Arizona republican., 1898-05-01
RIGHT OF CATTLE QUARANTINE

RIGHT OF CATTLE QUARANTINE. The action of the Nevada authorities in enforcing the so-called quarantine law against the starving cattle, sheep and horses of California raises ques tion about how far enc state may go in excluding the products of another.
 without violating the federal provis- ions of interstate trade.
 That the sage brush borough has the right to exclude diseased cattle is thing that goes without saying, but it's right to pracice exclusion, such
 as is contemplated in the present in stance, is a thing that is at least open to question
 The mere fact that such a provision l is inscribed upon the statute books of commonwealth, which is by courtesy
 called state, does not make it law l The handful of people who comprise
 that prize fighting political subdivis- ion of the nation have no powers un-
 enjoyed by the other states of the Union. A defiance of public senti-
 ment, such as they displayed, when | they converted it's burning sands into
 a bloody arena, must not be mistaken
 for a special constitutional right i The fact that the peopls of the United States did not rise in righteous
 indignation against that insult to pub l lie decency, carries with it neither i endorsement of the practice nor a sur-
 render of it's national control. Much as the foreign cattle syndicates which
 graze their herds upon public lands in that state would like to have It
 otherwise, the state of Nevada is still
 a part of the United States and sub l ject to it's laws. These laws provide fer free and uninterrupted traffic in ! cattle, just as well as they do in cot- ton fabrics or other articles of ccm- merce.
 A law to exclude the sale of the Bi- ble in the state of Nevada on the ground that it's perusal might discour- age the licensed industry of prize fighting, would be no more absurd than is the pretext that cattle coming from California may prove a health menace to the bovine product of that senatorial dice box. A constitution so elastic in it's provisions as this one seems to be is one that might well be taken under the wing of federal au- thority.
 public sentiment that Iegalizes prize fighting and yet excludes from it's public wastes the starving animals of unfortunate sister states, is one that needs disinfecting Such a sen tlment as that is one that might well cause stock owners to pause before. driving their stock into such an at mosphere. It might be going from the frying pan of a parching desert into the fire of hell.
 sBut with all this the cattle and horse owners of California have right to go there with their herds if they see fit to do SO. That right may not come to them by statute, but 1t will find sanction in the thing which makes laIw-that is public sentiment. Humanity demands that the starving cattle and horses of California be giv- en an opportunity to graze upon the public lands of Nevada; nc law can silence that demand. The right to feed hungry animals is a law unto itself. Statutes can neither enlarge nor impair that law; it is one of na- lures decrees.
 Society may have successfully de- nled man the right of access to the earth, but it has not yet extended that decree to the unreasoning element of the animal world. It may be said, therefore, that the earth still belongs to the lower order of Gods creatures, and is subject to their needs. Not be- ing blessed with an education these creatures are not supposed to be fla
 miliar with either statutes of Ne vada or the trespass notices of Uncle Sam. Grass is their God, they have right to it wherever found.
 This may be in the foraging pre- cincts of Nevada or it may be in the forest reserves of a nation that is about to plunge into war for human ity's sake, but that does not alter the fact that it is theirs by a right which cannot be nullified by statute. My advice to the horse owners and cattle owners of California who find themselves helpless, not as the result of negligence or lack of thrift, but by the will of the Creator, is to take their starving stock to unused pas lures, regardless of statutes or any thing, else.
 As the venal spirit which placed this quarantine law upon the statute books of Nevada will most likely find will ing hands to execute it, I would sug- gest that the convoy wagons
 be we'll stocked with shotguns. There are times when sentiment rises above