And the papers with one voice unite in warning their readers against using their signature in such a way.
Now, Messrs. Editors, and fellow readers, is it possible that there is such a principle in our laws—common or statute—that makes such a thing possible; that legalizes such a fraud? If so, it is not only unsafe for a man to sign a contract of any sort, but to write a letter to a friend. And while I am loth to believe there is any statute justifying it, I feel sure there is no common law principle that will sustain it; or if there is, it is a relic of barbarism that common sense and common justice ought long since to have swept into oblivion.
The theory seems to be acquiesced in on the ground that innocent parties must not be made to suffer. But this theory will not hold good. Thousands of cases occur in which innocent persons do, and are compelled by law and by right as well, to suffer loss from just such frauds. A rogue may steal or borrow my horse and sell him to a neighbor, who buys in good faith. The law, and right and justice, instead of compelling me to lose my animal, permits me to replevy him and take him home, and my neighbor pockets his loss. And this is done daily over the land without objection; and we hear no newspaper cautions to the “gullible” farmers not to lend horses. So with every other species of property; one can take his own legally wherever he may find it—in the hands of a rogue or of an innocent purchaser.
It is strange to me that this thing has been permitted to go on so long unchallenged. I do not know whether the courts have ever sustained such a principle; if they have, unless there be much more cogent reason for it than I can conceive of, the sooner it is reversed the better for honest men and good government. Will you allow me, through your widely read pages, to earnestly call the attention of your readers to the subject matter—and not only your readers, but your cotemporaries of the agricultural press as well. Let the principle be ventilated.
Diogenes.
[How He Likes Dakota.]
In passing through Chicago last spring on my way to Dakota, I called at your office and paid for The Prairie Farmer. The gentleman in the office requested me to write you about Dakota. I have delayed doing so until now to learn about the winters here, and as it is now on hand, I write.
The last half of December and the first half of January we had the cold wave, the mercury going below zero from 8 to 40 deg. We have from six to seven inches of snow on the level. Thermometer now ranging from 10 below to 20 above. We have had some windy days that make the snow fly. I was in Illinois before leaving for Dakota some forty-five years, and I did not in all that time see a more pleasant winter; but a very few days that a man could not be at work if he choose. The wind is no harder nor more frequent than in Illinois—just the same as near as could be made. Now for the land, etc.:
Here in Brown county, about twelve to fifteen miles from the 46 parallel (south) the land is nicely rolling, just about as any one would wish. There is very little choice in location, only as distance from railway stations. The soil is black sandy loam, good for small grain, and, judging from experiment in sod corn, we can raise corn and a good crop mature if put in in good season, and of an early variety.