Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-10-05
DOOM OF THE HORSE.
Electricity the Coming Motive
Power for Vehicles
Not Only Street Cars, But Wheeled Con-
veyances of All Kinds VIII Be Pro-
PEELED by the Unseen Force That
Is Revolutionizing the World.


From present indications it will not
be surprising if within a few short
years the electric motor will have super
seeded the horse generally, If not uni
versally, as a motive power, says the
Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. With
In three years it has taken its place on
all the street railways in the city, with
single exception, that were not using
the cable. The same is true of every
other city in the country. Even coun-
try towns and thicl1ly populated eoun-
try districts have electric roads. In this
way hundreds of thousands of horses
have been displaced within the last five
years The cable came first, but it is
being superseded by the electric motor,
as it is less expensive and more easily
handled.
Many of our readers will be able to
recall the cry against steam railways
| that they would do away with stage
| coaches and horses, thereby throwing
thousands of drivers, host1ers, horse
buyers and tavern keepers out of en-
ployment. 1t is said that this cry was
so loud as to keep the Baltimore & Ohio
railroad out of this state. Had it not
been for the turnpike influence the first
line would have come to this city, and
thence to Wheeling, instead of going
| over the mountains from Cumberland
| to Wheeling. The stage horse was
doomed, however, and had to go. Is it
| not possible, or even quite probable,
| that the carriage horse and the draft
| horse are likewise doomed? Within
| two years from the present time car
| riages, buggies and light wagons will
| be scudding along our streets propelled
| by electricity, and it is not improbable
| that the same power may be applied to
heavier-wheeled vehicles
In recent letter Thomas Shields
| Clarke, the artist, who has been in Paris
| for some time, says:
'sDo you realize that the days of our
equine friend are numbered? Carriages
propelled by electric or naphtha motors
| are already a common sight on the
streets of Paris and becoming more nu-
merous every day. Not being great
| lover of horsehesh I shall be glad when
it is gone. What nice, clean streets we
| will have when it ceases to hammer
them to pieces with it's iron shoes.
| More capacious carriages can be used
| and many men can own their own con-
veyances when propelled by a motor
| that only uses a few cents worth of
| electricity, in naphtha, per day. and
costs nothing at all for feed or atten-
! ton when not in actual use. Every
man may then be his own driver. It
looks very much as if this new order of
| things will be established before the
close of the present century"
| There are none, or at least only a
| few, who viii take issue with Mr..
Clarl1s on the subject. The electric
motor and storage battery have been
brought to such perfection that it is
| quite safe to predict a general if not
universal decline in horse power. Dur
| ing the coming harvest a number of
agricultural machines, such as reapers,
mowers, thrashers, plows, harrows and
ralSes will be operated by storage bat
teries instead of horses. This is rem
| dered possible by late Improvements in
| the storage battery. A five-horse-power
| battery, good for ten hours steady
| work, occupies a box no larger than an
egg case, and weighs no more than one
| hundred and fifty pounds These can
| be transported any distance, and may
| be returned and recharged at small
cost.
| A battery of this size and power will
propel farming carriage continu-
ously for fifty hours, or at least for ten
days if only used five hours each day.
So it will not cost nearly so much as a
carriage horse, nor require either feed
or attention when not in use. There is
no reason why it should not become
very pOpIIar