for many years, and there were laws against it which were ignored by shipper and railroad man both until public opinion brought about their enforcement.
In the Western Territories of the United States the possession of a horse was so essential to life that horse-stealing at one time was regarded as a crime of such degree that one taken in the act was put to death by hanging from a limb of a tree. Justice was thus summarily meted out to the offender who willfully deprived his neighbor of his property. Yet to-day a careless farmer allows weeds to grow in his fields without concern, and the seeds are carried by the wind, and a whole neighborhood may be seeded. The injury to his neighbor is just as definite and tangible as though he had deliberately gone into his neighbor’s fields and gathered and carried away the crops. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” was the ancient law. This would require damage for damage. In a case which was carried up to the highest tribunal in Missouri, where a property-owner allowed weeds to grow unrestrained in a
