Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-01-06
Tennessee Dog Law.


D than men. Returns from the dos
; tax assessment from thirty coun
} ties. the first to reach the Comp
troIler's office, show 47,574 men
, and 7O,98O dogs. These thirty
counties do not embrace quite
one.third of the State, but from
them we can judge pretty fairly
what the totals will be. When
all the returns are in, the totals
will no doubt show that Tennes.
see contains nearly one hun.
dred thousand more dogs than
men. This is among the "great
inducements to immigration" to
the farming class who would nat
urally want to raise sheep il this
favored climate.
And right here let me say what
firmly believe to be true, name
Iy, that the dog tax imposed By
the last Legislature basdone more
to induce immigration to this State
from the farming class than all
the Bureaus Of Emigration" all
the Commissioners, all the print
! ed documents circulated, and all
the newspaper letters written
Not a law has been passed since
the war that will rebound so a.
bundantly to the State. Time
aud again the attempt has been
made to impose a dog tax, but
the efforts have always been stilled
by prejudice and ignorance until
the last Legislature took the bull
by the horns.
DOGS VS.. SHEEP.
Tennessee is naturally one of
the finest sheep raising sections
If the world. Tennessee wool
has repeatedly taken the prem
ium at the World fairs. notably
at Paris and London, where all
The world was brought INTO com
petition. All over the Gambler
land Mountains, embracing about
one eighth of the entire area of
the State, grass grows knee, high,
tif0rding free feed Tor sheep nine
IT ten months in the year. Sleep
can he wintered here at len cents
. head, whereas in Michigan it
costs not less than n dollar head.
This of itself is a difference worth
taking in'o consideration. Yet
millions Of dollars in cash are an
nuaiIy carried into Michigan,
paid out for wool. and scattered
among the thrifty p, puiaiion,
neking them richer every year
(as their tax duplicate annually
~hows.) while in Tennessee not
one,siXth enough wool is raised
for home consumption! Money is
annually drained from this poor
State to buy woolen clothing for
The population, and money too.
that never comes back, for there
is nothing to bring it The in-
crease in wealth in Michigan in
one year is more than it is 10 Ten
nessee in eight years. And in
Massachusetts, the increase in
wealth in five years is more than
all Tennessee is worth. That is,
the people Of Massachusetts, actu-
ally earn and save more in five
years than all Tennessee would
bring, if sold at a fair valuation.
Notwithstanding that last year
was a hard year, the increase of
valuation Of property in Massa-
chusetts on the tax books was
sizty-eight millions Of dollars, and
it is doubtful if Tennessee this
year will show one-hundrcdth of
this sum. Indeed, from the tax
already sent into the
Comptroller froGa thirty counties,
there is an actual falling off of a
bout 100000 from last year
But in these thirty counties there
lre over 10000 dogs, or about
three dogs to every two men.-
What is lacking in wealth is made
up in dogs. To say nothing of
the sheep those dogs kill, aud the
almost complete annihilation of
the wool business in general
which they cause-in addition to
Ill this, actually consume enough
10 fatten hogs for home cousump-
ion. la Massachusetts the
'swill'' from the kitchen, embrac-
ng the refuse from the table,
which in Tennessee is thrown to
he dogs fatten sufficiency of
pork for home consumption
Yet the waste from the table here
5 largely more than there, for here
lot bread three times a day is the
ule, and whatever is over, goes
o the dogs.
Not long ago | met farmer
Who had moved from Michigan
nd settled in Middle Tennessee.
)f course he wanted to raise sheep,