The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-23
Editorial Correspondence Of Greenyille

COLUMBIA, S. c., October l9.-The
State newspaper and the Register are, for
once. in accord this morning. Both jump
on the Constitutional Convention for re-
fusing to put in the Constitution the re-
quirement that the Legislature shall i'm
pose poll tax of dollar on every dog in
the State. According to their respective
styles and views my esteemed contem-
poraries ridicule and rebuke the act of
the majority of the Convention and de-
clare their sym pathy with Ben Tillman
in the overwhelming defeat he suffered
when he ran up against the popular dog.
The South Carolina dog is wonderful
destroyer of factional lines, a leaper over
political fences. He achieved yesterday
and to-day what NO other power could
have done-brought Uncle jeremiah
Smith and Ben Tillman together and
made those two and the State, the Reg
lister and the Greenville NewS OF one
accord. If the Ne,US and Courier caught
notice in time it will naturally pull out
of the combination but my hope is it will
turn up at noon in line with the balance
of us. I hope 80 because I do not like to
see that esteemed contemporary absurd
every day in the week.
The dog, however, whipped out the
whole kit and bilin' of us, as he has
always done and always will do, I sup
pose. The first newspaper articles ever
wrote in my life were in the interest Of
dog law for the State Of Virginia away
back twenty years ago, on which occa-
sion 80 severely lampooned those ven
erable and veteran statesmen eX-Gover-
nors Letcher and "Extra Billy" Smith
that my young, tender and inexperienced
person narrowly escaped canine Gaming
at the hands of indignant relatives.
don't believe Virginia has dog law yet.
South Carolina is, therefore, not alone.
The fact is all the argument and logic is
against the dog but the sentiment is with
him and when We hurl logic against SEN
timent it is like firing cannon balls into
the waters of a broad, deep river. There
is all agitation of the smitten surface and
the missile penetrates almost without
resistance, but it leaves no token of Its
triumph, establishes no opening and
gives no result. The dog is thing OF
sentiment entirely. All dogs of the
proper gender are active producers but
the earning dogs know of in this State
are the possum trailers and rabbit chas'
year they do, perhaps, in very favorable
conditions, supply to man more food
than they demand and obtain of him,
but aside from that the dog, be he of high
pedigree or low, of pure or common
blood, useful or ornamental big or little,
is thing Of sentiment and the heart.
Almost every body has owned dog and
consequently almost everybody can un-
derstend the feeling in his favor. To
psraphrase q familiar observation, we
may say that the voice of the dog is the
voice of the people. And that voice is
supreme. Therefore, let the dog. reign
and continue to reign while all our
dreams and hopes of focks of feecy
sheep and roaring wooden mills fade into
thin air. MY mind condemns the dog,
while my heart inclines unto him. All
life is full of sacrifices and surrenders for
emotion. Let South Carolina continue to
worship the dog as zealously as the old
Egyptians did. We might put him in
our State coat of arms, along with the
palmetto whiskey bottle. Dogs and
liquor 60 together anyhow. A dog is
about the only creature which will vol
unfairly associate with drunken man
and enjoy the mpanionsbip and the
only friend whose friendship strengthens
with the coming and increase of poverty.
AS president of the Sheltering Arms
personally know citizen who applied
for and received help in bitter need dur
ing last winter and In whose residence of
two rooms I discovered, identified and
counted thirteen dogs, all with sore eyes.
he cherished the delusive theory that he
was raising them for sale. Eleven of
them were parents of the same father and
mother and as complete ours as ever ran
on four legs and yelped in many discor-
dant notes.