The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-12-30
Dogs.

The dogs of Tennessee outnumber the
men fully two to one. we are not
speaking at random. We speak by the
official returns, which, although not fuily
in. clearly Justify our opening statement;
The legislators of Tennessee mustered
enough courage last year to disregard
the coon hunters and other OF that ilk.
I'm other words, they imposed a tax on
dogs as a protection to honest Industry;
This law of course cOmpels return OF
the dogs in the state, and the first thirty
counties to report show AZ ,574 men and
707SO dogsl These counties are
about one-tbird of the state, and as they
are scattered from one END OF IL 70 .ne
other there is no reason TO Deheve ina.
the remaining two.thirds VIII pan OUT
differently. There will therefore pe
225, 900 dogs listed for taxation IN the
state. An average dog the woIld over
eats five cents worth of food day.
slight process of multiplication tnen
produces this astonishing but truthful
result: the people of Tennessee, VINO are
in default on their bonded indeDteaness,
are. annually taxed four million doiiars
to support their dogs.
These dogs produce absolutely noun
ing. They are consumers; tor the refuse
thew eat could and should be fed TO
hogs, thus producing, in Massachusetts
enough pork for home consumption:
But the question of non-preduction and
absolute consumption is not the worst
feature of their existence. There are
greater curse, because they are animals
of prev. They destroy the productive
sheep, and render its presence IN the
state uncertain and Improbable. Let us
90 back to Tennessce's tax returns 0d i0r
our facts. Giles county returns ,ZVO
dogs. Last year these worthless and de-
strnctive ours killed in the county OF
Giles /, $50 sheep. In Cheatoam county
there are 7SO men and ,999 dogs-three
dogs to one man, and the constant COM
plaint in that country is, there Is no
money in the country" There would
not be if the balance of the county con-
tanned three dogs to every man.
The case presented by the foregoing
facts is prt cisely the situation in Georgia
to-day. We have as many dogs III pro
portion to our voting. population; ou
, dogs are fully as worthless and raVenou
: as the Tennessee dogs, and in mol re pee
is there any material difference eXcep
! that our dogs have kept the upper nah'
: so thoroughly that there are fewer shee
= in Georgia to be mangled than there ar
9 in Tennessee. Sheep in may OF ou
. counties are and long have been an III
e possibility on account of the dogs.
- We wish each of our legislators woui
take slate and set down first the ya'u
of the pork that could be and should
made from the food consumed by I'll
r, dogs of Gcor. ia. Then place under
3 the wool that we could and would pr
l. ducc if there were no dogs in the stat
q, Then add up the two, without ,putt'I,
he down any other items that might be !
r, ultimately rcckoned in, and from :.
he result of the short sum in addition q,
er cover the need of a remedy that Is q
OF manded by suffering constituency.
Id tax of one dollar on every dog, as
OF Tennessee, would not oppress the own
Of. of really valuable dog-we never $;
e. such beast ourselves, but there may
le, few-while it would, ifrigidly a
he closely enforced, have tendency TO
ue the state in few years OF what N.
as r." rightly calls ian unmitigated n
is sance, curse, a blight upon industry
Z" barrier to wealth, check to inning
es- tion, and token of poverty and shitti'
All ness"