Compared to the previous one, the winter
of 1885-86, with the exception of the great January blizzard, was the
less severe of the two. On the firm's range in the Cherokee Strip our
losses were much lighter than during the previous winter, owing to the
fact that food was plentiful, there being little if any sleet or
snow during the latter year. Had we been permitted to winter in the
Cheyenne and Arapahoe country, considering our sheltered range and
the cattle fully located, ten per cent would have been a conservative
estimate of loss by the elements. As manager of the company I lost
five valuable years and over a quarter-million dollars. Time has
mollified my grievances until now only the thorn of inhumanity to dumb
beasts remains. Contrasted with results, how much more humane it would
have been to have ordered out negro troops from Fort Reno and shot
the cattle down, or to have cut the fences ourselves, and, while our
holdings were drifting back to Texas, trusted to the mercy of the
Comanches.
I now understand perfectly why the business world dreads a political
change in administration. Whatever may have been the policy of one
political party, the reverse becomes the slogan of the other on
its promotion to power. For instance, a few years ago, the general
government offered a bounty on the home product of sugar, stimulating
the industry in Louisiana and also in my adopted State.
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