St. Landry democrat., 1880-01-31
Stock Laws and Planting In
tereStS.
New Orleans Democrat. I

New Orleans Democrat
Louisiana is essentially and peculiarly
an agricultural State. Although there
may be just enough variety in its re-
sources to mar the operation and impair
the practicability of general laws of ii
certain class and to illustrate the nee
essity of local legislation as regards
special details, the fact remains that
the State is pre-eminently agricultural,
and the conclusion is inevitable that
the promotion and protection of agri-
cultural interests ought to form the
chief solicitude Of our State government.
1t is very certain that without prosper
ing our planting enterprises and secur--
ing for them the most favorable and
efectual development, there can be no
real progress in Louisiana. Unless the
cause of agriculture be kept in view
and all it's requirements consulted and
recognized the State will fall behind,
and her citizens, from the highest to
the lowest, suffer III proportion. What
our legislators have to do, above all
other things, is to consider and deter
mine what will most powerfully further
the farming interest, and then set about
reaching that cOnsummatiOn 10y the
quickest and most successful route.
With a well-devised and carefully pro-
tected system of agriculture and agri
cultural economy, our State will surely
take place in the front rank of i'm
portance and prosperity.
In this connection it occurs to us to
refer to matter which plays a very
prominent part in the affairs of the
planters. tits simply astounding to con-
template the enormous sums of money
annually expended upon fencing
sums which are subtracted from the
means of the individual, and which con-
stitute an utter loss to the community.
This expense is a grievous burden upon
the planter, and is imposed upon him
for a most costly, most perisllable,
and an outrageously unnecessary arti-
Gle. Planters are required to expend
these extravagant sums, not to facilitate
their own industry, not to serve any
ture, but merely to protect themselves
against losses and depredations from
which they should be protected by the
law. In most agricultural countries
fences are used solely to enable pro-
prietors to confne their own stock and
to promote their own operations. Other
wise, fences are superf1uous, and are, in
fact, regarded as a mere relic of bar
baTism. In Louisiana, however, plan
tiers who cultivate large areas of land !;
who give employment, directly and in
directly, to hundreds of people, and
who contribute vastly to public and
commercial wealth, are forced to devote
a very serious proportion of their means
to inclosing fields and so securing them
against the inroads OF stock running at
large.
This is all wrong-fagrantly and
hideously wrong. 1t is safe and
legitimate proposition that stock that
is worth having is worth caring for.
1t is an axiom which no one will ques-
ton, that society will best he advanced
by protecting those who constitute it's
most reliable element, and by ignoring
the interests of those who are at war
with all of society's most genuine as
pirations. The farmer who tills the
of the country; who gives employment
to others, and creates market for mer-
chandise. is certainly better entitled to
the fostering care of government than
the drone, the idler, the excrescence.
Nevertheless it is the fact in Louisiana
to-day that the farmer is obliged to
devote very large proportion of his
capital to the erection and maintenance
of fences, for no other purpose than to
protect his crops from the depreciation
of hogs and cattle belonging to or
claimed nv persons who deliberately
turn them loose in order that they NAV
fatten and increase upon the property
of others: Let any farmer calculate the
amount of money he is compelled to
spend in this way, and he may then
form some estimate of the enormous
aggregate Observation-Disclosures from the
wealth of the State. Let him consider
how much good this sum wnnld do if
expended upon his wife, his children, or
his business, and he will realize how
much he loses on account of unwise
and improvident government.
We urge upon the Legislature the
imperative necessity of taking action in
this matter. We do not think that the
desired end can best be promoted by a
general law, but let the matter be con-
fided to the police jaries, and let the
law prescribe such plan for coDstitu-
ting these police juries as will ensure
for them the best material in each
parish and the enactment of regulations
consistent with the best interests of the
parishes.