The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-05-13
FAMOUS DOG CASE.

fTHsGIDoM THAT Il matter trivial in Itself has attracted so much
/ attention MS has the Scntcll dog case gays the New Orleans Plea
ymc which was decided in the supreme court of the United States at Washing
The fct and ground. Of the decision were given in last Tuesday, picayune
and since then the cae has been Il subject Of comment by the American press f1
and wide It went up TO the supreme court Of the United States from the courts
Of Louisiana sat was brought by q " sentcI Of Mi. city. against the New
IOrians and tawolton Railroad company to secure pay for Newfoundland dog
valued at 5000 which bad been Killed by one Of the company cars
and the case had been decided upon The requirements. Of act .1T Of 1882, of the
general assembly Of Louisiana which provides that dog, shall be held to be per
aoal property and protected by law "a such only provided that such dogs shall
DE listed by the owners for taxation and given in to the assessors for that pur
pose aud the owner may recover j0 civil action for the killing or theinjury done
said Doc. an amount for cacl, moi exceeding the valuation rendered by the ovner
The dog in question had not been listed for taxation. and. as a consequence
the claiu for damages IVA. rejected The cause. WA. then appealed to the 81.
prene court Of the United States ON the ground that the law was unconsdttion-
nj That highest tribunal affirmed the consttuionalty of the Louisiana statute
referring to do,s Mr. Justice Brown who ws te or,ano Of the conrt in that
case set forN, that the fact that dogs are without protection of the criminal law
tends to prove that property in dogs iso a qualified and imperfect nature. They
appear to stand as it We're between animals fGae natnrac in which, until sub
.ducd there is no property and domestic animals in which the right of property
is rompet" and universally recognized Accordingly the court holds that dogs
mails but rather in the category Of cats parrots monkeys and similar animals
kept for pleasure curiosity or caprice They are useful neither d beasts of bur.
den. for draft nor for food
nisin the power of legislation to recognize such exceptional animals as
property on conditions Mt the conditions must be complied with Probably
there il no animal uot even tbc hore that POSSESSES so ,onrh of the love and re
gard of human beings as does the dog; but no matter how great this sympathetic
interest all people seem to have an mQncrable aversion to paying taxes on dogs.
No state legislature has the nardihood to lay an unconditional tax upon dogs
Probably such an net would cause popular revolution The Louisiana statute
only taxes dogs if the owners are willing to pay but not otherwise, and it is not
likely any dog owner in this state has ever rendered hg dog as property for taxa
The Chicago lncr Ocean is evidently dog lover and does not take kindly to
the decisono the highest court Says the Chicago champion of the unta1ed
"''
Who told Mr. Justice Brown that a dog is not useful .asa beast of buaen or
for dranghty' Let him 60 to Berlin " to London and learn his errorO or if this
be too much trouble let him ask some one who has read Nansens book or any
book upon polar research, what part the dog plays II the transportation compa
the ean1nauX And rs to nor for food let the venerable iurist inquire
of the next Chiuaunan the next abonine of the United States or the next Eng
Hsh or Hungarian gypsy, that he may meet Let him ask some n who al in
Paris during the stise what was the price per pound of dog flesh, and what were
Its nutrtye qualities
Furthermore the learned Judge overlooks or is ignorant of the dog Is a life
institution Under proper conditions the right kind of a dog will Jump
intowater and rescue n drowning child Its affirmed that a man in Kalamazoo
kept q lake and hired parents to throw their children into it lust ito keen his pack
of dogs busy in the great work of life saving and his dogs received a thousand
gold medals each worth $780, from various humane societies The cost of digging
the lake as Slo 49, the yearly bill tordog meat was 81 sGdurng the period of e0I
through which the life saving process extended and 500 So was paid to pa
rents who Chunckcd their children into the water this however, was partially
by $W@@5 received from boys who paid the IA various sums for the
privilege of going in swimming and being rescued But these are very slight
from the$2lOm earned by the dogs Then there are thedogs that main
lain families of humans in 0llnrnrr by performing in shows and ciIcuses. Then
there areo other dog. that carry u drink Of whskey end pretzel to the benumted
traveller IN the Alps and that conduct lost wanderers to tr famous hosrice of
he monks of st Bernard And he is n very ordinary dog, iudei that has not
lone the work that the missing link in the police force ought to have done, by
outing and capturing the burglar that essayed the robbery of a happy home"
All this may bo true, aud fl be So the greater is the rerroach cast upon
he owners who profit 10y tbe Intelligence, or industry, or the phnannhrolic traitsl
# their dogs Why not pay taxes on those dear friends and valuable compamons|
servants. and give them the protection Of the laws? Why maintain them as
It they were outlaws and creatures utterly wdathlesg 1t should be remembered
hat it is not the dog, which place themselves in THAI DEGRADED condition but it
done by those who pretend 10 be their best frenisand conrspions.