The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-11-26
THE HERD LAW.
How . Lyon County Farmer Look. att.

How . Lyon County Farmer Looks at H
EDITORS EMPoRIA NEws:-FOr few
months past have noticed extracts from
other papers and articles of your own
urging the adoption Of what is known a'
the ''Herd Law for the entire State
The farmers are the men most interested
in this discussion. aud therefore should
be first heard from. since this subject
has been sprung I have taken the trouble
to ascertain the views Of the farmers
where opportunity afforded, and of about
fifty men l have found four that want q
herd law. The others objsciing, saying a
better name for the same thing would be
| s'Anti Stock Law
Now / suppos no one will deny that
Kansas is u stock country rather than a
grain raising country, and this being the
stu alton nothing should be thrown in the
way OF this business. But some say it
will not damage this business. Let US
see.
The herd law says: turn your crops cut
and fence your stock. To illustrate this
we will take the average farmer with six
| ty acres under cultivation and thirty head
OF cattle. The law says TO this man there
is q fence around your field made with
paper, SO you can do what you please
with your fence; but you must do one OF
three things with your cattle: fence them,
herd them or sell them.
The careless observer will say he can
fence them easy enough with his fence
that the law has dispensed with. II he
fences sixty acres OF prairie sod and pas
lures his cattle on it he will find that
feeding time Will come in September in
stead OF November, because the prairie
sod will not stand close pasturage. You
can readily see this would be a failure.
Ii he has them herded there will be an
additional expense and stock will not do
as well confined in a herd as at large and
will in ali probability be so lar from
home that ne will be deprived of the milk
20 necessary in every household. Besides
where will he herd, for the law says the
land is all fenced and if any body tres
passing thereon he must pay the penalty.
In the third place il he is obliged to
sell his cattle and depend upon his farm
ne will have hard time getting living
on twenty cent corn, l can assure you.
So you can see it Will deprive the poor
man OF his few steers and fat cows, which
so much help along, and will drive the
cattle from the county or into the hands
of rich men who can make 1t a business
and can afford to herd.
But TO refute this assertion, figures aie
given from two counties, one with and
one without the herd law, and it is shown
tn t the latter has the greatest increase,
but the figures fail to show whether the
cattle are owned by the masses or by
Large stock men. i will venture the as
seriIon that it is by the latter. l am sus-
tai1ed in my assertions by the testimony
of men from the herd law counties. L
have yet to find the first man from the
counties who pronounce it a blessing, but
only a necessary evil which must be en-
dured for the present. But it is not so
with our couDly, for much of the best land
is already fenced and material enough to
fence the remainder.
1t is claimed that fences cost so much
aud are after all dead and worthless
property. On the same basis houses.
barns, yards aud all kinds of shelter
might be pronounced worthless and mon
ey lying idle But these are necessary to
mans happiness and prosperity; so are
fences. They enhance the value of his
land as other improvements do and add
to his happiness by the security they af-
ford him.
A four strand wire fence can be built
for sixty cents q rod, and If properly re-
paired will stand for five years, and in
that time any man can grow a hedge
fence which will last him his life time,
and bis children also. II herd law is
dispensing with fences, so hedging will be
to a great extent dispensed with, and this
will incur loss thst money cannot make
good.
And now after giving few OF the
m any objections to the subject in hand, |
would call :he attention of the public TO
the agitators and champions of this So
allied blessing. Head and shoulders
above all others we find the land specu-
lator, who is now land poor, and unless
something Is done to relieve him will die
that way. So he calls upon the people to
help him put paper fence around bis
land, and then he can unload.
What Kansas now wants is a slow and
steady growth; the people must fortify as
they go. so 6routh and grasshoppeFs will
not be able to cause distress tnat occur
ed last year. In conclusion would cali
on the farmers to look well into this mat
ter and see II your interests are not at
STAKE more than all others. A. z.
-S S