New Britain herald., 1917-06-15
HORSES AND MULES
 A FACTOR IN WAR
America Has Shipped s20,000 of Former, ssO,OO0 of Latter

Ul TVIW6I, OOV,UVV W u0ttGl l New York, June 15.-Nearly a mil- l lion horses and more than g quarter l of a million mules Is the export rec 1 ord of the United States in the thirty l four months. since the beginning of 1 the war. A compilation by the Ma 1 tional City bank of New York made on receipt of the reports of the great 1 mortality among American horses in 1 the war zone shows that the number l of horses exported from the beginning of August. 1914. to the present time 1 Is in round numbers 920.000 and of mules ,330,000. The stated value of the horses exported was $1s4,000. 900 ] and of the mules $86,000,000.
 The fact that this is mot cavalry 1 war;" and that automobiles, motor- cycles, flying machines and observa- ton balloons are performing much of the service formerly required of the horse in war time, does not seem to have checked the demand for Ameri- can saddle and draft animals. Tn the first year of the war, the number of horses and mules sent out of the country was in round numbers 375.- VVV, HI S1A0 0CCOAO y0eA1 1tVaVVVs E OE the fiscal year ending with the month of June, 1915, which is nearly iden- ticaa with the first war year. the num- ber of horses exported was 2Ss,34o, in the next year 867,553 and in the nine months of the present flscal year, for which official figures are available, 223,ss9. suggesting that the total for
 the fiscal year which ends with this
 month will approximate .300. 1000. This
 suggests a slight decline in the num- Der of horses now being exported, and the suggestion is supported by the fact that the official figures of the very latest month available, March, are about 80 per cent, below those of the same month last year.
 Whatever reduction is occurring in the number of horses being exported is, however being made up by the in- crease in the number of mules sent abroad. They are steadily increasing
 year by year and up to the very last month for which a record is available. The number of mules exported in the fiscal year ending with June 1915, was 65.73s, in the next year 111.915, and in the year which ends with the present month will approximate 160.- 900. In the single month of March of the current year, the latest for which figures are available, the num- Der of mules exported was 14,1S6 against 7,232 in the same month Of last year and for nine months end- ing with March 122.S<4 against SS.- ! .2Ss in the same period of last year. Most of the horses sent to the war go direct to France, and this is also I true as to the mules. The total num- Der of horses sent to France since the beginning of the war Is 447.0oo, to I Great Britain 234,OO0, to Canada, l which sent many of them to the war, 142, 900, and to other countries in the same time 95,00o. The distribution of l the mules exported Is not shown in the monthly reports of the govern ment, but presumably Is about the same as that of horses.
 Little Advance in Price.
 /! The demands of the war do not l seem to have caused any material
 horses and mules have been exported.
 The average export valuation of the
 horses exported was in the first year
 of the war $221 per head. in the sec- ! ond year $205. and in the third year | 06AH pCA AA000s 4A0 dtSIaBS OAROAI l price of the mules was in the first year
 $193. in the second year $205. and in the third year of the war $306 per
 head. France seems to have had the
 best of the horses sent, as the average
 price of those exported to that coun- ! try was $237. to Great Britain $218,
 and to Canada $14s per head, though presumably only part of those sent ! fn Canada
 does the exportation of a million
 horses seem to have had much effect
 upon prices at home, for the depart
 ment of agriculture in it's report on the number and value of farm ami.
 mals shows the average value of all
 horses on farms on January 1. 1917.
 at $103 per head against $1O9 per
 head on January l, 1914, few months
 prior to the beginning of the war.
 The loss of 8 million of the best horses of the country, however, had
 perceptable effect upon the total value of farm horses in the country
 since department of agriculture. esti-
 mates of the value of all farm horses
 in the country fell from g, 492. .0OO. l 900 in 1914 to $2.175,000,000 in 1917.
 The fact that the department of agri-
 culture estimate of the average per
 capita value of the farm horses in the
 country is about one-half that of
 those exported is due in part to the
 fact that the departments count in-
 cluded those of all ages, while those
 exported for war service were pre-
 sumably in the best period of their service.
 It is not surprising that the coun-
 tries at war find 1t necessary to draw