The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-21
THE PRICE OF HORSES.
Automobiles and Bicycles Have Not
 Displaced Them.

s. w. Gillian, in the Chicago News.
 They have talked q good deal about the displacement of the faithful steed but at present there is a universal scare over the fact that that he is so nearly dis placed. It takes more money to make the mare go Qrom one owner to anothei) these days than ever before when no war was on. In fact, horses are a good deal higher in price now than they were dur ing the Spansh-Amerlcan spankfest. and even higher (although not perhaps rela- lively 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 in- struments. There was prophecy In the way horses shied at a bike, a supersti- tious hunch in their snorting and rear ing as the silent thing whizzed by with the accompaniment of only a brief and nerve-racking bell trl. The thing seemed to threaten not only the horses tempo rary 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 a while. The price of horses went up. The breed CTS breathed easier and the market was supplied
 Hardly had easy respiration among the breeders been resumed when the automo- bile began dispensing It's gasolinterous miasma along the thoroughfares. lt only were they used for pleasure-these devil wagons-but were used for drafting purposes Autocabs autotrucks, auto every y-old-thing! Dobbin shied worse than ever tt this new contraption with the de- moniac hiss and the splutter and stench. His prophetic hunch was working agaln and working harder. Here, indeed, was A rival which he feared world stop the annual procession of newborn colties with wabby legs. short backs, little crinlxly tails, and mischievous upper lips. This fright in it's turn was shared freely by the breeder. The result is the present horse panic.
 recently (and l verified his statement 80 far as was necessary to convince me of it's truth) that he purchased tWelVe years ago colt, paying $60 for 1t. He used that colt in his practice till few weeks ago, and then he sold 1t Tor $lf5' This may seem incredible to you, but if you knew of some or the othe horse dickers that occur at the present lime YOU wouldn't be surprised. In the same Illinois town, for instance. a team of stone-blind horses sold Tor close to $150. Those blind horses ten or twelve years ago wouldn't have brought $10 apiece.
 I travelled lately from Chicago, as
 
 horse buyer from a good town n New Yoirx state. He showed me list of the horses he had bought in the Chi- cago market, with the prices annexed. He had purchased one carload for a town in West Virginia and another carload for his own town. The prices read like fairy tales. But l have been close enough to the horse market dur ing the last six months to know that they were the bitter truth. One sIsln of black horses, weighing about 15O0 pounds each, he had bought for $4S0. and they were not fancy horses, either. One of them, on the contrary, was touched in the wind-"not heavy, V know, but jist a little thick, v un- derstand?" as my informant put it.
 Teams of draft horses that run in age from eight to twelve years, and in weight from HOO pounds to 1900 pounds horse, sell for $500 to s700 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 30 per cent lower.
 This and much other evidence that easi- ly might be secured ought to indicate pretty conclusively that the horse has triumphed over handle bar and honS; 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 de- mand and put the prices back where they belong as measured by the intrinsic value of the animal.