New Britain herald., 1916-07-24
HORSEMANSHIP IN QUESTION.

HORSEMAN SHIP IN QUESTION. Senator Battling Bob'' La Toilette
 of Wisconsin loves to make emphatic
 statements. He reVelS in them.
 Whether they are exaggerated or not
 is out of the question just so they
 suit his ultimate ends. He believes
 in that old discarded doctrine of the
 means being justified if everything works out all right. Here he comes along and says: "The people of MeXi- co are the best horsemen on this hemi- sphere; they may not be the best shots, but they are the best hOrsemen There are fifteen million of them" We knew all along there were 15,000,000 people in Mexico, at least approXima tely that number since some have been recently killed in bandit raids; but how many Americans before knew there were fifteen million hOrsemen in Mexico? Not many were aware of this until Senator La Toilette advanced the in formation. To get fifteen million horsemen out of a population of fir teen million people means that every
 body in the land from infants in the cradle to the old timers nearing the grave are eQuestrians.
 Aside from the fact that only a small portion of the Mexicans are in possession of horses, no one will set up an argument against the amiable Senator from Wisconsin. There are some good horsemen in Mexico, when they have the horses. At present.
 however, their mounts are half starved. But where we find fault with the Senator is in his disIoyalty to his own country. He fOrgets that Ameri- ca is on the same hemisphere with Mexico and that when he attributes the best horsemanship to that country he totally ignores or neglects our own riders. Buffalo Bill could give him few substantial pointers Yet the Senator should not have to be remind ed. He lives in a state close enough to the great plains of the West. He has probably seen some of the finest horsemanship the world has ever known. On any of the Western ranches there are cowboys who can 1 give cards and spades to any Mexican | that ever lived and come out the win ] ner in a contest of riding. Any circus | in the land is proof against the as- sertion of MT. La Toilette. The men | who put the big attractions under ! tents have always included daring l feats of horsemanship as drawing | cards, and. they never stop to question | whether their actors are Americans, | MeXicanos, or Russian Cossacl<s. So | public, the circusmen care not what ! the nationality may be- And how | many Mexicans will the Wisconsin | statesman find under the canvas when l compared with American riders? 1 Their scarcity is not attributed to their stay-at-home propensities, either.
 No, the Senator will have to get another argument if he wants to scare the American people into the be- lief that the entire population of Mexico is liable to mount their horses some night and charge across the plains to Washington. It would be a grand spectacle to see fifteen million Mexicans on horseback, grouped into the greatest cavalry the world ever knew; but it will never happen in our day. The babies would probably be mounted on shetland ponies or hobby horses; the old ladies on clothes horses and the old gentlemen on horses necks," if they have those kind in Mexico. The only part of this cavalry we need fear would be the division composed of the irresponsible element for they really and truly know how to ride, the boys around the twenty-one year old mark. And we need not be Over-afraid of those, for on reliable authority we are in formed that Villa possesses the only native horse in Mexico that is not lame.
 Party lines mean nothing to the