Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-12-09

y" WV P''lc'ly VI Cuttltiliel Il1OT
than one newspaper of influence len
II silent, If not open, aid and comfort L
the criminals, and palliated thei
crime by declaring that they were pro
voked to lawlessness by the wrong-do
ing of another class of men. 1t wa,
queer logic for law-abiding men to EN-
ploy, and yet Texas newspapers die
Use IT, and no longer than last week
one of these public journals said il
could almost applaud the work O
fence cutters since it had driven CAPT
tai from the state--capital that pro-
posed to buy grazing land In large
bodies. In some of the counties In
which such newspapers are published
the fence-cutter has made his appear.
ance and brought home tn these papers
the folly OF their course. No civil law
can be enforced in defiance of the pub
lie sentiment. This has been the diff
iicuity from the beginning. Certain
parties enclosed land, to the detrment
of the rights of the public generally,
and without warrant of law or right,
The remedy for this wrong was obvi.
ously in the legislature. Very natur-
ally, however, this wrong provoked
here and there individual resentment,
which found vent IN the destruction of
fences thai enclosed land not owned
by the fence-owner. AT once nearly
all the newspapers declared it WAS the
fault of the pasture-owner, who had
fenced lands not his own, but there
was no denunciation of the crime of
those who had sought to remedy a
wrong by more violent wrong and
an open violation of TIE law. These
newspapers seemed utterly oblivious
OF the fact that two wrongs
never made n right, and
that the remedy fer the wrong
lay III law, not lawlessness; and thus
the fence-cutters were encouraged to
cut their way out, or in, as the case
might be. The public sentiment, al
ready unfavorabie to the enclosure of
public lands and lands not owned by
the pasture men, was strengthened
and crysallized, in nearly all the
West, into an active sympathy for the
fence-cutter; the trial of fence-cutter
became a judicial farce; the denuncia-
ton of the crime dangerous. and n
spirit of lawlessness was evoked that
spread far eastward of the so-called |
'bloated iand-holder, land the owners |
of small fields in Hunt, Fannin, Delta
and other counties suffered because
crime was condoned and encouraged
These newspapers are responsible
Tor the public sentiment which made
the execution of law impossible and
crime until its depreda-
tons affected property values and ex-
tended beyond all control but thatofthe
shotgun, AS men defend their houses
from burglars. One paper said it had
more sympathy for the tence.cutter
Ihan for the Land monopolist;n AL
other had no word of condemnation of
that was not plnced in
close JuXtaposition to an apology for il. h
Another saw in it only an ASSUMPTION
If God-given right 10 free water.
Aud SO it went. The GAZETTE wns
almost the only newspaper in the state
hat emphaticsliy denounced the crime
rom the beginning. We recognized
he provocation and said the remedy
vas IN the law, but fence-cutting was
crime and should be treated as such
Gut under the stimulus of public
so strengthened as it was
ence'cutting grew by what it fed on.
rom the fences OF "oattle kingsu {
II the West to the fences Of farm
RS in purely agricultural sec.
IONS was but step, and i
he fence.cuttcrs took it. Farm fences G
nd graveyard enclosures were cut in
he very wantonness of crime. unde
'anton by public sentiment built M
y The newspapers. From the wire
'nce to the rail feLce was an easy ora. O
alton to crime made aggressive by
ublic sympathy, and rail fence in r.
'rown county was destroyed. Malice d
'ieness, resentment, communism. all
ne mean traits of mans character are s.
II loose by crime encouraged, and so J.
ith ience-cutting. And now the
ipers are all, save one, perhaps. trv- W "
" TO stop it. Too late. The fences
III nearly all be down by the time :,
&c legislature meets, and it is by no "
cans certain Legislative action viii
At stop to it, :,
ihere is no need to consume time in ia
hrch OF causes. Fence-cuttipp bepan 10
an individual attempt TO right
iohs-it was a resentment largely ~
rh oil desire for free range. The IN
pers SAID 1t was the long locked for
fuggle of the small farmer against
pioated cattleman,n and n
newspapers patted what they so
ought the gentle granger on the
ouider, encouraged crime and created ta
d soiidiiied pubic sentiment in fa. m
Oh crime. The crime spread under M M
"a favorable auspices very naturally
70 get free range the fence of the NJ,
III ana graveyard was cut, and now fil
papers howl that il is a war mains, Ina
A IN. log