The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1915-01-28
The Sheep and the Dog.

uS 0AlcCp HuO Tic OOXs
, / have been through the fire from
every angle concerning legislatio,
for the protection of sheep from
dogs and am still ready to do my
best for the best Interest of all.
Your proposed Sbill as published il
the December Tissue is drastic and
think perhaps it is best to have it Sc
to start with because it will be easier
to modify it by eliminating some fea-
lures than it will to make it more
drastic.
l am sure if you should get the
sheriff onto the job he would lie down
on it and would be worthless, as you
know the prosperous dog man is the
best politician and the man of affairs
is poor man to work for man at
the polls.
The dog law that is going to be a
success will be the one that will be
worked as any other law relating to
live stock. That is, how many dogs
have you on this farm? and no men,
ton of the amount the taxes will be
collected, but will sort Of slide by as
a piano, a wagon, etc. Iwould have
it collected with the general taxes
and make no mention of places to
collect this dog tax. If the books are
kept separate there is a general fight
in the minds when the published COL
lections come in and the dog man,
which is every farmer, is hurt when
he sees how much he has contribu-
ted to the fund while if the incident
closes when the assessor passes the
dog problem is solved and the poor
dog will be kept down to minimum.
With the present dog songs and eu-
logies on dogs you certainly have my
prayers to even mention dog laws,
but still itisa good thing to talk about
in the press and by constant agitation
we may make it clear to many that the
other fellows dog is menace to
good farming. But still my dog is
O. K" 1t is the other fellows every
time.
Having been through the fire from
all sides on dogs and dogs and sheep,
it is unsafe to put the lime light on
the dog on assessment day and set
Element day. Thus you can see
would be opposed to setting aside
fund for losses on sheep as this would
be and is considered class legislation.
Besides an honest oath as to losses
by dogs can hardly be obtained.
Should mention to my neighbor
was needing dog to drive hogs and
the like each one would gladly give
me his dog. But should the assessor,
sheriff, deputy or shoe. this dog he
would be a $25-dog and he would
rather have the best horse on the
place to die than to lose this dog.
Ihave handled sheep with actual
count of 524 dogs within radius Of
three miles of my farm and find if
the gun barks at dog, every man to
a man, goes mad at you, even the
man that refuses to feed the dog. So
take care of my sheep and stand my
losses and don't mention it to the
Neither do l kill his dog
by any means as through some chan
1el he will find it out and he will
hold it up against me as long as he
ives in the neighborhood.i
The farmer can not afford to lose
single neighbor even if he is serious
y run over.
lam still in the sheep business and
AVE for years yarded them at night
md use bells on the sheep to attract
ttention. These bells are the small
ow bells 2 x 8 inches at the mouth
With an old piece of harness tug for
bell collar. This collar is riveted
ust large enough to slip over the
lead when shearing time comes and
'eing wide does not chafe the neck
+ the eve. l have two dozen of
hese bells and when a stray dog
asses this noise is simply more than
e can stand for and be funny and so
We at the same time take notice of
is presence.
l considerable dog menace to sheep
ldustry only small one in the state
{ Missouri at the present time, even
Ike off hog cholera, with loss from
heep raids. The dog is a night
rowler by nature and very quiet all
ay. In fact if only neutral dogs
'ere kept we would be in manner
afe. find they are as tractable and