The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-01-11
A Fence Law.

the Firm and Home from Its first number down
to the present time, and have generally ap-
proved the course yon have pursued in advoca-
cS. of agricultural reform, and in exposure of
the many abuses under which agriculture Ia:
bors. But ] have never seen anything from
you or any of your contributors in reference to
what's called the fence laws of the Southern
States. regard it as q subject of great i'm
portance, and one on which chose who have the
time, ability and knowledge ought to enlighten
their fellow-citizens, with view to Inducing
the, Legislatures of the States to devise some
ADEQUATE remedial measures against the evils
of the present system. u tsn
Were the farmers of the South pioneer set
tiers IN the backwoods, who had just comnen-
ced to make clearing, few in number and
scattered over an immense area of wild land, /
could see some sense as we'll as justice IN the
present fence laws, which compel every man
tofnclose his lands to protect himself against
the depredations of his neighbor's rowing cat
etle. The area of cultivated land being in that
case so small in proportion to that which Is
wild, there would be manifest reason IN com
pelling the settler to inclose his patch and al
low his neighbors to let their stock roam at
large in; the forest. The greatest good of the
greatest number is sound law, IN the abstract,
at all events and would be justly applicable to
which would demand the passage and enforce
ment of such law f or frontier settlement,
proYe its gross and oppressive injustice when
applied to an old and thickly-settled country.
Why. in the name of common sense, am COM
pellea to maintain twelve or thirteen miles OF a
hideous fence round my plantation at an annu-
al cost Of upwards of thousand dollars, il
order to prevent the cattle and hogs which my
neirhbors choose to turn loose, seeking what
they may devour, from destroying my crops
and robbing my property?
A couple of months ago, half dozen sharp
nosed, saw-backed hogs, belonging to vaga.
bond negro, who has squatted on the land OF
one of my neighbors, and whose only means OF
subsistence is what he can pilfer from the COM
munity, broke through or rooted their way un-
der my boundary fence and played the wild
with as fine patch of rutabagas as you ever
saw. I caught them in the act. was as mad
as a hornet. wanted to kill somebody or
something, and went straightway for my gun
to infict the death penalty on the hogs. But l
remembered that there is "fence law" which
says that unless my fence is certain prescribed
HEIGHT, and built in certain way, strange hogs
have a right to eat up not only my rutabagas
but all my crops, and that have no redress,
and that If, not having lawful fence, injure
stock that may trespass on my land, am liable
In damages to the extent OF double their value
L went to examine the fence to see if it was
"lawful," and found that it lacked q rail of the
necessary height, and that, therefore, was
clearly in the wrong, and the Bagro's hogs as
clearly in the right / give you this as prac-
tical illustration Of the working of this law. 4
and my neighbors are compelled to keep up
hundreds of miles Of fences, not to protect our
selves against each other, 70: we have all agreed
toifence up our stock, but TO protect ourselves
against the incursion of the hogs and lean kline
ef Just such individuals as the African squatter
whom have described.
We, are grievopsly taxed as class. We have
terrible burden to carry, but of all the taxes
imposed upon US, this fence tax is the most
grieyous and the most unjust, because every ar
gament which can be adduced to justify a tax,
proves that this one should be removed, because
it Is injurious to Everybody. It is wholly un-
profitable and unnecessary. Calculate how
much a planter pays annually to keep his fences
in repair, to keep them up to the 'lawfql" stan
dard, and then calculate the value of the stock
against which these fences are reqliredl and
you will see how the Law operates. l am prac-
tically taxed, say thousand dollars year, TO
enable this African squstter to keep half "a
dozen hungry shoats running loose on other
mems property. ,Fdrm and Home.
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