The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-10-17
The Demand For Horses.

that lovers Of the horse fancicd his
reign was drawing TO close. With
every month more Of the machines ap-
pear in the streets and greater cnthus-
iasm is manifested in the spot. Now
that their entire safety has been de-
monstratcd, it is natural to assume
that their comparative chcapncss will
bring about an even more marked in :
crease in their number. While this is
going on, what is becoming OF the
horse? The impression among the
uninitiatcd is that he should be farng
rather badly, and that the pliccs OF
good trotters or draught horses should
be considerably lower than Formerly.
Such is not the case however. There
has been a steady increase in the
price Of horses fo. the past year or
two, and the climax has now been
reached. \ dealer who has been in
the trade for forty years said of thc
present state Of affairs thathc had never
seen price so high, or horses in such
demand in E.arorc IS vel! as III this
country The influx of buyers from
across the water is unparalleled, and
the search for good horses is carried
on with more vigor than for many
years.
This state Of affairs is more easily
accounted for than would be supposed.
Three years ago, when the automobile
industry began to come into promi-
nerce, horse breeders became alarmed.
They saw themselves with farms full
Of horses for which there would be no
sale, while the world whizzcd by in
the new carriages. So they promptly
stopped breeding. AS it has happen
ed, they were gricvously mistaken in
their estimate Of the future. Auto
mobiles have, indeed, increased in
number, but the horse has not found
his occupation gone. Wealthy per
sons keep one or two machines, but
do not sell their trotters. Brewers
and others who need heavy draught
horses have not yet adapted the auto
mobile to their purposes, and still call
for Percteron and Normandy horses.
So that.had there been nothing else to
create demand, the trade would still
have prospered.
But there has been an unusual rca-
son for the present call for horses.
The British have shipped, since the
war i'll the Transvaal began, over 15O,-
600 horses to South Africa. Few of
these will be Of much use when the
war is over. The army needs, in time
of peace, 10000 horses. The home
supply is exhaustcd-in fact, it was
long ago exhausted-and that sends
buyers to this country in such num-
bers that..dealers who have spent years
in the business open their eyes in
amazement. One dealer has been
feeding from 500 to 1900 horses in his
export stables. All through the
West, from Chicago to the Pacific,
aud nearer home as we'll, the buyers
are looking for horses, and will pay al
most any price for what they want.
A draught horse is not really ma
ture until he is 5 years old-that is,
he is not fit for the brewers wagon or
the like until he is that age. Since
the breeding of such horses received a
check three years ago, and he is only
now becoming normal, it follows that
the present state of affairs will con-
tinue for two or three years, anyway.
The usual increase in the demand for
horses every year is per cent. and
that increase is now considerably ex-
ceeded. Prices are from so to Is per
cent. higher than three years ago, and
even at that the supply does not equal
the demand. It is quite possible that
the lack of good horses for heavy work
will force the attention Of manufac-
turers to the using of automobiles,
and thus give an additional boom to
that already growing trade. But it
has been shown pretty conolusively
chat the horses will not be displaced
by the Lew invention, great as that
industry will eventually become
Perhaps one reason for the present
dem and may be found in the growth of
the trotting horse fad among men of
wealth. AL over the country speed
ways are being demanded by cnthu-
siastio owners Of fast horses. The
Road Drivers association numbers
1900 members ,and is constantly
growing. At State fairs more and
more attention is paid to wagon races,
and this is encouraged by the farmer,
who foresees increasing prices as the
popularity Of the sport increases. AL
ready, it is claimed, the practice of
amateur wagon racing has been respon-
sible for the revival Of horse breeding
in many parts of the country. Atany
rate, this growing sport cannot fail to