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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1914)
Why Stock Growers Should Join the Nebraska Stock Growers Ass'n. Good Work of the N. S. 0. A. If Nebraska Mocktnen, racially cattle and borne men, knew more of the Rood work done by the Nebraska Stoek Grower Attxoeiation and the bene fita already derived from the service rendered by the orRanization, and if they understood fully the. work yet to be done by tho association, The Herald doubt not that the metnboi-Khip would be doubled cr trebled within a very short time, an it should be. ' Wo have in previous issues Riven reasons why the membership of the N. S. G. A. ou&bt to be large ly increased, and Rive a few herewith. We shall Sublish more detailed information on aome points i the fouf succeeding1 tsHue of this paper, which will take up to and inclwto the issue printed during the annual convention;' June 17, 18 and 19. We -ah all be pleased to send these four issues of The Ilerald, free of chaTRe, to any one interested in the work of the Nebraska Stock Growers Association but who is not now a subscriber. Fill out the cou pon on the opposite page and mail immediately. The paper will be mailed, free of charge, each week un ' til June 19, at which time it will be discontinued un less ordered acnt longer. Expense! of the Association The expenses of the. association and its work are paid by a comparatively few, the membership being only about four hundred. There are more than three thousand persons in Nebraska engaged in stock raising, or directly interested in the indus try, who ought to be members of the association. If they would all join for the ensuing year by the time of the annual convention in June, the member ship fee could be reduced to an amount that would be insignificant. The annual dues for each member at the pres ent time arc $2.50 plus three cents per head of cat tlo and horses assessed in the state at the last as .acasmcnt. The average number of head owned by the members is about 350, or perhaps a little less. The average annual dues is now about $12.50. With the membership doubled the expenses of the associa tion would not be materially increased, hence the average membership dues would be practically cut in two, making only a little more than six dollars for the man with three hundred and fifty to four hun dred head of stock, less than two cents per head. , With tho membership increased five-fold, as it should be, the expenses of the association would not be more than double what they are ,now, in fact would not be double, so that the average dues would be but little more than one cent per head, practically nothing to the prosperous stockman. Some readers may want to know why the ex penses of the association will be increased only a comparatively small amount oven with a large in crease in the membership. The reason is that some of the expenses of conducting the affairs of the as sociation are the same, or about the same, with a small membership that they would be with a large membership. The main item of expense is that paid for brand inspection at the open markets. This ex pense is, in fact, more than all the other expenses of the association combined. A lump sum is paid, so much per year without reference to the num ber of head inspected or the number of members of the association. Hence it is easy to sec how an increase in the number of members of the as sociation w ill decrease the annual dues per mem ber. Benefits of Brand Inspection As to the benefit of brand inspection, no stockman who has received its protection would think of being without it for the small cost of membership in the Nebraska Stock Growers As sociation. The direct benefits derived from brand inspection are for the members of the association, but other stockmen arc indirectly benefitted, as we will show, and ought to help bear the expense. The law of Nebraska provides for the recording of Rtoek brands in the office of the secretary of state. Every ranchman in the state who has his brand recorded, and rc-recorded every period of five years, is legally entitled to the exclusive use in Nebraska of the brand or brands so recorded. All branded cattle shipped from Nebraska to South Omaha and other open markets are in- spectcd by expert brand inspectors, who are pro vided with an abstract of the brands of the mem bers of the Nebraska Stock Growers Association, the expense of the inspection being paid by the association from funds derived from the annual dues. When cattle are found in any shipment bear ing a brand that belongs to a member of the N. S. G. A. but not to the shipper, unless the shipper can show a bill of sale for them, they are cut out and the money for them is returned to the owner instead of being paid to the shipper. It would surprise most people to learn how many cattle are found in shipments where they do not belong and how much money is returned each year to the rightful owners. Some years the amount runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cattle get into wrong shipments in two ways, by mistake and by being stolen, most, frequently by mistake. Brands are some times indistinct and can be accurately discerned only by removing the hair, as is done when necessary by the official brand inspectors at. the stock yards. Est rays get among the cattle of ranchmen who do not know but what they are part of their herds; and even if they do know that the cattle are not theirs, it. is difficult for them to ascertain to whom they belong unless the owner is a member of the asso ciation. , Brand Inspection Stops Cattle Stealing There was a time before the Nebraska Stock Growers Association was