The San Francisco call., 1905-02-10
HORSE PROBLEM
A SERIOUS One

Richard III could not have been in
so much of predicament for a horse
as is the San Francisco Fire Depart
ment. Not only does Chief Sullivan
want one horse, but he is anxious to
acquire whole band Of them. The
difficulty that confronts the good OF
the service is serious and is worrying
the Chief and the Fire Commissioners
great deal.
The scarcity of horses for Fire De-
partment use has within a short time
involved the putting out of commits
sion for several hours of one of the
most important engine companies In
the city-that on Bush street, near
Taylor. Thore is no certainty that
several other companies may not be-
come incapacitated if the horse prob
lem is not soon solved. The require
ments of the charter and the diff
Guilty of getting perfect animals of
1900 and 1900 pounds weight for the
hilly districts of the city has caused
the Chief to go into frequent con-
sultation with the Commissioners re-
garding this embarrassing crisis.
The Chief says there are plenty or
hcrses offered of about 1900 pounds
weight but these are not available for
the hilly sections. and.' furthermore,
many of them are imperfect. The
placing of Thomas F. Finn, ex-Super-
visor, on the Fire Commission, has
been great help TO the apartment,
has already been able to give valuable
advice regarding the source of supply
and the animals submitted.
Chief Sullivan attributes the scarcity
of horses to the lack of interest
in the breeding of heavy horses In this
State. Ex-President j. George Boyne
of the Fire Commission and Commits
L. lee he.
planation. DIR. Egan, the veterinary
surgeon, who passes on the horses for
the department, is also of the same
opinion. These experts say in effect:
Before the Spansh-American war horses
were comparatively plentiful. During the war
the army bought many fine. large horses for
shipment to the Philippines. Then came the
detail of officers of the German army who
bought up thousands of the best horses in the
market This created a scarcity of both truck
and buggy horses and the San Francisco Fire
Department began to suffer.
In addition to these drawbacks the big
trucking companies were. and still are able
I, pay better prices than the city for big
horses. Sometimes they pay as high as $3.50
for 1000 pound horses. The Fire Department
has sometimes been able to get horses for
s26e. aysrage- in small ALL lcts . The. .depsrtment
scarce The appropriation for fire horses this
year has been $4,000 and in face of the fact
sum has been paid out
The charter provides that when so-caIled
disabled nOIseS-Nnlcn are sometimes per-
fectly good for other than department pur-
poses-are solo the amount realized for them
must be turned into the general fund and not
made available for use of the Fire Department.
Commissioner Finn is giving the
matter much of his attention and will
render good service. Commissioners
Parry and Wreden have been carefully
considering the problem and with Finn
will try to reach a solution. People
in the interior of the State" say the
Chief and Commissioner Parry, ARE
rot anxious to ship horses here be-
cause they. know what a rigid exami-
nation the animals must pass before
they are accepted. A horse to be ac-
only be of reasonable price. but abso-
lutely sound