Typed and spelled as written:

Kay Cunningham

The Marlin Democrat

Fifteenth Year   Number 8

Marlin, Texas, Thursday, April 21, 1904

FAVORS THE STOCK LAW

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     Learning that Judge L. W. Goodrich was interested in the question of a. general stock law for the eastern half of Falls county, a reporter for the DEMOCRAT sought his opinions in detail.  Replying to questions the Judge answered as follows:

     "Some suggestions have been made by many people that we need in this suction of the county a stock law - that is to say - a law which requires that every person possessing or owning stock of any kind, should be required by law to keep them inside of an enclosure owned or controlled by him.  Some years ago a most respected gentleman and an able lawyer was elected by the people of this county to the state senate; while acting as such he introduced In the senate, as I now remember, a law regulating estrays, by the terms of which any animal running at large beyond the owner's possessions should be deemed an estray and liable to be seized and impounded by the owner or possessor of the land where such estrays are found. The law also provided for the location of convenient pounds for the confinement and detention of such animals.

     "This law was suggested by the crime of fence cutting prevalent at that time. This law was self executing and placed in the powers of those upon whom such depredations were made to take in charge and to impound such stock as he found running at large and depredating upon his premises or on the public roads in his vicinity.

     "The conditions existing now make the necessity of such law imperative. The tenant who plants a crop to supply the necessities of his family is at the mercy of the man who plants no crop - who has a few old horses or cows and who turns them out in the street or road to make a living for themselves by robbing his neighbors, by breaking his fences and destroying the results of his industry.

     "Following this line of thought I think it highly proper and necessary that the people of this district, say that part of Falls county being east of the Brazos, should unite in a petition to the commissioners court to order an election for the enforcement of a stock law within said district".

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Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas.