Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-04-03

submit that he ought to have done it.
We have better opinion of far
mers, and deny that they are the dis
serviceable numskulls that he says
they are.
We give him full credit for the
statement that he is not a farmer, for
it is not difficult to believe that very
stupid farmer would have inflicted
such cruelties on patient and long
suffering public.
A thousand dollars is necessary to
fence a thousand dollar farm in the
larger part of the States, and five per
cent per annum on that amount will
be needed to keep the fences in re-
pair. What natural or legal right
has Mr.. Hammers pauper to force
the owner to incur this ruinous ex-
pense or food his stock on the owners
land? 1t is safe to say that one-fourth
of the fencing throughout the State
would do the people better if every
owner of land was bound by law to
feed his stock on his own land. Whose
rights have been taken away by such
policy? The unoccupied acres of
which he speaks with windy "ver-
bosity" have been paid for by some
one, and have an owner, and no man,
not even Mr.. Hammers pauper, has
any moral or legal right to pasture
and feed his cattle on these acres and
strip them of vegetation, and force
the owner to bankrupt himself fenc-
ing it or loose the profit. The claim
is hardly consistent with common
honesty. Farmers had better pen
sion Mr.. Hammer, perhaps, than to
spend hundreds of thousands in fenc-
ing.
But he fears that his stupid wards
will be forced to feed their cattle on
"dried starvation" if all must feed
their stock from the product of their
own land. This was intended as a
little harmless "verbosity" or wit,
we are not certain which. The dry
article of starvation is to him fearful.
Mr.. Hammer thinks if more land was
cleared and the population more
dense the plan might be beneficial.
He ought to know that nearly the
whole of Middle Tennessee, and a
large part of the East and West, is
cleared and the population is large.
Fencing material is nearly all gone.
1t is known fact that few farm in
Middle Tennessee could be sold fol
the cost of fencing them, and the pool
farmer, the victim of the low dema-
gogue, must feed his cattle on Mr..
Hammers "dry starvation" or sell
out and go West.
| stated in a little former "verbOsi
ty" that if cattle did not run at large
our waste places would grow up in
timber. He feels sure that this asser
ton needs proof. If he is candid ir
this statement, surely he never saw g
wood lot that had been fenced in fol
even year or two. Let him g(
and see the first one he hears of, anC
then let us hear whether he has any
"verbosity" for the occasion.
We are told by him that if cattle
are confined his wild weeds would
grow and blossom and ripen thei
seeds, the winds would blow them OF
the farms and choke out the crops
No one ever heard of such a thing
but Mr.. Hammer. OF course heneve
dreamed that this Bald Knob asser
ton needed any proof. He sees tn,
mote in his brothers. eye, but consid
ereth not the beam that is in his owl
eye. Consistency is a jewel tina
ought not to pay tariff of even tel
per cent either for so-called protection
or revenue.
This is the first correspondence W,
ever had with Mr.. Hammer, and W,
believe it shall be the last. Our "ver
bosity" shall not harrow up his feel
, ings by any further personal notice