Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-05-15
CHICKEN QUESTION
CAUSES TROUBLES
Two Kinds of Chicken Troubles
Municipal Officials Have to Con-
tend With.
LAW TO
LET RUN AT LARGE
The Paper Iowa municipalities
Gives Some Pointers on the
Chicken Question, Which
is Important just Now.

The chickens of our cities and
towns are being given a great deal
Of consideration this spring Dy ON
ials. The chicken question is al
ways an interesting one, but on ac-
count of the war activities of the
nation at large, and of the individ-
ual citizens, it becomes of most
vital interest just at this time.
A discussion of this question
naturally falls under two heads.
First, the chickens of the fowl
variety, and second, the chickens
of the human variety.
With the request of the food ad-
ministration that every loyal resi-
dent of city or town maintain a
war garden, the barn yard variety
of chicken, if allowed to run at
large, becomes, in addition to the
nuisance that it always has been,
a real aid to the Kaiser by destroy
ing great quantities of food that
are necessary to the maintenance
of our people. 1t is vital to the sue
cess of the war garden to know
whether or not this kind of a chick
en- can be restrained.
About once a month some citizen
OF the state, who has heard some
pua pIco COW fhof tho lou olIouc
chickens to run at large, publishes
an article in some local paper stat
ing that this is the law, and that it
is necessary If you do not care to
be bothered with chickens to fence
against them. The last item of this
kind to be published. is sent in from
Lohrville. and reads as follows:
To the Editor: Chickens are
going to be quite a help this year
in winning the war by doing their
bit'' with eggs. There always
"cranks who shout. their heads off
If neighbor's, chickens trespass
on their ground which is often by
accident and more trouble is caused
between neighbors on this account
than by any other cause.
At this time it would be wise to
state that the Supreme Court of
Iowa has ruled that property owners
must fence in their property if they
want to prevent chickens and dogs,
etc., from trespassing. And when
The offending party hdjoines
property, either party can erect a
fence the cost to be assessed
equally.
SO that it is the duty of Mr..
Crank to fence his property if he
wants to prevent his neighbor's
chickens from trespassing.
l. H. Ferguson.
Mr.. Ferguson is probably warm
friend of the barn yard chicken,
and was probably told by someone
that the Supreme Courts had held
that chickens can run at large with
in the city and town limits. I'm
fortunately Mr. Ferguson did not
take the trouble to verify the infor-
nation that he had received or to
read the opinion Of the Court. II
he had read the opinion of the
Court to which he refers, he would
have found that the Supreme Courts
differs with him as to the law of
chickens.
The opinion Of the Supreme Court
to which he must refer, as this is
the only opinion of the Court on
this quesaion, is without doubt the
case of Kimple VS.. Schafer reported
in, tho 1e1 REQ Tn, 10
opinion the Supreme Court says
that the rule or common law re-
quiring the owners to keep and re-
strain domestic animals on his own
property does not apply to the peo-
pie of the state of Iowa. The legis-
lature may, however, change this
rule. The legislature has changed
this rule in regard to a great many
domestic animals, but has never
changed the rule in regard to
chickens.
The law in this case Is, there
fore, that chickens are allowed to
run at large in the country, as dis
tinguished from towns and cities.
In the same opinion, however, the
Supreme Court calls attention to
the fact that under section 702 of
the Code. the legislature has give"
to cities and towns the power TO
restrain the running at large of all
kinds of live stock including chick
ems and different kinds OF fowl. I'm
der this section a city or town has
the right to pass an ordinance pro-
hibiting the running at large of
chickens and this ordinance can be
enforced. The Supreme Court has
said that this is the law and until
they change their minds it is the
law. The next time that anyone
claims that the Supreme Court has
said that chickens can run at large
anywhere in the state call his at
tention to this case and ask him to
read the entire opinion. He will
(Cnutiuna1 nn nara