The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-01-17
HOPE FOR HoRsFMEN.

Breeders of horses who have felt dis
couraged regarding the future of their
business owing to the rapid increase
In the use of bicycles, steam and cleo
tricity as a means of locomotion, can
find a ray of hope in the address of Mr..
+. J. Berry, the veteran horse dealer
of the Chicago stock yards, delivered
at the meeting of the American Live
stock Feeders and Breeders, held at St.
Paul recently.
Mr.. Berry gives 1t as his opinion that
the country is soon to experience a
''hOrse famine or in other words. an
extreme scarcity in all good grades OF
horses. He said the famine would
last four or five years at least. Prices
are going up rapidly, and foreign De
mand is on the increase. There are
nearly 100 foreign buyers in the Chica-
go market today.
Scrub horses will remain a drug on
the market. he said, but good horses
viii sell for good prices.
The bicycle and electricity, Mr.. Berry
said, have revolutionized the horse
trade, and he reasons that benefit rath-
er than injury will result. Good roads
are creating a demand for more and
better Tight harness horses" and the
foreign demand will keep up the prices
of "drafters''
Horse. breeders and farmers have quit
breeding horses during the depression
in the last three years, and the result
is already apparent on the market.
In his address Mr.. Berry said in part:
1.-THE great depression that we have
just passed through has discouraged
horsemen and driven many of them out
Of the business. Horses have been sold
at ruinous prices. For the last three
years there has been but a small per
cent of the usual number of colts rails
ed. At the same time the consumption
of horses has been going on, until our
supply of American horses is reduced
two or three millions. While horses
have been low in price, farmers in or
der to sell at all, have been obliged to
sell their best, thus reducing the quail
ity as well as the quantity.
go into any section OF our best horse
raising country and you will not find 10
per cent of the horses on hand large
or good enough to meet the demands
Of the market.
while the depression Of prices has
been going on through natural causes,
the use of horses has been revolution
fzed and the grade has been raised both
in size and in quality. The former sys-
tenn of breeding horses for the market
would prove a failure at this time, as
then a small and smooth horse was sal
able, and ordinary horses brought all
they were worth. At present ordinary
horses are of little value. They are a
thing of the past.
while we do not believe the bicycle
and electricity will ever take the place
of the horse or materially reduce his
value in general, they have supplanted
small horses and increased the demand
for larger animals. Our American mar
kets, as we'll as the foreign markets,
demand a higher class of horses, and
while the wheel and electricity have de-
creased the demand, the export demand
since 1898 has been increased in about
the same proportion. the difference be
ing a larger and q higher class of
horses.
Horses are increasing in price, and
the future is bright. 1t will not be long
before prices will be as high as they
ever were, and it is believed by our
best judges that a great famine of the
salable class of horses will be upon US
tn a few years at the most.
1.-THE export demand is becoming the
leading feature and life of our Chicago
market, it being headquarters for ex-
port buyers. From 20 to 40 exporters
can be found in this market any day
In the year, and some of them are ex-
tensive dealers. About all the foreign
markets are represented. The export
demand commenced in 1888, and had a
rapid growth until 1885, when $4,000
horses were sold for export, and dur
ing the last year fully $4,000 horses and
nules were sold for export"