Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-08-09
The Mission of the Horse.

d4Itu tlOuutts, itt itdl lIdt eOille
OF this new article OF diet may he
palmei off upon them ~ prime roast
or corned bee has an actual existence
at l.innton, a station on the Northern
Pacific Railroad, Il few miles south OF
Portland, Oregon. The name OF the
plant is the Western Packing Co, and
it has been fully equipped with ma
chinery necessary ior Strengthening,
preparing and packing horse meat for
shipment. 1t is the only establish
ment Of the kind on the coast, and is
an untried experiment, but the CONT
dence that is felt 10y the company in
working up Il foreign trade is shown
by the investment OF several thousand
dollars in fitting up their packery, and
they have an extremely low price for
the raw material" and removal OF
all prejudice in some countries to
this article of diet, to sustain their
hopes for establishing profitable bus
ineess.
In searching for the origin of the
prejudice against horse meat for food
one naturally turns to the tests pre-
scribed by Holy Writ, which authorizes
the use OF such beasts as chew the cud
and divide the hooi, for food. In Le-
viticus Nj, the prohibition of flesh for
food includes Eliminating beasts that
"divideth not the hool" but the same
authority proscribes the use of swine
as food, for although he divide the
hoof and be footed, yet he
cheweth not the cud," and except by
the Jews the hog has found high favor
among all civilized nations as staple
flesh-food. Then again. in chapter
VII, OF the same book, it is COM
manded that Z" Ye shall eat no manner
of fat, OF OK, or OF sheep, or of goat"
but we find that this injunction has
been interpreted" to have applica-
ton only to the times and the people
for which the sanitary rules of the
Bible were specially written. So the
prejudice cannot have so stable
resting-place as Holy Writ to justify
it, and must be founded upon some
abnormal impulse of human nature,
that has no foundation in sense or
reason. The horse is the cleanest OF
animals, as the hog is the filthiest !;
still the stomach rejects the one and
Graves the other. The horse is gran
niverous and his food is purely vegeta-
BILE, while the swine is carniverous
and he revels in offal the most offensive
to sight and smell. The horse is =
noble animal, and carries his head
erect in conscious pride, while the
hogs head slopes to the ground and
he finds his chief delight in wsllowing
in the mire. Nor are cattle which
chew the cud and divide the hoof,
which are pronounced "clean" by
divine authority, as fastidious as the
horse in the selection of his food or
in genial habits.
| Where then may we base the preju-
dice against his flesh for food? Is it
in the reason given by the Vancouver
Columbian, which is Mortified over the
statement that several hundred head
of horses were lately herded at Linn.
ton, awaiting their turn for slaughter?
That journal bases the antipathy upon
friendship for the horse. 1t says
" The idea of killing mans most faith
full friend for food, in times when
there is no necessity for it, is peculiar
ly revolving" Is the horse the only
" faithful friend of man." who is SUBJ
jected to this ordeal? Many cows
that furnish the juicy stakes for her
owners platter have been pampered
pets while supplying the lacteral fluid
for his coffee-cup. Many savory
mutton stew that sends forth its appe-
tizing odor at the dinner table has
; been derived from a creature which
; gamboled with his children on the
green sward at an earlier hour of the
day. So it may be seen that friend
ship cuts q email figure when the
, stock. owners butcher-knife comes in
; play backed by stalwart appetite.
The fact is that the horse is but q
factor in the entities that obey the Law
of inevitable necessity-of Fate. His
days OF usefulness, as beast of bur.
den. are about over. He has been sup
planted by human devices, whereby
his former sphere of usefulness has
about closed, and there seems to be nc
obstacle, aside from sentiment, thai
} would prohibit him from creating 9
new one by ministering to the present
imperative wants of man. If he can
cheaper the cost OF food, these hard
times, he is performing better, if not
nobler, mission than trying to beat 9
} record of 2.O3a.
| Cr al