Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-25
DEFENDS THE HUMANE SOCIETY
SECRETARY HEAP REPLIES TO
B. F. EDWARDS CRITICISM.
Conditions Not as in Buffalo-Cheap
Horses and inexperienced
Drivers in Washington.

ington Humane Society. makes comment
on the views expressed by B. +. Ed
wards, secretary of the Horse Owners
Mutual Protective Association. in an in
terview which appeared in The Star May
3. Owing to Omissions and wrong con-
clusions' in Mr.. Edwards criticism OF
the Humane Society. says Mr.. Heap he
was prompted to reply to him.
Mr.. Heap said:
Mr.. Edwards states that comparison
of the work of the Buffalo society with
that of the society in Washington is so
startling as to attract attention. In this
he is quite right. He also says there Is
only one conclusion that thinking person
can draw from the data given, and then
proceeds to draw two; first, that the
horse owners of Washington take less
care of and are more cruel to their
horses or, secondly. that the Washington
society is pernicious and acting from
financial standpoint.
The first conclusion is eminently cor
rect l challenge the second
Work horses in Buffalo are fully 80
per cent better. both in size and condl-
ton. than horses in Washington dong
similar work Drayage companies and
contractors in Washington, with Few
honorable exceptions. pay from 500 TO
Si.I each for their horses. should the
manager of any of these companies pay
as much as 5000 for horse. he would
proba bly, he charged with extravaganza.
Horses doing like work in Buffalo cost
from $500 to $4oJ each. being mostly
Clydesdales and Standardization or
other standard bred draft horses. This
means that they are more suitable for the
work and are better cared for than those
In Washington. and therefore need less
attention on the part of the humane
society.
1t is notorious fact. and no one is
better aware of it than Mr. Edwards.
that Washington is the dumping place
for this part of the country of cheap.
underbred horses. horses that have been
culled out and rejected by buyers in such
cities as Baltimore. Philadelphia. New
York and Buffalo. The understood. I'M
derfed. stunted and defective horse
which cannot be sold in any of the cities
mentioned finds A market in Washington
by reason of the fact that merchants.
drayage companies, brick men. ash-cart
men and fruit vendors desire cheap
horses.
If Mr.. Edwards will stand for half an
hour on any prominent street corner in
Washington he will he able to count a
score more horses pulling delivery
and express wagons or coal and ash
carts that are a disgrace to any civilized
country. and doubly to the capital of
The nation
Another fact which Mr.. Edwards
hiit"s- anu "ohii pIcDdpIS dufllll III PR
vate conversation. is that large per-
centage of the drivers of work teams in
Washington is made up of a class of citi-
zenS who have come to the city from
Virginia MARYLAND and surrounding
states. whose occupatio has always been
in the fields. and who never pulled line
over any animal other than a mule. and
who never drove or handled a horse much
less double team. and don't know how
to harness or hitch mp one. to say moth
DRIVING "a rjr rhAc
persons are hired because they will work
cheap.
These conditions do not exist in Buff
faio. The average horse owner in that
city would not allow his animals to be
handled or driven bu such persons If they
would work for nothing and board them
selves.
Mr.. Edwards calls attention to the fact
that the Buffalo society spent S112.62 for
humane education during 1907 while the
Washington society spent nothing If he
had taken the trouble to examine our re-
ports for the past few years he would
have seen that this society spent for that
purpose in the year 1907 $40: in 1905
$50; in 1904 $3.50. and for the five years
preceding over 5000 each wear
AS to Mr.. Edwards charge that the
Washington society is 'pernicious and
acting from a financial standpoint it is
Number Of cases remedied without
prosecution. 246l1 in Washington.
against ss6 in Buffalo This does not
look like pernicious' activity or acting
from financial standpoint but the con-
trary is the reasonable conclusion. Ii
the 24.611 cases had been prosecuted with
out first having attempted to remedy the
evil. his conclusion might be reasonable.
His statement also proves that in Buff
falo there are not the number of cases
which need to he remedied, for reasons
above enumerated.
Mr.. Edwards states that the Buffalo
society has So members. while the WASH
ington society has but $50. The former
society embraces in its jurisdiction the
whole of Erie county. having popula-
ton at this time of $4,000 while the
Washington society covers the District of
Columbia. with a population of a little
more than 100000. The annual dues in
the Buffalo society are ST. while in the
Washington society the lowest for adults
is 81 In other words. the Buffalo So
ciety with one-half the charge for annual
dues. has 30 per cent more population to
draw from.