Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1910-09-01
The Sheep and 1sg Qn.stioa.
3. G. Wood in Mitchell Kronicle.

o"OSP onu Uo6 V"cSsaVn'
3. 9. Wood in Mitchell Kronicle.
No industry as profitable as
sheep raising-is known to be un.
der favorable conditions, and 80
thoroughly suited to our coun-
try, should receive practically
NO protection, is a little short OF
disgraceful to every citizen and
voter Of Mitchell who has it's wei
fare at heart.
In the past five weeks / have
talked with seyenty-fve to one
hundred persons wi thin a radius
.oftwenty miles who are now raj
sing sheep or did so in the past
or would in the future if protec.
tion from worthless dogs could
be secured. Every man now rails
ing sheep needs protection. Prac-
tically every man who quit rails
ing sheep did so on account Of
the dog nuisance and. as stated
above, a number would engage
In it if the industry was protect.
ed. ~
Any sheep raiser who has been
fortunate enough to escape the
dog trouble knows that sheep
are More profitable than cattle.
Were dogs attacking cattle, ey.
cry man, jack and child in the
county would be up in arms, but
to our shame and loss we cit
idly about. grulnhling about
conditions and let the dog NTH
sance grow. with little or no ef-
fort to secure laws which will cor
rect the evil. And all on account
Of worthless dogs whose hide;
hair; meat or offspring are OF no
earthly good, except possibly
Tor FERTILIZER, though mighty
poor even at that.
The p, ,esent Law only provides
q peaalty after the damage is
done and unless the sheep man
wants to sit up all night With his
Hocks it is next to Impossible to
learn whose dogs dre DOING the
killing Whatwe need; and sh6uld
demand. is q preventive law, one
which will lessen the chances Of
killing by dogs. tho trouble lies
mainly with worthless and pracs
tically with homeless dogs, Home
less because they are not fed at
home!a and II you Want your dog
to wander and worry your neigh
bor's sheep, eggs and poultry,
just quit feeding him. He will
soon do the rest. II a dog is
worth keeping he is worth feed
Ing aud worth paying q tax on.
II he is not worth his feed then
be should go dnd not be at large
to damage ahother's property.
Your ''Huges" correspondent
writes OF the poisoning oi dogs
| in his neighbothood. Under pres;
ent laws that method is illegal,
but we all know that there Ore
times when many many parts of
the country tried "lynch law" to
correct certain evils when laws
were not made to protect against
such evils, OF, if in existence, were
not enforced.
From information secured in
the radius mentioned, there was
over q thousand dollars worth
OF sheep killed by dogs this past
sedson in this one section of the
county, and there is little doubt
that several times that amount
has been lost in. the county this
year.iIf a member OF the Legisla-
ture from any county cannot see
beyond the end Of his own nose,
and realize that laws tor the pro
lection OF the sheep industry are
needed, then it is the duty ofevery
man interested in the prosperity
OF bis county, to adopt means
to improve the vision OF such
legislators or would-be ones.
! have seen protective laws re-
cured Under more discouragiDg
prospects than exist in Mitchell,