Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-22
HORSES FOR THE ARMY,


wolves government stud Of a hundred
horses. about fifty Of them thoroughbreis.
horses and ten Morgans. These horses
would be distributed through four dis
tf1cts especially suited for breeding army
horses, and the colts from these horses
eminent at three years of age It is est
mated that the maintenance OF this stud
would cost $2JO.0O for the first year and
100000 year thereafter.
Other governments spend money freely
in encouraging the breeding OF army
horses. Germany Is ahead of all others.
ne government stud consists Of nearly
4.Oo horses. and among them are included
Iaitee More and Ard Patrick. the Eng
iish Derby winners Of 1897 and 1900, re-
specuvely. For these two horses tho
RUSSIAN government paid $l66,O0O. France
rs almost as well situated as Germany in
the number OF sires Of the army horse
type owned by the government. Austria
spent nearly a million dollars in a single
year recently In promoting the breeding OF
horses suitable for the army. In Europe
the prices paid by the government for
army horses is higher than In America.
In 1910 the prevailing price in Prussia was
S..S. For three-year-olds In Bavaria the
price was S2i3. and for four-year- Odds It
was $40 The United States Army pays
about $50 a head for three-y ear old
horses.
Inc mounted service OF the regular
army is now being supplied with horses
which are
Young Horses Bought bought young.
for Regular Army. t aese,Ipea An at
the regular remount depots, and issued
to the troops at ages ranging from four
and one-half to five years. properly
| trained and ready for work. The re-
mount depOts were first established In
1908 The horses for these depots are
purchased dierctly from the farmers, in
stead of through middlemen under the
contract system. The mounted service
had a great many unsatisfactory horses
which had been bought under the old
contract system, but these are gradually
being weeded out and replaced with bet
ter horses brought into the service
through the remount depots.
The first remount station to be estab-
lished was one at Fore Reno, Okla. A
year later a similar station was estab-
| lished at Fort Keogh, Mont, and the
military appropriation bill for 1912 car
ried an appropriation of $4,000 for tho
purchase of lands for a remount station
at Front Royal. Va. 1t is asserted by the
, army officials that the remount station
system has everything in its favor and
that it meets with all the demands Of the
army while on a peace footing, but that
II Will not be adequate for developing a
stock or army type horses sufficient to
meet the tremendous demands OF a war.
While the United States cavalry is fair
ly we'll mounted. 1t would never figure I'm
the ribbon winning class in q contest
with some other bodies OF mounted Amer
leans. For instance Ii is said that the
mounted police force of New York city Is
the best mounted body of men in the
United States. About seventy-five new
horses are brought into the force every
year and the prices paid are about dou-
BILE those paid by the army for cavalry
purposes. The force has nearly five hum
dred horses. and the average price per
head IL $372jO. These horses are bought
under contract from a single firm, and
are said to be principally Of trotting-bred
stock. Only about half the horses pur-
chased by the contractor are able TO
measure up to the specifications of the
police department. which includes a thir-
ty day test under service conditions In
the department
Not only does the regular army have
its difficulties with the remount problem
but the militia
Trouble of Militia as well The
in Securing Supply. iery and cav