Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-04-29
THE. FENCE LAW IN THE SOUTH.

| Stdunton Spectator.
THE FENCE LAW IN THE SOUTH.
There is considerable interest manifested
over the effort now being made, in some
sections of the South, to abolish the old un-
just law whereby each farmer ia compelled to
fence bis field and to compel instead, the
owners of the stock to con6ne them. Where.
ever intelligence becomes widely dissemina-
ted, the injustice and folly of the present law is
recognized, and the oppression of an enact
ment by which farmer is compelled to build
and keep expensive fences to preveAt depre.
dation of others cattle, becomes realized. In
no civilized portion of the world is the farmer
required to protect his field against stock;
and it is a sad evidence of old fogyism, gen.
eral ignorance and backwardness of agricul-
ture in the South, that such law as that
now in force can exist. When the country
was very sparsely settled, farms few and the
timber very abundant, the present laws we're
enacted, and like many laws and customs it
has outlived its usefulness; and from being
for the greatest benefit to the greatest num-
ber, is has become operative for their great
eat injury.
A few facts regarding the expense of fences
will demonstrate the wastefulness of the sys.
tern. The average size Of farms throughout
the seven Southeastern States is 200 acres,
and the yearly tendency is to further reduce
the average size. Now the actual FIRST cost
of rail fence around such farm, where
good pine timber is abundant, is about $3.50,
or $1.25 per acre; but where pine is scarce,
and oak is used, the cost more frequently
rises as high as 50 per acre.
The actual statistics obtained from every
county and published by the government
at Washingt N, show that the number of
acres in the Southeastern States is about
3,028, 900, and that the actual first cost of
the fencing for these farms was $177 200, 600
an average of over $l.90 per acre; and that
the value of all cattle, sheep and hogs is
about 100000. From these figures it ap.
pears that for every dollars worth of stock,
about So are expended to keep them out of
the fields.
Many of us have heard of the foolish boy
who invested ten cents in candle in order
to look for the three cents piece he had drop
ped. The annual cost of repairs on the rail
fence is known by all farmers to he about
one tenth of the fence thus the amount spent
every year by the seven Southeastern States
must approach $17,OO0,0OO.
Now, upon my farm, which is situated in
one of the heaviest timbered sectors of the
South, find that the annual cost of repairs
to my fencing is about fourteen cents per
acre in other sections, where pine is scarce
and oak is used, the annual expense is doubt
less much greater. Moreover, the extent of
land wasted under rail fence amounts to
2 acres on farm of 200 acres, or one per
cent. equal in value to about ten cents per.
acre annually.
A farmer owninga farm of 200 acres grum-
bles loudly at being compelled to pay State
tax of about nine cents per acre but without
any disquietude submits to an annuafimpo-
sition, under the present fence law, of an un-
lust tax equal to not less than twenty-four
cents per acre.
The small farmers pay proporiionately
heavier tax to the fence law imposition than
the large, for it requires more rails per acre
to inclose small farm than large one, as
is readily demonstrated by the fact that while
one acre requires $50 feet of fencing, four
acres require, not four times as much, but
only twice al much say 1,70O feet. Thus,
the poorer the farmer, and the smaller his
planting operations the heavier is the rate
of his tax while the richer the farmer, and
the more extended his undertakings, the light
er is his rate Of taxation.
Even if the present system of fencing is
considered with regard to common honesty,
its gross injustice is equally manifest. The
land outside the farm is as much the property
Of the farmer as that he may cultivate, and
truly in essential justice no stock of others
has any right thereon, without his express
permission. With just as much equity may
the law give all the world legal permission
to steal a farmers corn out Of his barn, unless
it is locked, as it does now to others cattle to
destroy his crop, unless he fence tin.
In addition to the oppressive injustice Of
the fence system, the experience Of the civil
lied world has clearly demonstrated it to bea
useless and wasteful one Wherever farming
has been brought up to the hig condition it
deserves, and to which it must be brought to
be profitable, the law regarding the fence is
directly contrary to that in force throughout
most of the South. .. ..
When farming stock is restrained, and the
responsibility for their depredations is thrown
on their owners, capital is released from the
very Improbable Investment of fencing and
made available for farm improvements. One
of the very first effects is the improvement Of
the stock only the good ones are kept, and
the inferior are killed or sold of. All the
manure, instead of being wasted is saved, aru
the way prepared for the steady improvement
of the soil. None of the land is wasted, and
the fields are cultivated down to the edge OF
the roads.
The best proof of the advantages of the
abolition of fences is found in the fact that
no section of the country that has abolished
fences crops is willing again to return to the
antiquated system now expressing the agricul-
tural industries of the South and if the far
mers of the South would think carefully Of
this matter, and discuss it with the lights Of
actual experience, instead of stubbornly clos
ing their eyes to facts, and hugging their an
tiquated prejudices, they would soon see where
their own interest lies.
s@ Nathan Orlando Greenfield, who is
under sentence to be hanged next week, at
Syracuse, busies himself with building card
houses. The largest of these structures, which
he hopes to complete before he goes to the
gallows, is composed of $500 bits Of colored