation wide economic conditions.

In conclusion we wish to state that we have been well satisfied with the local administration of the Nevada National Forest and have had no great cause for complaint toward the general policies of the National Forests Service. Changing conditions of the last few years have, altered relative position and circumstances, and in view of the range appraisal and adjustment now pending on the national forests, we take this occasion to present these few first-hand impressions of the factors mentioned herein. We ask that they be given just weight in the coming appraisal of grazing on the national forests. The grazing of the national forests is the property of the people of the Nation and its value might well be justly based on its value to the livestock man who is the only possible consumer. This value and resulting grazing fees can not help but show reflection in the price of the products of the livestock industry as paid for by the Nation as the consumer.

Respectfully submitted.

ELY, NEV., December 12, 1922.

EASTERN NEVADA LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hollinger.

STATEMENT OF JAMES M. HOLLINGER, LIVESTOCK RAISER, PIOCHE, NEV.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hollinger, are you engaged in the livestock business?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Not in the range livestock business. I have a ranch down there in Lincoln County, and I have a nice little bunch of purebred shorthorn cattle on it. I was in the cattle business, but I saw the finish of the range and I came to the conclusion the best thing I could do was to get out.

The CHAIRMAN. You say you saw the finish of it? elucidate on that for a moment, please?

Will you

We were

Mr. HOLLINGER. We had no protection down there. just run to death with transient sheep coming in by the tens of thousands.

The CHAIRMAN. If you had had protection you would not have seen the finish then?

Mr. HOLLINGER. I don't think so.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, will you go ahead with your statement, Mr. Hollinger?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Do you want just the present time, or a few years ago?

The CHAIRMAN. You may go back as far as you wish.

Mr. HOLLINGER. I don't want to take up your time, and I don't really consider that we have a case here, from what I have listened to. The cattlemen down in Lincoln County would like a reserve in that county, Federal control of the range, for the simple reason that we have nothing but a very few sheep of our own and we are just pestered to death with Utah sheep. In the last year we have had at least 118,000 transient sheep in our county, and those people are not on the tax roll.

Senator ODDIE. There are 118,000 sheep that do not show on the tax roll?

Mr. HOLLINGER. They show when you send the sheriff and the appraiser out to grab them, and it costs us more to get the tax out of them than we get. Some of them just ignore everything and say they will not pay it.

As far as the cattle situation is concerned down there, the past year our assessment roll shows a depreciation of 20 per cent in the number of cattle. In 1923 we had on the assessment roll, of cattle, 16,423; to-day we have 12,123.

Senator ODDIE. How do you account for the falling off?

Mr. HOLLINGER. From Utah sheep coming in there and eating up the feed we have.

Senator ODDIE. If that matter were regulated, would the stockmen of Lincoln County desire to run stock enough to use that feed! Mr. HOLLINGER. They have stock enough to use that feed at the present time without any transient sheep, because we have a good many sheep of our own, of which I couldn't give the figures, and we also have a lot of sheep coming in from other Nevada counties. Senator ODDIE. Do you feel that the people in that county are entitled to protection?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes; I do.

Senator ODDIE. You feel they are without protection to-day? Mr. HOLLINGER. They are absolutely without protection to-day. If it was not on that account I would not be here.

Senator ODDIE. If the proper protection were given, would that county and the people in it be more prosperous than they are to-day? Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes. I can tell you right now, Senator, the cattlemen down in that country are practically paupers to-day.

Senator ODDIE. If they had the range they used to have within the borders of the State, would they be propserous again?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes. They would be able to educate their children and send them here to the university, which they are not able to do to-day. Most of the cattlemen have to go out and get a job in order to do it.

Senator ODDIE. Are there any sheepmen in that county who are suffering from a like cause?

Mr. HOLLINGER. They are suffering some, but not so much. We have some local sheep companies there, and they have a good range, and they have it pretty thoroughly secured. But in the last four or five years those outside people have come in, and they just travel over the range the full distance, and they practically travel every foot of Lincoln County. If there is no snow on the ground, the first irrigating ditch they come to they camp right there until snow comes, so they can move on. And they are an undesirable class of people too, most of them. If you go around and talk to them all you can get out of them is, "Me no sabe."

Senator ODDIE. Are there many small farmers in that county? Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes; there are a good many.

Senator ODDIE. Do these small farmers desire to run more livestock than they have to-day?

Mr. HOLLINGER. They certainly do, every one of them.
Senator ODDIE. Are they prohibited from doing so because of this

condition?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes.

