Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-01-24
WHOLE NUMBER 1880.
HORSEMEAT FOR FOOD
NECESSITY WAGiNG RELENTLESS
WAR AGAINST PREJUDICE.
A Plethora OF Horses During n
Scarcity Of Food Will Probably
Settle the Matter.
Cincinnati Enquirer.


Scarcity Of Food Will Probably
Settle the Matter.
Cincinnati Enquirer.
This question is becoming a serious
one with our farmers who have given
their attention to the breeding of
horses. The use OF steam and elec.
tricity in performing the work hitherto
done by horses and mules is fast dis
pensing with the enslavement of the
noblest, and hitherto the most useful,
of our domestic animals. In all the
great cities the street cars are now
operated by electricity. We have un-
harnessed the horse and harnessed the
lightning to do his work. This is
most gratifying to those who have
sympathy with the abused dumb brute.
Who has not sorrowed at the maltreat-
ment of the horse when overburdened
with the load which he has been forced
TO convey in the city thoroughfares?
Their lot has been hard one and
their lives have been shortened by the
cruel treatment of brutal men and
heartless corporations.
The price OF horses has been only
nominal since hundreds OF thousands
OF them have been dismissed from the
street car service. 1t is quite probable
that electricity will be a motive power
on all our highways and in farm work,
still further limiting the sphere of
usefulness OF the horses. In Europe,
and, notably, in France and Germany,
horse meat is becoming moro and
more an article OF human food. In
the large German cities the consump-
ton OF horse flesh is almost as great
as that of beef or mutton. Many
meat shops are devoted entirely to the
sale oi horse meat. In smaller cities
and towns the consumption is growing
rapidly, especially among the working
classes. The price of beef and mutton
ranges from Is to 25 cents per pound.
When the average wages OF the work.
ingman do not exceed so cents q day
he will not be able to supply his table
with such rare luxury as beefsteak.
The German workman has found that
he can procure a horse-steak for Z
cents pound and in the absence Of
something better horsemeat is very
toothsome. Since the demonetization
of silver the demand for the flesh OF
the horse is increasing very rapidly.
The German butcher used to procure
horses that were worn out by hard
service, or injured so as to be useless
for work, for about S. to $40 each.
But that kind Of stock being we'll ex-
hausted by the increased demand he
pays now from $45 to $50 each. The
extended use OF horse-f1esh is 90 great
that the price has advanced. The
horse supply OF the United States is
practically inexhaustible and horses
can be raised in the West as cheaply
as cattle. They can be transported
across the ocean more cheaply than
cattle and can be sold dressed at prices
not greater than cents per pound.
The meat is salted, dried and smoked
and American exporters like Armour
& Go. can furnish it canned and ready
for use. The German tariff on fresh
horse-meat lie $2.19 per 100 pounds.
HOrse-meat imported into France is
subject to a tariff OF $2.16 per 100
pounds. At Frsnkfort.on.the-Mai
in the fiscal years 1884, 8l5 horses
were slaughtered for consumption.
The number slaughtered for food in
Nuremburg, Bavaria, in 1893, was 558.
In the United States, edible meats do
not include horse.flesh. We may rea.
sonably expect a change in this re-
spect. The number of horses relieved
from work will so cheaper them that
poor families can supply themselves
with good meat if their wages are re-
dused to gold standard. The price
OF beef and mutton is so high now that
the working classes cannot afford to
purchase either, or if they do they
must be content with the offal.
Since the introduction of the elec-
trio cars thousand horses could have
been sent from Cincinnati to Ger
many and sold at profit for human
food. The only hindrance is the Ger
man tariff. The German butcher has
to add the duty to the price OF the
meat.
If the United States comes down
to honest money, sound money, the
money of the world, the demaud for
horsemeat will increase. As the con.
sumption increases the farmer will
have better market for his horses.
NORWAY is the best telephoned
country in the world, in spite of the
fact that 70 per cent. OF its area is un-
cultivable, and another "a per cent.
forest. 1t has one exchange for every
1872 Inhabitants and one telephone
to each forty inhabitants-eight and q
half times the number in this country.
SHERIFF EllingswOrth, of Wslls
Walls county, advertises that he will