organized when rust ling cattle was an important industry in this state. It is still carried on to some extent, but the wise thief avoids taking anything belonging to members of the N. S. O. A. He might steal a steer belonging to a member and get away with it by skinning it and burning the hide, but he can't ship it to an open market without getting caught. Something that occurred recently in Cherry county, Nebr., serves as a good illustra tion of the difference it makes to a cattle thief in Nebraska whether the stuff stolen belongs to a member of the association or not. A load of cattle was stolen and shipped to South Omaha. They were branded but the own er was not a member of the association. Had he been, the money for the cattle would have been returned to him, instead of being paid to the thief who would have been undoubtedly caught. When the owner of the cattle discovered his loss, he made an investigation and after much work and expense, that would not have been needed had he been a member of the association, he learned that his cattle had been sold in South Omaha to an Towa feeder. Other Reasons for Joining Association There are other splendid reasons why all Nebraska ranchmen and others interested in the live stock industry in this state should join the association, all of which cannot be mentioned in one issue of the paper. Brand inspection is a matter of great importance to all who are in dan ger at any time of losing their cattle by being stolen or straying. Some of the good work of the association benefits stockmen who are not members as well as those who are, by making it dangerous for cattle thieves to try to operate in thts state, but no one has a right to expect the benefit of the brand inspection provided and paid for by the association unless he is a member. Many other benefits of membership in the N. S. G. A. might be enumerated, but they can all be included, in a general way, in the good that comes to any line of industry or business when those engaged in it are in touch with each other. They are ready then to act conjunctively on short notice when occasion requires, which would be practically impossible without organization. As there will be some readers of this number of The Herald who did not read the article in the N. S. G. A. department in the issue of April 16, and as matters of vital importance were men tioned therein, we wish to reprint a part of it as follows: Necessity of Union Among Stockmen "Tn union there is strength." It is evident that there ought to be closer union among the live stock interests. Persons who are not posted on what has already been accomplished by the Nebraska Stock Growers Association will be sur-' prised by an investigation. While the expenses of the organization have been borne by a compar atively few (the membership being composed of only a small part of the stockmen of the state), the work done has not only more than repaid the members but has either directly or indirectly ben efitted those who are not members. Nebraska is called an agricultural state, but it is more than that. It is one of the leading stock growing states. There is no part of th state where the raising of live stock is not an im portant industry, but in a large part of the state stock raising is of vastly more importance than crop growing. As the land becomes deeded even tually that which is good only, or principally, for grazing will go back into the hands of stock men, under deeds from the homesteaders; and when they own the land they will raise a better grade of stuff than they did with free range and free pasture. This with better winter feed and care' will immensely increase the value of the products of the "ranch country"; while cattle and hogs will never cease to be raised in abund ance in those parts of our state where corn and alfalfa are the leading agricultural products. A Getting in Touch Movement There should be more co-operation among the live stock interests of this state. The Herald believes this can be accomplished by a "getting in touch" movement, and is glad to take the lead in trying to bring about the desired results. This is an age in which interest succeed, not by fight ing among themselves or being indifferent to wards each other, but by working together for the accomplishment of a given purpose. Co-operation among those engaged in the same industry or business spells success. Organization is an important factor for thi promotion of co-operation. It is not possible to c-btain as great results without proper organiza tion as with it. For this reason The Herald strongly advises all Nebraska stockmen to join the Nebraska Stock Growers Association. The cost of membership is insignificant in proportion to the benefits to be derived, and the larger the membership the less will be the cost to the indi vidual member. The splendid work of the asso ciation and the benefits to the live stock interests of the state are not as fully appreciated as they should be. If you want to know more about the Nebras ka Stock Growers Association and its members,, read The Herald. It will be a help in this getting in touch movement for stockmen to become bet ter acquainted, as well as for the information of readers generally, we are going to introduce thru these columns as many as possible of the members of the N. S. G. A. Watch succeeding issues for them. Legislation and Quarantine Matters of legislation arise from time to time affecting the live stock industry. Stockmen know better than anybody else what is to their interests and to what they are entitled. An indi- (Continued on page seven) r --"Si. j ft - n m MILLARD HOTEL ..r. 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