Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-02-15
THE NO.FENCE LAW.
An Argument for the Shiftless Poor " ho
Are Content TO Live from Hand
to Meuth
And Fatten Their Cattle at the Expeus
OF Their Hard. W orking and Well
to-DO Neighb0rs.
To the Editors OF the Appeal:

10 the EulUOEs OF the Appeal.
An article in your paper Of the 14th
instant demands reply. Knowing that you
have always advocated the rights OF all
classes Of citizsns, The poor as we'll as the
rich, i send you few reflections which are
worthy, l believe, of some consideration:
The mistake your correspondent makes is
this: We are no. in condition TO under
take the reformation of fencing in this
county nor State at the present time. A
good commonwealth must look to the inter
ests OF all classes, and not alone to the cup
posed interests OF the few. Such a law may
work well 10 Kansas and Iowa, where there
is but little timber, the population compare
lively new and thrifty, and the ravsges of
war have never affected them seriously.
They have no relics Of slavery among them
Il mean the poverty incident upon its ex-
tincIion) as we have. Nearly all their lands
are susceptible of cultivation now, and
hence such law there may well do. Thirty
years hence. when
THIS GENERATION SHALL HAVE PASSED
AWAY,
when the poverty and distress occssioned by
the war shall have fully disappeared, when
there shall be demand upon all the lands
in this country for cultiz alton, then such
law might challenge our attention. At pres
ent its enactment would work great hard
ship upon the poor, white and black. and be
of little or no service to any body. Nor do l
believe, when understood in its full affects,
will many favor it. / have lived here for
years, and have never heard more than two
or three persons express themselves in favor
OF such law, and only one of those had
fences worth the name. Our esteemd senator,
MIR. Galloway, sppears 10 favor the meas
ure, but like all other good men in public
life who are brought 10 have measures pssssd
in the
INTEREST OF PARTICULAR INDIVIDUALS,
has doubtless been ill-advised in this in
stance. He ought to know how oppressive
it would be upon some of his neighbors. The
senator, let il be said, has good fences and
some consideration for he rights of others,
but in this instance he seems obliyious of
two cases in his own neighborhood, which
serve as illustrative in point. At the station
where the honorable senator gets off and on
the cars lives a MANNED soldier, who lost
his right arm during the late war while
battling for the rights Of the South. A
kind-hearted man let him have, free of rent,
a little patch OF ground which he works as
a garden, and he has managed in some way
10 have a cottage overhead sheliering him
and his wife from the blasts of winter. By
The industry Of that wife, 10 great mess-
ure, he and she have procured four COWS.
These
RUN OUT AT ALL SEASONS,
for there is only pm 10 keep them in at
night, and these people are too poor TO rent
land. The wife manages, from the milk and
butter which she car les TO town on the cars
two or three times a week, TO support herself
aud this brave, poor soldier of lost cause.
! think be voted for Senator Galloway.
What is TO become OF him il no lence
law be passed? But again: Within quar-
ter OF mile Of the senstot's residence lives
widow, who has qualified life interest in
small homestead. She has managed for
years, by means of upfagging energies and
the use OF eight or ten cows, with little
fruit and garden stuff, 10 make a living.
Her milk and butter interests have greatly
contributed 10 that end. Pass the no-fence
law, and what becomes Of this widows cows?
There ia no land for rent in the neig hbor-
hood suitable for pastursge, or, if so, it is
held at too high price for her. Are her
cows TO be cold because fewpersons- very
few, p, rhaps-around her want TO
THROW ALL BURDENS UPON OTHERS,
and get rid of all legitimately falling upon
themselves? Let us ask, how many similar
cases may not be found in Shelby county,
aud, indeed, in all the counties of the State.
But, again. We have Bureau Of Immi-
gration. We say TO the world that the finest
sheep walks and cattle ranges 10 the world
are to be found in Tennessee. That is true.
But this law slams the door in the face of
immigration. They are told 10 come if you
will, but you must fence all your sheep.
walks and cattle ranges. And pray, in
whose interestsb Every farmer knows that
our labor is constantly diminishing. Tell
the poor, whether white or black, that practi.
cally he cannot have hereafter cows, sheep
or hogs, and you invite him to leave the
country.
WHAT WE NEED Is IMMIGRATION.
When our bottoms shall have been cleared
up and our uplands be put under cultivation,
it will be time enough TO have a no fence
law. Your correspondent claims a great
deal for the proposed law, but his figures are
fallacious. Certainly some one could make
money under the operation of such an act, if
he would buy land at $40 per acre land he
can do il EASILY now, and under the pro-
posed law will coon be able to iget it at So
and then rent it at IS or IS without fences |!
II may prove in the end a good law for a
few thrifty, long-headed people with money
But man sometimes goes
A LITTLE TOO FAR IN THE EFFORT TO MAKE
MONEY
Put this law into effect 10 Shelby county, and
in two years time one-half of our present Ia
Dor will hive been diminished, and our good
calculator will not fod renters for his land !
City people who keep cows will have 10 sell
them, for the best milk and butter come from
pastures. The dairymen will be ruined, for
they are all poor; the email farmer can't
afford 10 keep COWS. Those in better cir
cuustances will have to make more and
longer fences, or we shall soon have a
dearth of beeves, sheep and hogs in Shelby
county. Every prosperous community must
grow stock as well as cereals and market
products. Shall we overturn the present
system and thus make matters worse?
l am mistaken, Messrs. Editors. There
are more than two or three persons l have
seen who ardently desire the passage Of this
act. Every railroad man in the country is
in favor of it. Al the bare mention of it
their faces are wreathed in smiles. On VIII at
number OF lawsuits would its enactment
prevent! N.Y.