The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-03-04
THE STOCK LAW.
wEsrBURG, Feb. 20, 1882.


do when such a law is passed.
The law that is about to be enact
ed, if passed, ruins this county,
the garden spot of the sweet
sunny South.
My reader, we now have a rail-
road nearly completed from one
end to the other of our county,
and talk of several other roads.
What good will the railroad do us
without labor9 None at all. My
friends, you have a soil rich as
Egypt. Where the towering oak
now rears its lofty branches, there
the cotton plant should grow.
Arouse from your slumbers, put
your shoulders to the wheel, and
let all who are interested in farm
ing in this county endeavOr by ap-
peals to our representatives to
fight this law. We now have a
railroad, and if we should beat
this enactment soon we viii be re-
warded: soon will the voice of the
laborer be heard; soon will these
vast areas of fertile land be re,
splendent with cotton blooms,
And my reader, it is an old maxi.
mum, that if we go into anything
with our whole heart, soul and
mind, there is nothing we cannot
accomplish. If we fail in beating
this law, there is saying "that by
bad luck we do not always come
to ruin and degradation"
But, my reader, if we fail in this
we cannot certainly come to any
thing else. Also, success does moi
always yield the happiness expec
ted. But If we succeed in keeping
our fences and having these vas
canebrakcs for pastures, then W.
are happy. The prize of life, like
the apple of Sodom, often turns tt
ashes in the grasp; so says a wri
ter. OF every object of human
pursuit, however dazzling in thu
distance, it may be said, as the poe
has said of woman:
"The lovely toy so fiercely sought
Hath lost Its charms by being caught.
SO il is with our county whei
we lose our fences. Such a Law
as this might have done before thu
war, when we had full control O
the negro, but now as he is hi
own man, he thinks himself no mai
at all unless he owns a hog or so
And how is the poor darkey tt
have any stock at all, if he has tt
keep it up in a pen all the time
No, sir; when times become 81
tight on the laboring man in thil
county, then he is going to hun
refuge in another county. Thei
one of the finest counties in thiI
State is ruined. Just here | woult
say as to the fencing timber, W,
have the finest timber in the Uni
ted States, and plenty of it.
will admit that such a law wonll
benefit some half dozen planter
or more in the county, while ]
would injure thousands of Others
Two-thirds of the plantations o
this county do not consist on al
average of more than a hundre,
acres. What are such planters t,
do if they have to fence pasture
for their own stock, and then fenc'
up eight or ten pastures for hi
tenantss Why, sirs, he is ruined
by such a law. My reader, yol
must remember that we only hav,
few such planters as Ned Richard
son in this county; and such far
mers are the only ones to be ben
Gifted by the stock law.
And friends, we have elected
representative to represent us il
the legislature, and we hope tha
he will dig deep down into thi
law and fight against it to the last
for if he looks into the matte
right he will see that by the lay
the county is ruined. We vote,
for him thinking that he woul'
fight for the interest of our littl
county, and we believe he will.
notice in the Greenville Time
an estimate of the cost of fencing
He makes 1850 miles of fencing il
the county, and the cost per mil
$500, which would make the fence
of the county cost s62j,OOO: AM
he claims that it takes 10 per cent
of the original cost to keep then
repaired annually, which would b.
100000. Now we will see tn
cost for ten years. First cost
s625,OO0; 10 per cent. of origina
cost for 10 years would be 81, 600
900, and first cost added ON woul'
make the fences of the count,
cost for ten years s1,G25,O00.
| can't conceive why some on
has not made calculation befor,