Askov American., 1942-02-19

together with three co-authors from
the southern part of the state. 1t
should be noted that the new law in
its present form was passed without
a dissenting vote in either our state
senate or house of representatives.
The law, as passed by the Minnesota
legislature, is for the most part the
same as the Wisconsin law.
In the same article reference was
made to the As letters on file in the
| auditors office from other counties.
In all cases these letters refer en-
tirely to the old dog license law
passed in 1881 which was replaced
by the present 1889 dog license law.
Under the old law many burdensome
duties were placed on the county au-
ditor and the county board. Under
the present law (1939) licenses are
issued by town and village clerks,
and all claims for damages to do
mestic animals by dogs must first
be filed with such clerks. Then the
town board or village council must
| investigate the claim, and has power
to subpoena witnesses and take testi-
mony under oath to determine what
the facts are, and then certifies and
reports such matters to the county
board. This places the burden of in
vestigation on officers in the town or
village where the damage is claimed
to have been done and should result
in preventing false claims from being
allowed.
AS stated in the article in a previ-
Gus issue of the Poker, the law was
to be made operative by presenting
to the board of county commissioners
petitions signed by at least Is per
cent of the livestock and poultry
owners. The petitions were circu-
lated-a number of them by farmers
not raising sheep or small livestock
and the proper number of signatures
was secured. In fact, in Royalton
and Rock Creek townships over 90
per cent of the livestock and poultry
raisers signed the petitions-indicat-
! ing that large majority of the farm
ers felt that the damage being done
by stray dogs was matter which
should be taken care of by the dog
license law. On March 13, 1910, the
| signed petitions were presented to
the board of county commissioners
and requests were made for their
adoption. The matter was put to
vote and was rejected by vote of
three to two, showing that it was
not entirely one-sided question.
The present law authorizes the
county board to fix the dog license
fee at not less than 81 nor more than
SO per year. AS the petitions were
being circulated, the thought in mind
was that the fee would be placed at
! 81, as other states were operating
with that fee. Before the county
board fixed the fee at So per year,
our sheep committee had suggested
to the board that the fee be fixed at
81 per year. With impartial and
strict administration of the law our
sheep committee feels that a ST
license fee will be sufficient. We
are ready and willing to cooperate
with any citizens in trying to have
the fee reduced to 81 next year.
The cost of feeding an average
farm dog is about $40 per year. In
case the dog does not have much
value about the farm, the amount
necessary for keeping the dog could
be very we'll used in our war pro-
gram or for the Red Cross.
Because of the hazard of stray dogs,
a number of farmers have discon-
tinued the raising of sheep. How
ever, it will be noted that the new
dog license law was passed at the
insistence of livestock owners and
not of sheep growers only. In north
ern Pine county there is a lot of
wild land that would make ideal
sheep pasture, and if it could be
used as such the personal property
tax on the sheep which could be
raised would give the county much
more revenue than that created by
the dog tax fund. With the United
States producing only one-half
enough wool for its needs, we should
lend our support to any measure that
will help to increase its production.
Remember, it takes the wool from 21
sheep to make one complete outfit
for soldier. Let us do our part
toward keeping our boys warm.
Anyone wishing to verify the facts
set forth above may do so by check
ing the records at the county auditors
office.
COMMITTEE.
D. j. Mckay, Ben F. Hancock, A. J.
Olson, Sigurd Mosbaek, Fred Folen,
w. H. Schwartz, Oscar Oakland, N.
]. Benson, E. o. Nelson, H. A. Lyseth,
Ernest H. Petersen, H. o. Lindell,
Henry H. Danger.
From Exchanges
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