Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-02
BRITISH STLNGINESS
IMPERILS ARMY RESOURCES
'uadenee OF The Star

LONDON, March -, 1910
~ WING to the shortage Of horses in
England. If Britain should be-
come involved in war tomorrow the
English cavalry would be successful only
in comic opera sense. Five or six troop
ers are apportioned to one horse cav
airy officer who wished to play the part
of Paul Revere would have to dash
through the village on bicycle Cannon
would be clustered ineffectively in store
houses. for during a war guns are no
more use without horses than horses
without guns.
That unconscious worship of the al
mighty dollar peculiar to the British ma
ton has seriously imperiled the British
army. 1t has been shown recently that
the authorities, merely to save a little
money. are allowing any and every nation
to buy by the thousand the very horses
that will be wanted whenever the army
is modified for war
Though the highest interests Of the ma
ton are at stake, the government is too
sleepy and too stingy 10 protect them.
The minister of war is taking credit for
economies which risk the existence of the
most valuable and irreplaceable OF the
forces under him. Obviously the author
tiles could checkmate the emssaries OF
other countries by outbidding them in
every market. They grudge, however, an
sum which would be wiped off in a few
years by her progeny.
Stations and mares are exported for
the use of foreign powers in ever-increas-
ing numbers. In 1904 about :3 900 horses
were sent away, and in 1906 the number
had increased to over $4,000. One result
of this exhaustion is that while in 1901
there were about 100000 horses under
one year old In the United Kingdom. in
1907 the number had fallen to 1s5, coo. In
Ireland alone there was a drop of nearly
1900 in the three years. One can imagine
the straits to which England will be re-
duced in time of war il the process con-
tinues.
The South African war took 10000
horses. On peace footing only about
1900 horses are required, but in case OF
another war the nation would want i'm
mediately 10000. and many thousands
more to make up for wastage.
France spends S1,j00,0U annually on
the encouragement Of horse breeding:
Germany and Austria-Hungary 100000
each. But the only encouragement the
English government gives is beggarly
$4,000, which is expended in the pro-
vision of only twenty-eight premium stall
lions number utterly Inadequate to the
attainment of the end desired.
Most Englishmen would be surprised
to learn the real strength of a cavalry
regiment as mounted for full days
work. They go to snowy reviews, today
perhaps at Manchester, and tomorrow at
Birmingham, admire the well-turned-out
animals they see, and read with apprecia-
ton the glowing eulogiums of the press.
totally unaware that the horses they have
congratulated themselves on possessing In
such numbers are the same lot of trained
beasts that have been hurried up to act
supers at both functions and have
no relation to the forces to which they
appeared to belong.
If any good is to be accomplished 1t is
imperative that the expectation of good
stations should be reduced. Neverthe-
less, whenever the question is mooted in
the house of commons there is the usual
plausible talk there to inquiries on
foot and 1.-The need for proceeding
warily," while all the time, known to all
concerned, the ever-decreasng remnant
of horses. which the army cannot do
without is being shipped out of the coun-
try to increase the efficiency of every
army but the English.
Furthermore, this army peril has been
aggravated by the advent Of the motor
car In case of sudden demand for
mounted nlenr the hitherto useful London
bus and cab horse can no longer be
counted on, for his numbers have de-
creased from 1900 to 5000 since the
motor took to the road.