The Wild Hogs of Horse-Shoe Bend

[pwd72s]

“The Wild Hogs of
Horse-Shoe Bend”

By J.G. McDaniel, M.D.

I remember, as a small boy in knee britches, going with my father to hear an address given by the Honorable Stephen Pace, then Congressman from the old Georgia 12th District. It was on the banks of the Ocmulgee River. There was a barbecue, and citizens, especially farmers from all the counties, gathered - this was before the second World War.

It seemed that someone in the Congress had introduced a bill that would give the farmers some money provided they did something. The Congressman vigorously opposed it. I have no idea what it was, because I was watching a "dirt dobber" making a ball of mud. The Congressman snapped me back to attention, however, when he said "I'm going to tell you a true story about the wild hogs that once lived about forty miles down river."

"Years ago," the Congressman said, "in the great Horse-Shoe Bend down the river, there lived a drove of wild hogs. Where they came from no one knew, but they survived floods, fires, freezes, droughts and hunters. The greatest compliment a man could pay to a dog was to say that he had fought the hogs in Horse-Shoe Bend and returned alive. Occasionally a pig was killed either by a dog or a gun as a conversation piece for years to come.

Finally, a one-gallused man came by the country store on the river road, and asked the whereabouts of these wild hogs. He drove a one horse wagon, had an axe, some quilts, a lantern, some corn and a single barrel shot gun. He was a slender, slow moving patient man - he chewed his tobacco deliberately and spat very seldom.

Several months later he came back to the same store and asked for help to bring out the wild hogs. He stated that he had them all in a pen over in the swamp.
Bewildered farmers, dubious hunters and store-keepers all gathered in the heart of Horse Shoe Bend to view the captive hogs.

‘It was all very simple,’ said the one-gallus man, 'First, I put out some corn. For three weeks they would not eat it. Then, some of the young ones grabbed an ear and ran off into the thicket. Soon, they were all eating it. Then, I commenced building a pen around the corn, a little higher each day. When I noticed that they were all waiting for me to bring the corn and had stopped grubbing for acorns and roots, I built the trap door. Naturally, said the patient man, they raised quite a ruckus when they seen they were trapped, but I can pen any animal on the face of the earth if I can just get him to depend on me for a free hand-out.'"

We have had patient men in our central government in Washington for years. They are using our own dollars instead of corn. I still think about the trap door and the slender, stooped man who chewed his tobacco deliberately, when he spat and turned to the gathered citizens many years ago and said, "I can pen any animal on the face of the earth if I can just get him to depend on me for a free hand-out."

• Congressman Pace was born in Terrell County, Ga., near Dawson, March 9, 1891; attended the public schools and Georgia School of Technology at Atlanta; was graduated from the law department of the University of Georgia at Athens in 1914; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Americus, Ga.; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; served in the State house of representatives 1917-1920; was a member of the State senate in 1923 and 1924; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1951); did not seek renomination in 1950; resumed the practice of law in Americus, Ga., and practiced until his death there April 5, 1970.

The Price Of
Free Corn

The allegory of the pigs has a serious moral lesson. This story is about federal money and lies (promises) being used to bait, trap and enslave a once free and independent people.

Federal welfare, in its myriad forms, has reduced not only individuals to a state of dependency. State and local governments are also on the fast track to elimination, due to their functions being subverted by the command and control structures of federal "revenue sharing" programs.

Study these links -- "Our Enemy the State" by Albert J. Nock, 1935, His Classic Critique Distinguishing 'Government' from the 'State', written about the same time that Congressman Pace told this story.

And this written 150 years ago defining the process -- "The Law" by Stephen Bastiat, 1850. What he had to tell us then is very much true today.

The Truth, that will set us free, is in knowing that with so-called "free handouts" lies the beginning and end-all of the whole mess in government that we see today . . . but wild hogs will be pigs 'til the end . . . and sheeple are easier to bait and trap . . . don't even have to use corn or money or anything but hot air, myths, half-truths and outright lies . . . and it all began a whole lot longer than 2000 years ago, and has continued ever since.

Think about it, the bacon you save may be your own.

[tabs]

OINK......

[jrdavid68]

Who is John Galt?

[928ram]

Thought it was a thread about crazy fat girls...

[Jeff Higgins]

I first saw this story years ago in our Washington Arms Collectors newsletter. Great story. The federal government has done a masterfull job with this concerning the states and most folks don't even realize it. They have had free corn all of their lives and love it.

[pwd72s]

Thanks Jeff...I find it kind of funny that the usual overly verbose prose isn't coming from our leftward leaning friends on this one. Too much truth in this little fable for them to handle, I guess.

[azasadny]

Read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand...

[jrdavid68]

Originally posted by azasadny
Read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand...

Finally! Thanks azasadny.

[targa911S]

man I though you were going to post pictures of the girls in your home town!

[Dottore]

Originally posted by pwd72s


The allegory of the pigs has a serious moral lesson. This story is about federal money and lies (promises) being used to bait, trap and enslave a once free and independent people.

The Truth, that will set us free, is in knowing that with so-called "free handouts" lies the beginning and end-all of the whole mess in government that we see today . .

Ah yes. A "serious moral lesson" indeed.

I can almost see you there, in deepest, darkest Oregon, sitting around in your compounds in your jungle fatigues singing the Horst Wessel song, reading your Ayn Rand, polishing your weapons, railing on about the evils of government and plotting which Federal building to blow up next.

If it were not so tragic - it would almost be funny.

[pwd72s]

As expected...not one sensible arguement against the moral of this essay...liberty lost through dependency on government handouts. C'mon down to Oregon Dottore, the corn crop is coming along well.

[WOODPIE]

Didn't want to disappoint you....

Did you really expect your lib friends here to jump up on the soap box, defending a welfare state or entitlement program abuse?

The hog story was nice. Not knowing exactly what bit of legislation the congressman was refering to, and me just frankly too lazy to research what it might have been, well, how can I take a stand one way or the other? But, nice story, anyway. Where do you think the Honorable Stephen Pace would have stood on corporate welfare?

Ed

[pwd72s]

Ed, after reading this, one could easily surmise that Democrat Congressman Pace would have been against corporate welfare, as am I. I'm also against Corporate income taxes, since the shareholders invest with money that taxes have already been paid on.
But the corporate welfare itself? Such as the City manager of this podunk town actually promising, and delivering to, WAL-MART a cool $1/2 million in "infrastructure" to open their first Oregon store here? Yeah, stuff like that burns my butt!

[}{arlequin]

Originally posted by 928ram
Thought it was a thread about crazy fat girls...

and yet you clicked anyway???

[legion]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Ed, after reading this, one could easily surmise that Democrat Congressman Pace would have been against corporate welfare, as am I. I'm also against Corporate income taxes, since the shareholders invest with money that taxes have already been paid on.
But the corporate welfare itself? Such as the City manager of this podunk town actually promising, and delivering to, WAL-MART a cool $1/2 million in "infrastructure" to open their first Oregon store here? Yeah, stuff like that burns my butt!

Exactly.

We have two large employers in this town. (Excluding the university--I won't name names for the other.)

Roughly 15 years ago, when the one was enticed to build a factory here, they were given all sorts of incentives. IIRC, the city paid for extending all of the necessary utilities, and they were exempted from state and local taxes. Every couple of years they rumble about leaving, and the incentives get extended.

The other large employer has been here for over 80 years. When they chose to build (yet another) corporate campus, they paid to have the utilities extended. As a rule, they turn down "incentives" whenever offered. They also make an effort to avoid tax shelters and pay full federal, state, and local taxes.