The San Francisco call., 1906-05-14
INSULTING A HORSE is crime in
Land of KAISER WILHELM
How Some Of the European Govern
ments Protect Thier Dumb
Rr1ffac

mentS Protect Th1er DUMB
Brutes.
No one has ever heard of a man being
imprisoned for apostrophising a child
with some coarse, coatemptuous or in
sulting epithet, and yet recent issues
of the German press contain the record
of sentence of three weeks imprison-
ment imposed upon stableman en-
ployed in the imperial news, Potsdam,
for having addressed a vile name to a
favorite mare belonging to the Kaiser.
Although this is the first instance that
can recall of man being actually
sentenced in regular judicial way to
Imprisonment for the use of insulting
language to a horse belonging TO the
crown 1 have often seen troopers in
crack cavalry regiments of European
armies taken severely to task and
threatened with punishment for talking
roughly to their mounts, the welfare of
which is subject of infinitely greater
solocitude to the officers than that of
the men. For the horse is worth so
much to the National Treasury in cold
cash, which the trooper is not-at any
rate in countries where military serv-
ice is obligatory moreover the adj
vancement and promotion of the COM
manding officer depends as a rule far
more upon the physical condition of the
horses of his regiment than of it's men.
4 year or so ago one of the leading
sportsmen of Austria, Count Paul Fes-
tetics, instituted legal proceedings
against a Vienese sporting paper for
having referred in a sighting manner
to one Of his race horses and the law
suit was decided in his favor
In Belgium the government, which
owns and controls the entire railroad
system of the country, issued not long
ago a decree which, as far as railroad
travel is concerned, placed the dog on
absolutely the same level as a grown
man or woman, and infinitely higher
than a child. For, whereas the latter
is merely entitled to half a place, if
under Il years of age, dog has a rigth
to fell seat, provided he has ticket
That is to say, in compartments licensed
to hold 10 travellers. if there are eight
adult human beings and two dogs in
the compartment the latter is regarded
as complete" and no other passen-
ger is admitted, and if the train hap
pens to be full, partly with dogs and
partly with human beings, any addi-
tional passengers have to be left behind
rather than the dogs should be forced
to yield up their seats.
At Berlin, at Bonn, at Heidelberg and
in other German university towns the
principal parsonage Of each corps or as
sociations of students is not the presi-
dent nor the treasurer, nor even the
- fuchs, F" but the corps dog, usually
brute of colossal proportions. On him
all the financial resources are iavished
and the various corps vie TIL each
other in providing their own particular
dog with the most gorgeous collar and
muzzle. If he is handsome he is kept
combed and brushed; if he is ugly his
ugliness is enhanced to the limit by re-
markable cutting and shaving of his
ears, his tail and his coat, and even
dyeing. The corps dog takes part in
every official ceremony of his corps. He
generally dies of cirrhosis of the liver
or of gout, brought on by the enormous
quantities of beer which he drinks and
by the extremely dissipated life which
he leads.
In England, too, animals are held ac-
cording to all appearance in far higher
esteem than human beings. Vulpicide
or the killing of foxes is an infinitely
more heinous offense in the eyes of the
general public, and especially of the
classes, than theft, robbery or assault.
Cruelty to animals, especially to horses
and dogs is invariably punished by the
English magistrates with infinitely
greater severity than the ill-treatment
of women and children, and John Leach
was not so far wrong when he pub
llshed In London Punch his popular car
feature of an English costermonger tax
ing away the last remaining drop of
milk from his ailing infant in order to
give it to his bull pup.
Out in India one actually finds Eng
lish soldiers standing sentry over cows.
The cow is a sacred animal in the ewes
Of the Brshmins and this, of course.
leads the Mohammedan portion of the
population to take savage delight in
putting to the sword all the cows upon
which they can lay hands at certain
times of the year. The result is that
religious conflicts Of the most sanguin-
ary character frequently take place be-
tween the members of the riMl creed.
1t rs with the object of preventing riots
arising from cow killing by the No
hammedans that English sentries are
now pointed in certain places. especially
IN Bombay, to stand guard over that
TNHT TkaI L. E.