The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-06
roo MANY DoGs IN GEORGIA.
Mrs. FELTON, Writes of Their Depra-
datiOnS and WorthIessness.
From The Atlanta Journal,

OUtiOn~ ana worthless ness
From the Atlanta Journal,
Among the many faculties that affict
farming operations in Georgia the dog
question Is not the lease by TAR. If any
person would take the trouble to ride
through his own neighborhood in country
places and count up the dogs that can be
seen around cabin doors, and then re-
member that some body must feed those
worthless ours. such an invest gator would
be convinced that dogs should either be
taxed or tn nned out to "a reasonable num-
ber-for more reasons than one.
What a dog eats in the year would go
very far toward fattening a porker that
would be good for something when II Is
Killed and If anybody is silly enough to
suppose that dog can live on nothing
lee him hear from poultry houses ana
hen roCsts before he makes a positive as
serton on the subject.
For instance. did not own a dog OF any
sort last winter and spring. After / had
saved eggs enough watching (when the
hens cacked) to set a couple of dozen
hens. l had every nest broken up in a
single night. aud this performance was
repeated twice before there was chilxen
Matched for our own raising. / put out
Rough on Rats" and some cats that
were really usefu. disappeared, but the
dogs were sim in evidence. then bought
setting eggs and made another and
third effort When road bands were call
ed on the public road In the spring, and
dogs, OF course were around their own
ers, as usual, heard a racket in my hen
house, and despite frantic rush out OF
doors / was only in time to see an i'm
| nense dog come forth with his mouth
streaming with broken eggs-and my work
was ali to do over again. Now, when I
read glow ng accounts of the value OF poul-
| frrr- I oil 10
been ruled out Of those favored sections.
| tried and / failed.
After such a season OF vexation and
worry at last counted drove OF twenty
five little turkeys. and promised MYSELF
hat l would have an abundance 10 use
aud a few to sell about Christmas time.
| These turkeys were nearly grown al fod-
der-puling tine. As it rained every day
we made a big rush to get fodder saved,
with all the hands that could be hired to
go at IT, On the very first day, not 100
yards from the house, we found eight
Torn and managed turkeys in the field.
Some we never found. and two hobbled
home to die that night. My flock was re-
| duced to ten and the fodder was absoiute-
/ ~ worthless. as II turned out, because OF
! floods Of rain.
| It leaked out that the fodder pullers all
J carried their dogs with them with the
result as before stated. These dogs were
in a famshed condition. and the turkey
meat was in sight, and they helped them.
| selves.
Every mothers son vowed by all that
was good that his dog had nothing to do
with The slaughter, and nobody dared 10
inform on the guilty dogs for obvious rea-
sons. Could anybody blame me for she'd
ding a few tears?
We have tens of thousands of acres In
Georgia that are fit for sheep pasture aud
| but - ata 40
where | live because the land is infested
with dogs that are of no good to anybody.
/ Sheep are good for food and their wool
very valuable for making clothes. When
| / see a cabin full of half-naked children
and the doors crowded with famshed,
worthless dogs l ask myself why the
| Georgia Legislature cannot legislate on
this line and relieve the tension in this
one place. IL II is incapable of reducing
| taxation or Of Withholding appropria>
lions that are bankrupting the taxpayers
| of Georgia. The sketch / have drawn for
I you Is taken from real lfe-fact-and one
! poor struggling farmers wife has had
her patience exhausted by these lawless
dogs that range the fields night and day
for a living.
II II Is deemed necessary 20 allow one
dog to a family why not tax al the bal
ance Of the pack? My word for 1t, you
would have fewer dogs and better fed
| dogs on that schedule Why this cow
ardlce in legislative halls?
Perhaps somebody will inquire why I
did not hire somebody to go a cunning
for dogs, and supply ammunition in
| abundance?
If such questioner had lived as long as
have on farm and found mules eye
knocked out or a lame horse, or brokens
legged calf, or a missing hog after one
such rash squirt in sef-defense, there
YOU'D be no reason for asking such a
sehseless question.
There are a thousand reasons why You
| must bear the Ills you have rather than
rush into those you know not Of Your
barns and dwellings are pledge to peace,
and dogs must walk abroad free citizens
| in a land of overburdened taxation until
the lawmakers are as much Interested
in protecting farm products as they are
IN placating dog owners who can vote In
election times
1 know a negro family without a cent
IN their possession, not dollars worth
of breadstuffs in their dwelling, not
good shoe on a single foot on the prem
lses. yet there Is a great big dog sitting
by the cabin fire all day (ranging over the
plantation at night that will eat as
much as either of the grown ones In thar
incapable househo d. Somebody has to
feed 1t and its owner will not work to
do It. What should be done with such
dog? If they go a hunting they knock
out the cotton in the buds as they rush
around and about. and there Is no help,
no redress, no satsfact on anywhere.
VIII the legislature remember these
things and give some relief where IL is
needed? Mrs. w. II. FELTON,.
-~-0-s
"MOst Decorated Man In Europe"