The Washington herald., 1911-01-15
HOUSE HAS SOME
\ HORSE" LAUGHS
Equipment of Army Causes
Much Merriment.
CAMELs SUGGESTED FOR USE
Merits of kentucky's Blue-blood
Steeds Matched Against Bronchos
Of West for Army Pack Trains.
Mann Suggests Elephant, While
Olmsted Wants Camels Imported.

The relative merits of the horse, the
mule. the camel, and the elephant for
the mounted service Of the United States
army were discussed at considerable
length on the floor of the House yester-
day. The subject came up in rather an
odd way. During consideration of the
army appropriation bill by the House
Friday, an item of 100000 for the pur-
chase of 5000 acres of land near Front
Royal Va, for great government horse
farm was stricken from the bill on a
point of order.
But the subject was automatically
brought up yesterday. The fact that Vir-
ginia had been picked out as> a place for
this horse farm evidently ranked in the
minds of Representative Mondell, Of
Wyoming, and some of his Western col
leagues, for he delivered a stirring
eulogy of the broncho and range horse of
his section. He laid particular emphasis
on the great lung power of these animals,
which he said resulted from the pure and
rarefied air they breathed.
This evidently enraged Representative
Stanley, of the blue grass Section of
Kentucky. who jumped to his feet with
waving hands and blazing eyes
"A horse does not run on his lungs,
cried Mr.. Stanley, although a statesman
can. horse must have something more
than the capacity to blow in order to get
there
Stanley Stands Pat.
The House enjoyed a good laugh over
this, but Mr.. Stanley never cracked a
smile.
MANY strange things may be seen ah
heard in this Congress" he said. but
never dreamed that any man would talk
about going to the mountain tops of Ne
vada or Colorado or some other place in
the wild and woolly West for a horse. 1t
would be reasonable to leave the
Garden of Eden and send an expedition
to the north pole in search of fruits and
flowers. or to send Gordon of guardian
angels from the pearly parapets of Para
disc to the region of the damned in search
of good society to leave Kentucky to
hunt for a horse.
The history of Kentucky continued
Mr.. Stanley. is the history of the horse
Some of you who think the world has
gone West will be telling me next that
you have to put woman in cold storage
on the tcp of mountain in order to
improve her complexion, and that beau
tiful women are no longer found in the
greatest numbers in Kentucky. You
may claim whatever else you will for the
West the North. the East, or the South,
but for the woman and for the horse l
challenge the world and claim unQueS-
toned supremacy for Kentucky"
Representative Cocks. of New York
didn't seem to like Mr.. Stanley's re-
marks.
I'm the early part of the last century,"
he said, the people of the South came
up to Long Island with their famous
Sir Henry, and there met Long Island
Eclipse, and went home wiser and poor
er men"
But it remained for Representatives
Olmstead of Pennsylvania, Mann of Illi
nois, and Rucker of Missouri to round
out the intellectual discussion.
OImsted Wants Camelx.
Mr.. Olmsted had been scribbling dur
ing a considerable portion of the dis
cuSsion. and finally rose and sent to the
Clerks desk to be read proposed amend
r1eEt to the army bill. 1t provided an
appropriation of 10000 TO bring fifty
camels and thirty Arab camel drivers to
the United States to be formed into a |
camel corps. In support of his amend
mcat. he read extracts from speech
by Jefferson Davis in the Senate of the |
United States more than sixty years ago, |
advocating the use OF camelS by the |
United States army in chasing Indians
over the arid plains of the West
Il offer an amendment to the amend !
ment, declared Representative Rucker, |
of Missouri, after the House had quit |
laughing about the camelS
Il move that wherever the word horse
appears in the army appropriation bill |
that the word mule be substituted. II
our officers and our calvary were mount
ed on mules, the war scare would lose
its terrors, for we could kick an enemy
into the middle of the Pacific Ocean in
less than half an hour"
Then Representative Mann rose to his
feet without the sign of a smile iIlu-
minating his whiskerS.
Il move to substitute elephants for
horses, mules. and camels.'' he said In
view of the great disaster of last Novem-
ber, consider this suggestion as particu-
larry appropriate
Il hope the gentleman will speak. for
his own State" declared MIR. Olmstead, |
with every appearance Of indignation;
for while l agree that it would be well
to import elephants into Illinois, we don't
need them in Pennsylvania
Then Representative Bennet. of New
York, who was in the chair, mildly sug-
gested that the entire discussion was out
Of order, inasmuch as the entire para
graph was removed from the bill on a
point of order Friday. and the House
settled down to serious business once
more