New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-13
rur EonT DODGE cows.

leaders Of The Tribune will. we trust, remem-
Der the peculiar position which cows have occu-
pied in Fort Dodge, Iowa, for some months.
wear aco last June the City Coltucil Of Fort
Dodge passed an ordinance comforting the free
dom of the city on all cows. whether residents or
strangers. The cows promptly awaited themselves
of this liberty, and since then they have gone
wherever they have pleased. at whatever time
they have seen fit, Fort Dodge bipeds having
practically no rights which they were bound to
respect. There has been, however. strong feel
ing against them outside of the council, and at
the election week ago the usual party lines were
ignored and the people arrayed themselves in two
divisions. the cow party, which favored the Coun-
Gil. and the anti-cow party, which opposed 1t.
The anti-cows were victorious and as soon as
the newly elected Aldermen take their seats the
cows will not only be debarred from the public
parks and the sidewalks, but from the streets as
we'll
No person can say that The Tribune is anything
but friend of the COW. We may point to our
fight in her defence in this city last spring. when
a fanatical health board tried to prohibit men
from leading their own cows in the street, leav-
ing no way for man to get his cow out Of
town for the summer except to hire truck for
her or snatch her away by balloon. We triumphed,
and to-day man may lead his cow from the
Barge Office to Yonkers without being disturbed.
But, nevertheless, friendly as we are toward the
COW, we do not believe that she should be allowed
to run at large in New-York. or In Fort Dodge
either. The experience of Fort Dodge with
cows sustains our position. The cows wan
dered about Fort Dodge in droves. Some
times they would lie down on the
sidewalks, and the people would have to go ont in
the streets to get around them. They switched
their tails against people returning from the OPERA
and it was impossible to leave window open
anywhere in town without having a COW put her
head in and low dlsmally. Sometimes they would
come In the doors of business houses and one ath.
letic and playful two-yearold heifer belonging to
Alderman Gould once climbed to the fourth story
in the Masonic Temple building, and had to be
taken down in the passenger elevator. This same
heifer, another occasion, got into street-car
on the Webster-ave. line, and refused to bulge an
inch till she had made round trip. On warm
days large parties of them would gather around
the fountain on the lawn OF Ex-Governor Car
penter and swirl their tails in the air and let the
water shower down on their backs. They ate up
all the grass in Prospect Park and browsed of
most of the shrubs and small trees. One Sunday
afternoon the two-year-old hefcr went to the
park and succeeded, after much work. In hook
ing the statue of Washington of it's pedestal
and got up on it herself and beloved at the
top of her voice for two hours. When the Pam
American visitors were making their tour they
stopped in Fort Dodge for couple Of hours and
were driven about the city in carriages The COWS
became very much excited and made the effort
of their lives, blocking up the sidewalks and
streets, believing mournfully, paving up dust, and
so forth. The heifer charged the Mayors car
rage and broke two spokes out Of one Of the
front wheels. The farmers in the surrounding
country have been in the habit Of driving their
cows into town every morning, the parks and lawns
furnishing excellent pasturage. One extensive
dairyman, living mile from town. has advertised
constantly in the Des Moines papers that his cows
are pastured exclusively in Fort Dodge
As We said before, the cows have been given
too much freedom In Fort Dodge. The natural
result has followed, and when the question was
left to the people last week the cow party was
out-voted ten to one. This is as it should be,
and we congratulate Fort Dodge. Let us always
distinguish between liberty and license.