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Show WESTERN SHEEP SITUATION. John M Little, tho Oregon sheep man, Is good nuthorlty. He sa)s the fattening fat-tening of sheep on t. j range Is n thing of tho past. Overstocking, settlement and adverse) legislation eonstltuto a forroldob' trio wf causes To keep nt tho business I'-edid land Is ncectai) This c plains the recent ilcmund for rnllioad land, an article thut could not bu given miay a few years back. Tho sheep business In the Went Is getting on a new bisls, und changing conditions con-ditions mean dlsenpearunee of the profitable bovine swarms that haie been con-lertlng con-lertlng wor 'ilisn grass Into gold for yeirs past. The sheep man Is bjdly hounded nowadays. ItecCntly he had the run of n vast ureu of range, and money poured Into his coffers. But overstocking, both with cattle and sheep, coupled with steady nenchment on he Phe domain by settlers, has put the shesp man between JvtJne1L surely crushing the life out of the Industry on which i he ha i thrived 1 State .legislator .legis-lator yielding to popular demand, pass measures aimed at his extinction. He holds his place on the range by armed force, and even If note to milntaln hla around I will In Ta brief while lore his footing from lack of feed If nothing else. Pending sheep troubUs In the West which have provoked lawlessness win cure themsefves In the near future, but after the cure has been effected there will be no vT'lkin, nn."ng on the open range And by be same token lcre will prob-ably prob-ably be no oren range for them tu roam over.-Llve Stock Yv oriel. It Is eildent that the increased prices I of beef and mutton are largely due tu lessened suppl), hence will be maintained. main-tained. The great cattle ranges of the AVest and Southwest have been gradually grad-ually encroached upon by the small farmers who engage In diversified farming, and this cutting up of the innges Into small farms has slowly but surely reduced the numbers of beef cattle cat-tle and sheep coming to murkeU add to this the fact that the population of the United States Is Increasing at the rate of about a million a jear, and It Is not nceesaary to shout "trust" when asked why prices of meat are higher. We believe be-lieve that thesa higher prices are substantially sub-stantially due to theso perfectly natural nat-ural causes, to the general law of "supply "sup-ply and demand" an Increased demand being met by a steadily decreasing suppl); sup-pl); and wo further believe that this decreaee In supply and Increase In de-mind de-mind Is practically permanent; there will bo fluctuations In prices, no doubt, but the Increase will pretty likely be maintained. |