  The little we do know of the physical conditions in gamma-ray bursters makes
them conducive to the acceleration of high-energy cosmic rays, especially if
they are at cosmological distances. We find that, with the observed statistics
and fluxes of gamma-ray bursts, cosmological bursters may be an important
source of cosmic rays in two regions of the observed spectrum: 1. At the
very-high-energy end (E>10^{19} eV), where cosmic rays must be of extragalactic
origin. 2. Around and above the spectral feature that has been described as a
bump and/or a knee, which occurs around 10^{15} eV, and starts at about 10^{14}
eV. The occasional bursters that occur inside the Galaxy--about once in a few
hundred thousand years if burst emission is isotropic; more often, if it is
beamed--could maintain the density of galactic cosmic rays at the observed
level in this range. These two energy ranges might correspond to two typical
energy scales expected from bursters: one pertinent to acceleration due to
interaction of a magnetized-fireball front with an ambient medium; the other to
acceleration in the fireball itself (e.g. shock acceleration).
