Hamilton journal. (Hamilton, Harris Co., Ga.) 1876-1885, April 21, 1885, Image 8
AMILTON
=
SUBSCRIPTION SI-00 A YEAR.
J. L. Den xi-s, Proprietor.
HAMILTON, GEORGIA,
April J21 1885.
A riilNTIXG Pit ESS FQli
SALE CHEAP.
I have a Seven Column VVasington
hand press, that does good work 5
which I will sell for $100 cash, or ®n
easy terms to a reliable party.
J. L. Dennis.
EDITORIAL NOTES.
The European war cloud is not
largei than a man’s hand, and yet it
has advanced flour one dollar per
bane).
President Cleveland is being urged
visit Atlanta in May. A live pres¬
ident has not been in the south since
he late unpleasantness, a period of
nearly a quaiter of a century. The
•isit of Cleveland would have a good
effect.
If Mr. Cleveland can get off ear
her some of us would be glad for
m to come south before May. The
;v*l service reform talk has kept a
;cw < f as who would like office away
from Washington, and we would be
ad to meet the President before he
.as filled all the offices within his
Some of the papers are discussing
the eligibility of (iov. McDaniel for
another term. It was clearly the in¬
of the framers of the consti
to limit to four years the in¬
cumbency of the gubernatorial chair.
The re-election of tiov. McDaniel
*ouM extend his term of service
that oenod
Active warlike preparations are
til being mide by Russia and Eng
land, although they may no* fight It
lioks to an unbiassed observer as if
each had a chip on its shoulder which
i r was anxious for the other to knock
ott. Cotton w»il decline and bread
stuffs advance in price if war should
be declared. It is not too late, in
view of all this, to put in a little
more corn.
WAYSIDE MUSINGS.
Thoughts on the
or No-Fence--Fence Riders.
All must agree that a fence in
Darden of Eden would have been
out of place. There was a stock
law in force then. Adam was assess
ed damages when he transgressed
that law.
If Harris county is ever to ‘bios
soni as the rose” or be a second Eden
t i le s t 0 ck must be fenced in. The
most prosperous agricultural coi n
tries in the world are those in which
crops are turned out and stock frnc
ed in. In such a country as Harris
was fifty years ago, it was natural
that the fence laws we now have
should obtain, and in some sections
of the county as it now is, it is still
to the interest of the farmers to fence
in their crops rather than their stock.
In the pine section in the south-west¬
ern corner of the county this is nota
bly so. But in a large part of the
co,ln, v thc laad owneri ‘ ee that a
-
change is imperative.
But for a mistaken idea upon the
part of the renter, the change should
have been made lo >g since. It is
now the privilege of every person to
keep as much stock as he wishes,
Lands not fenced are open to the
public for g azing. The stock law
protects the land whether fenced or
not. It curtails the privileges of the
non-*and owner. His rights under
existing laws he is unwilling to vote
awav.
#
That he has these rights is question
able; that to maintain them, if he has
them, is not to his interest is iinqu s
lionablc.
Land is not so highpricid that any
industrious person may not become a
landlord—a free holder. Under the
law now of force in Harris county it
is worth more to fence a small body
of land than the land is worth on the
market. This operates against the
poor man who is trying to get a start.
-
Take a ten acre lot, to illustrate
this idea, ard see what the relative
cost will be. And ten acres is enough
land, in our wonderful climate, to
support well a very large family if
properly managed. This land would
cost from forty to one hundred doll¬
ars. At one per cent a month for
money the annua! cost would be
$4.80 *0 $12.00 to the purchaser of
tfiis land. If the land is in an exact
square it can be fenced with 4000
rails, worth from $15 to $20 a thous
an d. This makes the cost six to
eight dollars per acre. This fence
wdl need replacing every five years—
thus the r0 st annually is 20 per cent
Q f the original cost of the fence—say
$ I2 to $16 a year. Adding these
two items of cost together and we
have the annual cost of land in small
lots at from $16.80 to $28. Can it
be longer a matter of surprise that so
large a proportion of our people are
renters Two or three bales of cot¬
ton—$80 to $120—pay the rent for
a one mule farm—forty acres. An
amount less than would be required
to keep up the fences around it if
fenced to itself.
The tendency under fence law is
to large farms. It would be to small
farms under the stock law. Under
which condition is the poor man best
paid for his services ? Under which
has he most social and educational
advantages? It almost makes my
heart bleed to see poor men so blind¬
ly opposing their best interest, to
maintain a fancied right. Truth has
always met with such blind opposi¬
tion, but still it is mighty and must
prevail.
My own dog bit me once. l —i n
jumping a pailing his foot caught i*
tiie crack and he was suspended by
it in great agony, When I took hold
to lift him off the fence he bit my
arm.
Poverty is agonizing, The fence
law's keep many men in poverty. In
my effort to relieve them from the
fence I shall expect huit, because my
motives will be misinterpreted.
The tenant always pays the expense
of the fencing around the crops he
grows. It may b; in the contract