Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-07-26
For the Yorkville Enquirer p,
THE FENCING OF STOCK.

MR.. EDITOR II peg 10 suOmlC, throuBh
your columns, few thoughts on the above
question. f.. :.
If I purchase or inherit land, no one has q
right to use that land in any way to my injury.
Roads passing through it, though necessary
for my own convenience, and that also of my
fellow citizens, are not wholly without, my
control as to their number and location. And
as to the privilege of stock ranging on my
premises, there is no original law Of nature
granting that liberty-otherwise l dare>not
inclose my land, all or any of it, against my
neighbors' stock.
There is natural and primal responsible.
ty upon my neighbor to take care of his own
depredators. The parents of a raving maniac,
who has particular fancy for alarming and
iniuring children, are held responsible for his
safe keeping. am not tofsnce up my house
against this neighborhood pest !; but 60 to
his father and inform him of his duty, and
eyery one knows what that is, viz: To keep
bis boy under fence. The same logic applies
to the pigs My potato patch is harmless
will hurt nobody. 1t stays at home and my
nighbors' pigs must do the same, or l will
hold him responsible for their good behavior
Ii is not the potato patch that needs the fence,
but the pig; and let him have it, and let the
owner make it for him. Custom, in this re-
spect is tyranny, and like all iespotisms, is
founded in wrong.
DR.. Ransom, in the ENQUIRER of last week,
has get forth the practical workings of the
system of fencing stock. in respect to tenants,
and he has shown that the necessities and
mutual interest of tenant and landlord will
open pastures for all renters or laborers. And
I am, and always have been, fully persuaded
that the close application of the law Of own
ership that I am here pleading for, will, in
the end, work good for the renter instead of
evil. .. ...1r. p. .....- ..
have often heard the argument: "Pass
this law, and we freedmen will have our OK
and COW tied to a stake. This
new law is Just another trick of the landed
aristocracy of South Carolina to crush the
freedmen" .'
To my colored friends, permit noe, to say it
is iny.opinion that the proposed change would
work for you blessing next and only second
to your emancipation. have a small tract
of land in South Carolina, and as soon as
this stock law is adopted, I will either sell or
find good homes on my place for number OF
families. But as it now is, l can neither sell
nor rent, to any advantage, more than two
horse farm. Give me the stock law, and l
will either sell or rent in small lots, to suit
you. III. -,
But here thought strikes me, that | will
not find either purchaser or renter, for
the Law will work such wonders for the freed
men thatthey will all get homes and land,
independent iof me. Those great plantations
about Brattonville and on Fishing Creek
splendid farming lands, but now wilder
ness-will all be open to invite purchasers or
renters, and will get none. Great tracts OF
the best cotton and grain lands, that cannot
now be utilized for want cf safe fences, will
be thrown out into the Unit. i States, and all
the stock put up, and you strong'armed freed
men will have nothing to do but 60 out with
your plows and range the wide opening
Now, it is an endless worry and toll to keep
stock out of your crops; then, you will be
happy and free, indeed, from the last vestlge
of oppression. Come out, then, in August,
and vote for the stock law. -..
~ F.. F.. BoYcE.