The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-11-08

Vut pnOnB notBeSt ~ plAg ues nave broken
out among men, which would. sweep
them away by tho hundred or thousand
every day, and which would nomentarily
battle science, What we would now
bring 70 the notice Of the public Il, Tint
In our large cities horses are exposed,
without let or hiudrance on the part or
sanitary authorities, 10 Just those cOntt-
tons from which the great pes(ilences
among human beings have sprung. We
take precautions In the public Interest
against oyefcrowding,, filth, and absence
OF ventilation In tenement houses, but We
take mo precautions against the over
crowdlDg, filth, and want Of light and
ventilation OF city stables and YET every
one OF the large stables may. lairly. and
properly DO called o, hot.bed oflhnrse
disease, .l... @1.,I1 'f-elIsl
Light 10 Bs necessary TO q horOe's health
as to that Of q man, and yet nearly oil our
horses live, except during their few hours
Of work out Of doors, often In the case Of
the city horse not over two or three, al.
most In complete darkness. In the beat
and most commodious city stables they
have nothing more than q twilight.
Moreover, the lungs Of the horse are Just
like those OF man-only larger; their
functions are precisely the same; the con.
tact OF oxygen with his blood is just as
necessary Tor the preservation Of his
health and strength; nevertheless, nearly
all our stables are built and regulated ap.
parently on the theory that the horse does
not need fresh air at all. The windows
are small, and are either not made TO open,
or are never opened. There are, In the
case oil horses kept for pleasure, and of
horses kept In the country, mitlgations Of
their lot which we need not point out:
but in the city the working horse Is treat.
ed worse than steam engine or sewing
machine. He Is almost invariably, II his
owner be poor, shut up during sixteen
hours out OF the twcnty.tour ia a small,
noisome den, every plank and beam In
which Is impregnated with foul exhala.
tions, and which probably stands in
fetid alley, or behind a filthy yard. II he
belongs to one Of the great car companies,
or omnibus companies, or livery stable
keepers, he Is either immured iu cellar
several feet below the ground, and which
Is probably damp, or else kept in large
rooms, with low ceilings and small win.
dows, and In which light and air arc not
allowed TO come, and in which he Is
packed together with several hundred Of
his fellows, almost as closely as they Can
stand together, up TO his knees In
half rotten straw, and with fer.
menting manure all around him. The
result is that, as any one may ascertain
for himself, the stencil of these places
when the doors are opened In the morning
is almost insupportable; and It Is as Ger.
tain as anything can be that the Constitu.
ton oil horse which passes many nights
in them rapidly gives way, and lie dies;
but he is SGT down in the books as having
been worn out" by hard work. The
tact Ia, he dies Of foul air and darkness and
dirt-dies. in short, for want Of the ordi.
nary conditions Of healthInl animal life
II, instead Of dying in this way siugly,
horses should now any day take it into
their heads to fall sick by the hundred.
and dieOf an equine "6lack DEATH" il
would serve us right We could not just
ly complain Of 1t.
The condition Of the horse among US Ia
a disgrace to our civilization. The man
ner in which we permit HIM TO be used BY
car companies for local Transportation,
the pavements withwhich we suppIy him
to do his work upon, and the dens In
which we allow him to be lodged, IRE
worthy Of the Dark Ages. Our indiffer-
ence to these things is like the indifFer. |
ence shown about the physical condition |
OF workingmen; the result may not be one |
which will rouse our sympathy or our
Tears, as the great human pestilence once
did, but II may be one from which our
manufactures. and commerce, and social
life would suffer terribly. We tolerate in |
this city about dozen great horse ergaS.
tnlG, every one Of which not only Gisgraces
lis as q civilized community, but as |
community which makes a pretense Of
knowing something Of sanitary science;
and the only excuse VIC offer Tor 1t is that
the victims Of these places are merely |
"private property" We now see that thew
are not simply private property; they are |
wheels in our social great machine, the |
stoppage Of which means widespread in. |
jury TO all classes and conditions of per.
sons, injury to commerce, to agriculture,
to trade, to social life; and, that the sani.
tary inspection Of horses and their dwell
ings during their life is Just as necessary
as sanitary arrangements for the removal
Of their bodies after deathlin every well.
regulated municipality.