The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-09-06
THE PRICE OF HORSES.
Automobiles and Bicycles Have Not
Displaced Them.

/ luts nave ldlhtu a sOou ucdi oDoNS
| the displacement of the faithful steed
| but at present there is universal
| scare over the fact that he is so near
| ly displaced. IL takes more money 10
make the mare go (from one owner
10 another these days than ever be-
| fore when no war was on. In fact
horses are good deal higher in price
now than they were during the Span
ish-American spankfest, and even
higher (although not perhaps relative
ly TO the purchasing value OF money!
than during the civil war
The bicycle came along some years
ago and scared the horses. Nearly
everybody rode one of these horse
frightening instruments. There was
prophecy in the way horses SHE'D at
bike. a superstitious hunch in their
snorting and rearing as the silent
thing whizzed by with the accompani-
ment OF only brief and nerve-racking
bell trill. The thing seemed TO threat
ell not only the horses temporary
peace OF mind, but also to put the
horse tribe in the dodo class. The
horse was scared at the bicycle and
the horse breeder was ditto. He was
so scared that he slowed down on
breeding for while. The price OF
horses went up. The breeders
breathed easier and the market was
supplied
Hardly had easy respiration among
the breeders been resumed when the
automobile began dispensing its gas
olinferous miasma along the thorough
fares. Not only were they used for
pleasure-these devil wagons-but
were used for drafting purposes.
Autocabs, autotrucks, autoevery- old
thing! Dobbin SHE'D worse than ever
at this new contraption with the de-
moniac hiss and the splutter and
stencil. His prophetic hunch was
working again and working harder.
Here, indeed was a rival which he
feared would stop the annual process
sion Of newborn colties with wabbly
legs, short backs, little crinkly tails,
and mischievous upper lips. This
fright in its turn was shared freely
by the breeder. The result is the
present horse panic.
A doctor in an Illinois town told me
recently (and | verified his statement
so far as was necessary to convince
me of its truth that he purchased
it. He used that colt in his practice
till few weeks ago, and then he sold
il for sl75. This may seem incredible
To you, but if you knew of some of the
other horse dickers that occur at the
present time you wouldn't be sur
prised. In the same Illinois town,
for instance, team of stone-blind
horses sold for close to $3.50. Those
blind horses ten or twelve years ago
wouldn't have brought $40 apiece.
| Travelled lately from Chicago, as
far east as | could stand him, with
a horse buyer from a good town in
New York state. He showed me
list of the horses he had bought in
the Chicago market, with the prices
annexed. He had purchased one car
load for a town in West Virginia and
another carload for his own town.
The prices read like fairy tales. But
have been close enough to the horse
market during the last six months to
know that they were the bitter truth.
One span of black horses, weighing
about 1900 pounds each, he had
bought for $3.50, and they were not
fancy horses, either One of them, on
the contrary, was touched in the wind
mot heavy, v know, but jist little
thick, v understand" as my inform
ant put it.
Teams of draft horses that run in
age from eight to twelve years, and in
weight from 100 pounds 10 1900
pounds a horse, sell for $500 to 500 a
span. Those look like fancy prices,
and they are. In addition, not half
the care is displayed in regard to
blemishes that was shown formerly,
when prices ranged more than so per-
cent lower.
This and much other evidence that
easily might be secured ought to in
dicate pretty conclusively that the
horse has triumphed over handle bar
and honk; that he is here for keeps,
and that the demand for him will not
soon, If ever. grow seriously less.
But. of course. the breeders will go
ahead and supply the demand and put
the prices back where they belong as
measured by the intrinsic value of the
animals. w. Gillian, in the Chicago
News.