The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-12-10
EMPORIA NEWS.
FRIDAY DECEMBER IL, 1875.
A stnre Herd E.nw.

WHICH VIC lcdVc 10 NJeO. martin or
some other radical herd law advo-
cate: where the law is in opera
tion, how are large herds taken by,
or between fields of growing corn
or wheat to their grazing ground
without their running into the
same and doing much damage?
Is there not frequent and great
destruction by escaping cattle?
In an old, we'll settled county
like Jefferson, with fences already
built, is it advisable to have a
herd law go into effect? If so, why?
We ask for information. Win
some one "rise and explain?'-Os-
kaloosa Independent.
The thing is not possible, and
is never attempted. We know of
one great stock ranch which had
to be abandoned because it was
so surrounded by Lomesteaders
with Enclosed grain, as to render
it impossible to move cattle from
one to another part of the same
place. The only thing we can
say is that there is less litigation
in herd law counties concerning
stock and trespass than in coun-
ties not having the law.
But this is not the issue. Such
an idea arises only from an I'M
warrantably expanded notion of
the Importance of the stock inter.
ests. We make this point: That
the herd law, both as regards cat
tie and grain interests, will do the
most good to the greatest number
of people. How is this now? A
few men own large herds, of very
inferior cattle, and waste miles of
country grazing them. The land
they use belongs to some one else.
The man who attempts to farm is
compelled to spend hun dreds of
dollars to protect his farm, labor,
and growing crops, against those
rowing nuisances. How will it be
under q herd law? We have OBJ
tanned the opinions of a few on
this point and they are unanimous
that while there will no doubt be
fewer head of cattle, yet the ag
gregate in dollars will increase.
We know of an anti-herd law
friend, who, with a doleful face,
bemoaning the ruin of the coun-
ty, told us in the same breath that
he would sell off lot of his stock,
and keep only q few of better
grade. Ruin had struck him al
most as bad as it did another.
"Welr' he says, ell tell you
what 1 II do" and we were in ag-
eny for some little while, fearing
that he might say he was going to
leave the country. "There is a
quarter section" he resumed, sad
joining me on the bluff: I'll buy
that, and SOW it in wheatw We
know of still another, who an
nounced his intention Of killing
every steer he had the morning af-
ter election. We have not heard
of his killing q single steer, but
VIC have heard that he has had his
teams at work ever since election
breaking more prairie, and that
he has already turned over twelve
or fifteen acres. So it goes.
Does any one suppose that in
the heart of New York, Pennsyl-
vania or any other civilized coun-
try, any man would think Of al
lowing fifty, one hundred, five
hundred or a thousand head of
cattle to roam at will, even with
their magnificent fences? HG
wonld be voted a nuisance in a
very short time. How rare it is
to be able to get first-cl beef
steak in Kansas; and yet first
class beefsteak back in that coun-
try is the rule. In herd law coun-
ties-that is, counties where they
take care of their stock-statis-
tics show that cattle have increa-
sed more rapidly than in counties
without the law. This is simply
owing to the fact that there are
more people in those counties Ia
own stock. That is, instead OF
one man owning a herd of q thou.
sand head, ten men own q hundred
each, or a hundred men own ten
each, stock raising is a valuable
adjunct of agriculture, but the
idea which prevails concerni ng il
in Kansas-that is, that it is es.
sential that csttle shall have unre-
strained freedom of miles of prai.
rie and that all other interests
must be secondary to it is q
fraud and q humbug.
Fifteen years ago, when we first
drove this far west, we were at.
tracted by the magnificence Of
that fiat, with its rivers and bluffs
lying between Manhattan and Og
den, and known as Eureka valley
The other day, as we came
through that valley on the train
we looked out on both sides of the
road, and We verify believe there
is not one living soul more in
that neighborhood now than there
was fifteen years ago. and but a
trifle moro improvement. We
looked again, and there were about
n dozen scrawny, scraggy, and
run down steers, absolute mas.
tiers of four or five miles of that
magnificent region. Is that bust
ness? If it is, we can't sec it.
People pass over that region
every day on their way to conn
try where an unrestrained steer
is not lord.
1t will pay Jefferson county to
adopt thu herd law. 1t is a mis-
taken notion that n whole town
ship, laying wild and barren, is
necessary for the comfort of 6
few steers. They can be confined
to less territory-they will do bet
ter because better cared for. The
soil Will pay the people better
than steers, but it will require
moro work and less scratching
jefferson, and every other county
should have o herd law because
it is q fraud to compel a man tC
invest hundreds and thousands o.
dollars to protect his own prop
erty, which disturbs no one
against the unrestrained distur,
bling property of another. She
should have a herd law because
her fences are wearing out. jeff
erson county is certainly not hall
\