Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-05-30
A NEGLECTED SOURCE OF FOOD.

ASoS aSO, Wu6Q our 1OreIat0erS were
worshippers of Odin and the rest of the
dead divinities of Northern Europe,
horse flesh was accounted q delicacy fit
for the gods. When warrior died,
the funeral baked meats" were carved
from his slain charger; and in all relig-
iouai celebrations the horse figured, as
the bullock did in the sacrifcial feasts
OF other nations. The horse flesh and
paganism were found to be inseparable
when the Germanic and Scandinavian
tribes were christened by royal procla-
nation. The new made Christian could
not begin dinner OF which his favorite
meat appeared without relapsing to his
ancestral religion and going through
the entire round of pagan rites with
which horse flesh had been 80 long as
sociated. As natural consequence
horse flesh became not only synonymous
with paganism, but one OF its defenses,
we should have said bulwarks if the
sound had permitted. Against it the
bulls of the church were hurled, and
its use was prohibited under pain Of
eternal damnation. Gradually, as Chris
tianity gained ascendency, the obnox-
ious meat passed out of use, and in pro-
cess of time it became to be regarded
by Europeans as long pig" was by the
Christianized defendants of man-eating
Fiji islanders, with an adherence as in
tense as the original liking had been.
Subsequent generations have inherited
the prejudice and forget it's origin. To.
day the multitude stand ready +" to cry
unclean" the moment horse flesh is
mentioned as an article OF food, though
it would puzzle them to give one sub
s.antial reason for SO regarding it.
The truth is that no meat can be
cleaner. The horse is one of the incest
of feeders, and as choice in his drink
ing as in his diet; and, as has been
abundantly proven by the experience of
modern Europe, where horse-fesh has
lately become an important element in
the food, supply, the meat which we
reject is at once wholesome, nutritious,
and nearly, if not quite, rs sayory as
beef. AS we are no longer in danger of
relapsing into paganism with the taste
of it, the only sanitary reason, moral
or otherwise, for avoiding it is done
away with.
There remains the economical reason
for its disuse arising from the fact that
good horses are worth more for other
purposes. But the time comes when
the best horses cease to be profitable
for service. What then?
Occasionally a favorite animal is pro-
vided for in his old age, and allowed to
end his days in all the comfort that ma
ture will permit. The majority, how
ever, are turned over to the tender mer-
cies of the cruel to be used up, more
or less speedily, in rough and i'll requit-
ed labor. To guard their favorites from
this unhappy end, it is becoming COM
mon Practice among considerate people
to shoot their horses when no longer fit
for the carriage, though they may be
far from worn out. Of the nine mil
lion horses in the United States, mil
lion might fitly be disposed of in that
way every year, to make room for
younger and moce serviceable animals.
In other words, our food supply might
be augmented by something like
thousand million pounds of good meat
annually. We throw it away-for a
prejudice.
That the prejudice will be overcome
in time, we have not the slightest doubt.
The tendency of our civilization is to
multiply food consumers while lessen
ing the relative number of producers.
As natural consequence we must be
more and more careful to avoid unnes-
sary waste. Every available source of
wholesome food must be husbanded,
and this among them. Unfortunately
those who would be most directly bene-
fitted by tho addition of horsefesh to
our lists of meats are just those whose
prejudice against it is most intense.
Here as in Europe, it must first gain .
place on the tables of the we1l-to-do.
Perhaps as simple plan as any for
effecting this would be the following:
We have noticed the growing custom of
shooting horses when their term of prof
liable service has come to an end by age
or accident. Instead of burying the
carcasses or giving them to the renderer
to be converted into soap grease and
fertilizers, the flesh might be properly
dressed and distributed among those
who, from curiosity or conviction of it's
who!esomeness, might desire to give it
a trial. If pains vert taken to an
nounce this intention before hand, and
to prove to intending eaters that the
horses were in good condition and free
from disease, there would be little diff
ficulty, we imagine, in disposing Of the
choicer cuts. All that is required is q
beginning, and this course would ensure
it with the least amount of trouble and
cost.-Scientifc american.
EA land agent in Colorado re-
marked to an enquiriug emigraat that
all that was needed 10 make the place a
paradise was comfortable climate,
good water and good society. "That's
all that is lacking in hell" was the re-
NV