Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-12-05

Equine Affairs.
The horseless carriage agitation
presses to the front the question
| whether the time has come when the
horse must go. Many are CT the opin-
ion that the motorcycle is Sc nearly a
success already that the days of that
noble, faithful and useful animal, the
horse, are numbered; and certainly
much has been done to relieve him OF
the hard, thankless tasks that he has
so uncomplainingly and efficiently per-
formed. Electricity has fortunately
taken his place on the street railway
Will that mysterious fluid crowd the
horse off the common highway and
even off the farm? OF all animals the
horse seems to have been specially
created for the service of man. II
does not seem possible that he owes
his development and perfection to the
laws of natural selection but that
he was designed to be the servant, al
most the companion, of man. How
else did he get the hoof for the shoe
even before man knew how to make
the iron for the shoe? How did he get
the breast for the collar before man
knew how to make the harness? The
Darwinian theory certainly does not
seem applicable to the horse; and yet
it may be that the creator designed
the horse for temporary use only and
ms ne f hn a
carriage. Possibly the storage bat
terry. the gasoline engine and the
steam motor will crowd him off the
stage.
However, the grand old animal will
not be retired so readily. 1t was
thought that the locomotive would
render half the horses of the country
superfuous. / remember well the
time when wheat was hauled from
Dane county to Milwaukee good
work horse could be bought for $50
recall that in the year 1847 worked
for a farmer who had bought horse
for that amount and though
my employer was Jealous church
member he sent me one Sunday with
$50 to pay the man from whom the
horse for some years and he was noted
for being among the very best in the
neghborhood.
The railroad reached Dane county in
1854, and it was thought horses would
have little to do and must be cheaper
But horses advanced rapidly. in price,
doubled in a few years, notwithstand-
ing the railroads that relieved the
horse Of the long journeys and the
heavy loads. The horseless carriage,
even If successful, may operate in the
same way.
But 1t is by no means established
that the horseless carriage is a sue
cess It is true that the papers re-
port that citizen of Milwaukee has
ordered one that is guaranteed to run
to his summer home, some twenty
eight miles out, in fifty minutes. But
the carriage is not on hand yet. In
no place is the horseless carriage on
common roads in any considerable
use. Horseless carriages are marvel
ously successful on an iron track, but
off that track they have been no COM
petition for the horse, and doubt
very much whether they ever will
be when we except that very useful
little machine, the bicycle.
A locomotive has never made any
Roadway off the iron road. We have
traction engines that move about the
country, but very slowly, and must
have good hard roads, comparatively
level, to move even small loads, and
then at great cost.
1t is certainly true that stone or
gravel roads may be constructed over
which carriages driven by steam, cleo
tricity or gasoline may be moved at
considerable speed, But at best they
will be unsatisfactory and the cost of
keeping the roads as we'll as the car
riages in repair will be very great.
When the road is rough, and it does
not take long for the best Of stone
roads to become rough, the speed must
be slow or breakages will be more
than frequent. They will do nothing
whatever on snowy or Icy roads. On
soft or wet roads they cannot be used
at all.
A little reflection will soon bring
most people to the conclusion that
the horseless carriages demands an
iron road. If highways are graded
and paved SO as to be fit for moto-
cycles at all they will be as expensive
as railways, and infinitely more 80
when the business that can be done
on them is considered.
The horse is here to stay. He Is
cheap now, not SO much because he Is
superfuous ais because Of oyerproduc-
ton. However, production has al
most ceased. In few years there
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