Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-09-22
AN APPEAL.
Dog or No Dog.

On behalf of numerous and not alto
! gether uninhuential class, wish to address
/ a few words to our two candidates for the
| mayoralty. There is a matter of the first
importance to US in regard to which we
want you to define your respective posi-
| tons. There are hundreds of voters de-
pendent upon your response to this call.
Neither one of you has expressed, openly,
his sentiment in the premises. The matter
is one deeply affecting our comfort.
1t was brought up for action before
the present administration. We watched
it narrowly, and we are indignant at the
''shoo-fy' style in which it was hustled
aside. This, in the absence of any decla=
ration to the contrary, we must regard as
significant of the hostility, or, at any rate,
of what is as bad, the Indifference of Mr..
Morris to the measures which we insist
upon in reference to the matter IL ques-
ton. This matter is the dog nuisance SO
iercely prevalent in our midst. 1t is no
exaggeration to say that this has become
absolutely intolerable. Our city is the
worst dog ridden in America All night
long, in every direction, the atmosphere
throbs and pulsates with the underwriting
yelping of these internal creatures, poured
Oub VI VI DIdACu Vi
all shapes and sizes and all va
rieties of pitch, from deep-toned
bass to shrillest treble. Through the
streets wander squads of stray ours ready
on the smallest provocation to open up
their accursed din, any one of whom sets
agoing all the rest within ear-shot, in ad-
dition to the domestic house dogs, and
every throat thus awakened in turn wakes
up dozen others, and every one of these
as many others, and so the horrible, ear
humping discord spreads and multiphes
in a geometrical ratio, radiating from the
first bark as a centre, until miles fail to
enclose its circumference.
Now, gentlemen, we are tired and sick of
this, and we want to know which one of
you is willing to relieve US, for that one we
propose to vote and to work. All those
who lie awake at night, whose business
professions compel late hours, and who re-
tire with minds excited by their labors,
the aged, the sick, young ladies coming
home from evening companies, mothers
with young infants upon whose quiet deS
ponds their own rest; these and many 9TH
ers are forced nightly to writhe under this |
outrageous inhiction, made worse by the
sense of its outrageousness, and to undergo |
an amount of sheer torture, which, if it !
could be aggregated and the sum total ex-
hibited, would be verify amazing. Il
In a city like Nashville this is simply pre-
posterous. have travelled much and many |
cities seen, but meyer anything like this.
In the little towns of Spanish America,
nothing better is to be expected There
the filth, the aeas, the bedbugs, the lice, |
the rats and mice, the cockroaches, and the
dogs are fit coneomitants, the last the worst |
of all, however; but even there the towns
rank in the inverse ratio of the number of
their dogs And among US it is the lowest
element of the population that most
abounds in dogs 1t is not uncommon to
see three or four, exclusive of puppies,
around single negro shanty.
Now, we want this thing stopped. We
demand that these stray dogs shall be
killed off. We insist, too, that some check
be imposed on the number Of domestic
dogs. Let any one form reasonable esti-
mate of their present number and then re-
fleet upon their fecundity, and calculate
roughly their probable number within the /
next three or four years, and if he has any
sensibility, he will be positively aghast.
We want to see a tax of at least So head /
imposed upon every dog owned and kept /
in Nashville. No owner of decent house
dog will object to paying this, Our sister
city of Memphis realized last year 700
from her dog tax. We need the money |
this tax would bring US. 1t is the true
policy of the government to derive its |
revenue from nuisances. The bulk of
Federal internal revenue comes out of al
cohoHc spirits and tobacco. We must tax
the dog.
For my own part, would cheerfully
pay the city $50 a year to be delivered
from dogs altogether. They are by far the
largest item, IN the sum of annoyance,
which goes to mar the pleasantness of my |
life. And 1 know from personal commuhi
cation with others that my case is that Of
many, very many others.
Our slogan in this municipal contest is,
Death to Stray Dogs and Taxation to |
Others Now, which one of you is our |
friend ANTIcANIsT. |