The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-08-27

OF tho motive power FOR these corpora
TONS by the coal miner and the manu-
facturcrS OF the material that II used In
the construction of the new system OF
%railrOadlng.
"Wlll the enactment OF n free SILVER
statue Induce The street railways OF the
world 10 abandon their. present rapid
transit syStcms md return to tho now
ancient car horse. becnus, the farmers
Of the country cry out that they cannot
ma II market FOR their horses OF their
grain2 VIII the general public be will
Ing to return 10 the old methods OF street
a rtravcl aud %rellnqnlsh all the new I'm.
provemcnts In street r%ailronding 10
crafty the farmer, who Is unwilling or
unable to nbnudon the production OF GER
tain crops for which the demand In not
equal 10 the supply7 Put that question
to n vote OF the IeOplc and sec what the
result will be. You must also consider
the wonderful growth OF the bicycle
business and ita eficCt upon the horse.
The horse md carriage buslnesSIssufrer-
linz equally us much as that OF the grain
producing business. Tho livery stable
Keeper has been obliged 10 clos. his
floors, except In tlie a = Of funerals.
and he does not know how long II viii ~
before tho bicycle viii supersedc the
hearsc and the mourners' couch.
Mr., Nelson, IN the course Of his re-
marks, said Il Is impossible TO form any
estimate Of the extent to which the
farmer IL effected by the transportation
that has recently occurred In the street
hallway business, except by consulting
the statistics Oh tho subject. He says It
IL astonishing when you take the num-
Der OF street railways throughout the
..N ~ - ntN1 Aa1wN,la -. slAa V.N,.iAnE. ~
horses they once used and also the mil
lions OF tons OF horse feed they once
bought from tho farmers,
George T. Dunlop, president Ut the
most Important street railway In wash
lnytOn. IA OF the S1m- mind as MIR. Nell
son. When the cars OF his company
were drawn by horses Il requirSd -four
teams Ctwo huracS to II team TO each car
daily. Those horses had TO be strong
and sound to DO the work, and they cost
the comp9ny on an average OF about $50
each. They were bought by agents of
the company direct from such farmers
whose stock anne up To the require
mGntS, Il took abort 1000 heal Of
horses 10 operate the line daily. The
average life OF car horse Is about four
years. Their ages OF usefulness seldom
exceeds that period. but II often happens
that they play ont In Il much shorter
time. Thus 1t will be seen that n single
street railway line expended among the
farmers for horses nlons about $3.50, 900.
Thcrc are MANY larger and more extern
slvc companies, so that Il Is fair to estl-
mate that many millions OF dollars went
into the farmers pockets for street car
horses prior to the adoption OF the more
recent methods OF transportation. 1t
cost about $40 per month to feed and
bed each horse, that meant an outlay OF
$4,000 a month for horse feed. or $4,000
n year To the producers OF the horse feed.
In round figures this company expended
$1,000 0 q year for horses and horse feed,
the hulk OF which went to the farmers.
Taking this company as n sample II IL
not difficult to figure out the enormous
reduction In the demand for horses anu
horse feed IN the street railroad business
exclusively.
MIR. Dunlop says that his company
nov gives employment TO the wOrkmen
in the manufacturing centres. or the city
wOrkmen. whereas the farmers who
raised the horses and the grain supplied
the motive power before machinery was
substituted for the horSr. He contends
that the great trnuble with the farmers
arises from the fact that the supply OF
the products Of their lands Is far in Cx-
cess OF the demand, and he attributes
the overpr0ductiou to the presence in
this country OF too many foreiEn labor
rrs and immigrants who have settled in
the western country. The latter class,
he says. live more cheapiy than the IA
tive American farmer. and they flood the
markr; with their overproductiOnS.
which necessarily depreclateS prices. In
his opinion the free coinage OF silver will
not bring relief to the farmers. but
greater prosperity might follow II the
free coinage OF immigrants In this coun-
try could be suspended for an indefinite
pnrin1