future and simply intend to skin the land in the present. For instance, the small sheep farmer who has a home and who wishes that home to pass on to his children improved in value will naturally run his flock so that the land will support it, not only to-day, but ten years hence; but a big absentee sheep owner, who has no home on the land at all, but simply owns huge migratory flocks of sheep, may well find it to his profit to drive them over the small sheep farmer’s range and eat it all out. He can then drive his flocks on, whereas the small man can not. Of course, to permit such a state of things is not only evil for the small man, but is destructive of the best interests of the country. Substantially the same conditions obtain as regards cattle. The custom has therefore grown up of fencing great tracts of Government land without warrant of law. The men who fenced this land were sometimes rich men, who, by fencing it, kept out actual settlers and thereby worked evil to the country. But in many cases, whether they were large men or small men, their object was not to keep out actual settlers, but to protect themselves and their own industry by preventing overgrazing of the range on the part of reckless stock owners who had no place in the permanent development of the country and who were indifferent to everything except the profits of the moment. To permit the continuance of this illegal fencing inevitably tended to very grave abuses, and the Government has therefore forced the fencers to take down their fences. In doing this we have not only obeyed and enforced the law, but we have corrected many flagrant abuses. Nevertheless, we have also caused hardship, which, though unavoidable, I was exceedingly unwilling to cause. In some way or other we must provide for the use of the public range under conditions which shall inure primarily to the benefit of the actual settlers on or near it, and which shall prevent its being wasted. This means that in some shape or way the fencing of pasture land must be permitted under restrictions which will safeguard the rights of the actual settlers. I desire to act as these actual settlers wish to have me in this matter. I wish to find out their needs and desires and then to try to put them into effect. But they must take trouble, must look ahead to their own ultimate and real good, must insist upon being really represented by their public men, if we are to have a good result. A little while ago I received a very manly and sensible letter from one of the prominent members of the Laramie County, Wyo., Cattle and Horse Growers’ Association. My correspondent remarked incidentally in his letter, “I am a small ranchman, and have to plow and pitch hay myself,” and then went on to say that the great majority of their people had complied with the governmental order, had removed their fences and sold their cattle, but that they must get some kind of a lease law which would permit them to graze their stock under