The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-05-12
A Brute or a Man2

AS we breed or rear sheep and oxen
that the materials of their bodies may
serve our uses, so we breed horses for
the sake of their mechanical ''energy:"
ard we consider ourselves justified in
getting out of them as much work as
they can be made to do without severe
physical suffering to themselves, in re-
payment for the feeding, housing and
general care we bestow upon them. But
are the horses consenting parties to this
arrangement What should we say if q
conquering nation were to use us as
beasts of draught or burden? Should
we not raise the cry, cam not a man
and brother? Have you q right to treat
me like brute beastp" Clearly. then,
the common sense of mankind claims
in virtue, not of superior strength, but
elevation in the scale of being-to make
the horse labor for mans use, allowing
to him in return only the right of kindly
treatment at our hands. But is it not
matter of everyday experience that our
occasions require some extraordinary
exertion, such as the horse can be only
induced to put forth by the application
of whip or spur-Or, to put it in plain
terms, by the infiction of painp If an
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. puts himself into a
cab, on his way to denounce the atroci-
ties of doctors at q public meeting,
and finds that the continuance of the
iog-trot pace at which he is going will
cause him to miss his appointment, does
he hesitate to tell the driver to urge on
his horse-knowing well what this extra
speed involves? Or if he had the mis-
fortune to be dangerously injured by a
railway collision in place far removed
from medical assistance, and were lying
in bodily and mental agony, counting
the minutes until relief could arrive,
would he be content to wait the good
pleasure of the horse whose rider goes
off in search of the doctor, or of that on
which the doctor comes to his rescuep
Would he not rather feel that all that
the horses can do must be got out of
them by the free use of the whip and
spurp-the limited and temporary suf-
fering inflicted on the lower creatureb be-
ing quite justifiable in view Of the great
er (because permanent and far-reach-
ing) benefit conferred on the higher.
involving, it may be, the future welfare
of others dearer to him than his own
life. Let me put one more case for my
opponents consideration, which, wheth-
er it did or did not really occur, may be
accepted as ..crucial instance" A
man, condemned to death fora crime he
had not committed, is brought out for
execution, and the moose is already
around his neck. A rider is seen In the
distance urging toward the scaffold
horse covered with foam, and obviously
ready to drop from fatigue; he waves
something in his hand with deprecat-
ing gesture; the execution is stayed; the
crowd opens to let the horse reach the
scaffold; the rider presents the reprieve,
which had been obtained at the last mo-
ment by the production, Of unexpected
evidence of the prisoners innocence,
and the horse drops down dead. Who
shall condemn the use of whip and spur,
even to this extreme, for the sake of
preserving the life of an innocent man,
with all its possibilities of future happi-.
ness and usefulnessp The nti-vivisec-
ZIONIST may talk about his unwillingness
to profit by sufferings inflicted upon in
nocent brutes; but will any one say that
he would rather have been hanged than
that the horse should have suffered to
save himp Or. if he dares say 1t, would
any one but zoophilist believe himp--
DR.. Carpenter, an F'ort,sightty ReUteD.