The Leavenworth weekly times., 1876-02-10
J. a. 3.
Our Correspondent Advances an O-ig!na!
Idea OF the Herd Law.

Seea o. l1S 6SIA Law.
STRANGER, February !, 1870.
EDITOR TINES: No Blacs, Hills expeii-
tions are fitting out at this place, nor is
there much Centennial excitement.
Before the Legislature takes final action
on the Herd Law question, ! beg leave TO
submit another argument that singulariy
did no; occur TO me at the tine II writing
nv communication few weeks ago in adj
vocacy OF the measure.
Fence-building in this and doubtless
many other parts of Kansas has been the
means of causing multitudes oil our hardy
veomanry to do violence TO that particular
one of the Ten Commandments which says
Thou shalt not steal" Timber is unde.
niably species Of property and taking ii
s.ealthiIy, withou; the privity, consent, OF
good will of the owner, is no more or Les,
than stealing. i venture to say large
proportion of the fencing in Sherman and
some adjoining townships is built OF stolen
timber. The writer was, for time, so un-
fortunate as to have 10 pay taxes upon a
piece Of timber within one of these ungodly
enclosures. The rails and posts were pur,
chased in good faith, and without knowing
they were dishonesty obtained until it was
too late. As tiller OF that soil We old
not prosper, and We know Of few farms &
fenced that are paying their owners hand
some dividends" 1t is not right yet upon
my arrival in this county about eight
years. ago ! found singular
morality prevailing among the older set.
tiers with regard to the getting OF fencing
material / venture % say there are men
now living in this township who have so.-
ten and sold enough timber on the Crook
ed' principle, To make a six-rail wo-m
fence from the kaw River 10 the Peniten-
,iary. They called it 'jayhawking" in
those days, but We fail TO see the propriety
of adopting new names when nothing Is IL
be gained BY it. But feloniously y taking
timber for fences was not all, nor the wors,
of it. That practice led 10 the stealing ot
timber for railroad ties and wood, on a
wholesale scale. Ii is not 50 very long ago
that Justice Of the Peace OF this town.
ship was arrested for '.jsyhawking" wood
from one of the parks belonging to A. Cald-
well, in this part OF the county. He was
taken in the very act OF unloading from
his wagon quantity of the purloined hick-
ory, snatched away to Leavenworth, and
shut up in the county Jail. Though he
asked for few hours delay, to enable him
TO try case which he had set
for trial on the very day, and
horr OF his arrest, he was thus summarily
'snatched." And SO it is, that in this re-
gion the system of building has indi-
rectly led to the corruption Of the judiciary,
to qualification of the moral sense OF
many of the pioneers, and TO such 4 de-
rangement Of their mental machinery that
thew have been unable to discriminate,
with any degree OF correctness, between
sdown timber" and standing timber, par
when the demand for posts and
rails was lively, and the prices high. l
am happy to note, however, now that the
supply OF merchantable timber is pretty
we'll exhausted, marked improvement in
A good church has been
erected at Stranger. and religious services
held at the school houses in other parts Of
the township are often well attended but,
had good Herd Law been in force here
from the start, all of this CROOKED" fence
timber business would have been avoided.
Let the opponents OF the Herd Law make
note OF this fact, and deny, ii he can, the
tendency OF fence-bui!ding in
where there are timbered
lands OF nonresident proprietors. We
resi-.
Senator Ualderman's bin which forbids
appeals from justices court, where the
amount in controversy does not exceed
so, appears 10 strike the popular mind
with favor The privilege OF appeal though
to promote Justice, is often per-
,erted to the ends OF injustice, and prob
ably more good than harm would come Of
is restriction As proposed by this law;
1esides, the change would make it Of more
to the people, to only elec.
,ood and competent men Tor the Office OF
uslice OF the peace, which they would be
more likely to do.
With regard to the bill which proposes
o refer all tax levies Ui City Councils, |
Soards OF Commissioners, &c, 10 popular
ote. | would say let it be labelled "a bill |
or the obstruction OF public business and /
isposed OF accordingly. j. A. L.