Senator ODDIE. What is the resultant effect on these small farmers! Mr. HOLLINGER. The result is, when fall comes along they have generally got to go out and get a job for a while before thay can pay their taxes, and sometimes the taxes go on the delinquent list.

Senator ODDIE. Is that one of the reasons why the State of Nevada has such a small population and such a small amount of assessable property?

Mr. HOLLINGER. That is one reason.

Senator ODDIE. Do you think it is a very substantial reason?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes, I do. Down in our county we are trying to build up an agricultural county, and we have some very good possibilities, but we can't do it if we don't get protection on the range. Senator ODDIE. If there was a successful livestock industry in that county, would the farmers have a better market for their produce?

Mr. HOLLINGER. They certainly would.

Senator ODDIE. If there were more livestock owned in that county would the farmers raise more hay and grain than they do now?

Mr. HOLLINGER. I don't know whether they would raise any more than they do at the present time, because with the amount of stock they have had there the last two years they have had to feed everything. They have had to ship in carload after carload of oil cake in order to save their cattle. You can find all the way from 60 to 70 dead cattle piled up in a pile.

Senator ODDIE. Is that because the feed has been eaten off by these transient sheep?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes, sir; it is. If you have a bunch of good sheep or cattle and you put them up a canyon, the first thing you know here come two or three wagons, and they will surround you with transient sheep.

Senator ODDIE. If these farmers knew that this matter would be regulated in the future would they feel justified in raising more hay and grain than they raise now?

Mr. HOLLINGER. I believe they would, yes; because they would raise more stock and they would probably have to raise more feed. Senator ODDIE. They would know that there would be a better market?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes; because if a man has a good fat steer or sheep it will bring more money than a poor one.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hollinger, I believe you stated you had retired from the use of the range and were using pastures?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you favor the enactment of a law that would grant to you a lease of the public domain, and if you could secure such a lease at a nominal cost, would you use it, and would it contribute to the value of your property?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes, I think it would. But for myself personally I would not consider leasing the range, because I don't figure on any more stock than I am able to carry right at home. I think for the benefit of others it would be the proper solution.

The CHAIRMAN. The reason you would not is because you have become discouraged with the range livestock business, on account of competition and lack of control of the range, and you have gone into another branch of the livestock business, namely, the production of purebred livestock?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes. I have a little herd down there that cost me several thousand dollars.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the farm development dependent on the right to use the range in the country where you are located?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And if you are to have a further farm develpoment is it necessary that there shall be some assurance given to those farmers that they will have the use of the public domain?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes; it is absolutely necessary.

The CHAIRMAN. Then the question of home building and bringing in new settlers and building up your community depends upon your having an assured right to use the public domain?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the value of farm units and farms predicated upon the right to graze upon the public domain?

Mr. HOLLINGER. That is the way I figure it.

The CHAIRMAN. And if such an assurance could be given to the would-be home builders and farmers they would come, and there is agricultural land that they would develop?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. But the two must go hand in hand?

Mr. HOLLINGER. Yes. A farmer can not make a living down there if he has not some livestock.

The CHAIRMAN. And he can not raise livestock on the farm unit? He must have the right to graze on the grazing lands of the public domain that are not suited to agriculture?

Mr. HOLLINGER. That is right.

I am going to ask your honorable committee to meet with us in Las Vegas, in company with our governor.

Senator ODDIE. I have taken the matter up with the Chairman, Mr. Hollinger, and he has agreed to appoint me a subcommittee to act for this committee, and we have decided on the 16th of October for that meeting. The governor has assured me that he will be there at the same time.

Mr. HOLLINGER. I will advertise it the best I can.

The CHAIRMAN. We want a full hearing, and I am sorry that more members of the committee can not accompany Senator Oddie, but I am sure he will get all the information.

Senator ODDIE. Mr. Yeager, will you come forward?

STATEMENT OF J. D. YEAGER, SHEEP RAISER, SIMPSON, NEV.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Yeager, you represent an organization? Mr. YEAGER. Yes, I am president of the Nevada State Farm Bureau.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you engaged in the livestock business, Mr. Yeager?

Mr. YEAGER. I am.

The CHAIRMAN. What branch of the livestock business?

Mr. YEAGER. Sheep.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you graze within the confines of the national forest?

Mr. YEAGER. I do.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you graze upon the public domain, the unreserved area?

Mr. YEAGER. Part of the time.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you a statement, Mr. Yeager, that you would like to make in your own way to this committee?