The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-04
HORSES HELP
WIN THE FIGHT
Lord Roberts Said He Was Help.
less Without Saddle Animals.
WHY THE WAR LASTS LONG
DOCUMENT READ IN PARLIA-
MENT ALICE PARSI1doNY.
? ONION, March 3.-The scandal

> ONDON. March 3.-The scandal
about army horses was revived to-
II day by a paper read ia pariia-
ment. Among other things. it was
clearly esta blished that the American
mule was the superior of all other ami
mails sent to South Africa.
The paper is considered the strong
est indictment Of its own mcaDacity
vet issued BY the war Office. and il
will go far to explain to the public the
reasons why the war has been 50 un-
duly protracted This paper shows
continual conflict throughout the war
between the generals at the front ap-
pealing for horses, and the officials of
the war office. who were endeaVOrlng
to limit the number of horses sent out
When the war broke out the remount
department in Cape Colony consiste
of one officer. fifty men, one veterin-
arv. officer and I 300 animals, and when
the British reVerSes came a scratch
remOunt establishment was hurried!
got together This proved itself utter
" incapable of dealing with the sudden
demands.
Against Mules at First.
It appears that in August, 1899, Gen
eraI Webster Walker wired home that
the opinion of experts was adverse to
mules. Again, in December, after the
mishaps to Lord Methuen, General
Forester Walker suggested that no
more American mules were wanted
Since then, however, the mule has be-
come popular After the disasters to
General Butler the government first
began an extensive purchase of re-
mounts. and the strain caused chaos
to reign in the mount department.
The blue book shows that the per-
centage of losses in horses during their
transit by sea was comparatively
small. but great wastage arose from
the fact that the horses were put to
work too quickly after their voyage.
After Paardeburg, Lord Roberts wired
urgently for remounts, adding: With
out mobile forces I can do nothing in
this country"
Again on March 9, 1900, Lord Roberts
repeated his appeal. Lord Lansdowne
Roberts to forecast the time when the
supply of horses could be diminished
Trying to Economic.
After Pretoria Was captured in July
Lord Roberts thought the supply of
horses might be reduced 20 per cent.
He soon revised this calculation, how
ever. and in August was urging the
government to send more horses. In
the meanwhile Lord Lansdowne was
equally urging the necessity to dSmin-
ish the demands for animals.
In November of 1900 Mr.. BrOderiek
came upon the scene with representa-
tons of financial necessities and the
suggestion that now the harder por-
ton of the campaign is over" the sup
ply might be diminished.
In March, May, June and September
Of 1901 Mr. BrOderick wanted to di-
minish the supply of horses, Lord
Kitchener always replying that this
was quite impossible. The parlsa-
mentaTy paper then sets forth COM
plants from the war Office of the
wastage of horses through the in
efficiency of the remOunt department
and Mr.. BTOderick wired in November:
We cannot continue indefinitely to
send from 10000 to $4,000 remOunts a
month 10 be used up by column COM
manders in a few days"
The final dispatch given by the pa
per is dated Jan. 10, 1902. 1t is from
Lord Kitchener and says that the
number of horses sent it satisfactory.
In parliament today Mr. BrodericIl
announced that the government was
still dispatching $4,000 remounts
monthly, and according to the Pre-
tOria correspondent Of the Times, re-
mounts are still badly wanted in South
Africa.