Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-08-09
MODERN INVENTIONS WILL IN
CREASE THE DEMAND FOR
HORSES.
From the Rider and Driver.l


"Horseless age" is sounding phrase.
1t is empty and rings loud Everybody
hears 1t, and everybody signs over the
passing away of the horse. In this
newspaper age the masses live on SEN
sation. 1t is the wonderful, the emo
tional and the horrible that is momen-
tarily believed. Small premises, large
conclusions. The popular mind inferred
the end of the world from the Charles
ton earthquakes, the disuse of road
transportation from the invention of the
steam engine, and of letter writing from
the invention of the telegraph. The
pulpit and the platform were to be SUI
perseded by the newspapers; typeset-
ting by the Merganthaler process; hand
writing by typoscript; hand labor by
machines; painting by photography;
steam power by electricity; and all do
nestle, sociai and political life by the
advent of the "new woman" The
latest fad" is that horses are to be
showed out of existence by electricity
and the bicycle! Men are moved out of
their equilibrium by these gusty side
winds of newspaper agitation. a little
observation would teach them that the
world still stands self-baanced on its
center; that railroads increase wagon
transportation that more letters are
written because of the telegraph; that
the pulpit and platform have been but
tressed by the press; that printers still
set type; that men still use the pen;
wOrkmen labor and artists paint: that
steam engines run; and that women
have not given over nursing babies. By
analogy, we may infer that the equine
race is not likely to become extinct.
newspaper cyclones to the contrary
Notwithstanding. The alarmiSts point
TO the facts that in $50 there were in
the United States 4.336,7l9 horses and
in 1890 l4.9G9. 4G., an increase of more
than three TO one. But it took forty
years TO show that increase. and the
population increased at about the same
ratio in that period, in spite of four
years of destructive war. On closer eX-
animation it appears that, in round
numbers, there are fifteen millions of
horses in the country, of which number
about twelve millions are in the North
Central, South Central and Western di-
visions of States, and three millions in
the North and South Atlantic States.
In 1850 the proportion of horses to pop
ulation was about ! to ): in 1893 it is
about l to / 2-3 This increased ratio
is what might be expected from the
larger wealth and more extended COM
merce of the country up to 1891. The
largest increase in number is in the
North Central division, including Ohio.
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Y. and :.
Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. In
these States are found more than $500
600 horses. This large number is due to
the diversified Industries of these States.
the very large number of breeding
and 1880, and the enthusiasm of the
farmers for the development of the
horse. Every farm had its pasture full
of colts. In Alabama and Georgia
there were more horses in 1910 than in
1890, the recent boom of trotting stock
not having touched those States. The
greatest ratio of increase was i'm the new
States organized since $50, like Texas.
Montana, Nebraska and Iowa, where
pastures have been abundant and the
needs of man great. In the North At
lantic, South Atlantic and South Cen
tral divisions the increase in forty wears
was only about seven-tenths of the
number in 1910, while m the North
Central and Western the increase was
more than six times the number in 1910
This increase was arrested in 1898 by
the sudden collapse of the financial sys-
tenn of the United States, preceded by
the uncertainties of tariff legislation.
Transportation to and from the West
fell below the paying point and many
OF the great lines of railroad went into
the hands of receivers. Manufactures
ceased work; country merchants gave
no orders, because farmers could not
sell their produce at living prices; city
merchants limited credits, bought no
new goods, housed their delivery wagons
and waited for better times. Great en-
terprises langushed. For four years
the country has lived in state of bust
ness paralysis. The use for horses in
business has been almost nothing; every
man who had q horse has sold him Tor
what he could get; and thousands of
horses have persisted from disease caused
by neglect and insufficient food. The
straw rick and open field in winter have
too often taken the place of warm sta
bles and generous food. In the far
West, mountain ranges covered with
snow have been the scanty browsing