The Washington herald., 1917-02-16
Interesting Chats
From Hotel Lobbies

TT is a good thing We haven't larger
merchant marine, or we would have been
in lots more trouble" said c. L. Chad
wick, former State senator of Colorado,
a lifelong resident of Pueblo. "As 1t Is,
remarked the former senator, who is reg
istered at the Willard, I'VE are completely
paralyzed,- or else conditions are Just
about that. Unless the government
vouches some measure of protection,
lot of us are going to wish We hadn't
bought war stocks.
"Of course, two of our ships have VEN
tured across the ocean, but suppose the
Huns send a torpedo after them, what
then? Is the United States going to step
in and arm our ships, or are the Ger
mans going to keep on torpedoing ships
unmolested save by British efforts. What
do we call an overt act, anyway? Con-
gress does not seem to know. Most Of
us thought that it constituted an attack
against an American merchant ship. but
it does not look that way now.
Are we ever going to let up standing
for piracy and insult? Is our infant mer-
chant marine succumbing to infantile
paralysis caused by a refusal of our gov
ernment to help our ships just when they
need it the most? Suppose we had what
we have been yelling for for years, a
tremendous merchant marine and Just
l'tCduSt lllt E1uils dUhuCk on Ine seas,
we tied every ship up in port and Amer
lean finance and business suffered in the
same proportion that II Is now suffering
How do you think the business men Of
this country would act? The principle is
the same this very day. Goodness knows
We have stood enough, and now the Huns
tell US we must get permits to travel on
the ocean, thereby doing just what they
accused the English of doing, restricting
the tbiner olo to h. al
for
You can rest assured that It Is a good
thing for the present administration that
our merchant fleet is as small as II is
or else We would be looking around for
the remains of certain lawmakers 1t
looks as though we will have to go ahead
and put some American gunners on the
ships and take chance at picking off
the submarines, and let come, whatever
comes, and then get down to the real
business of protecting our ships"
]. X. Darlington. of Cairo, Ill, who
has handled some very large consien-
ments Of horses for the allies UP until
the present crisis. says the United
states Is going to be surprised at the
way the allies have drained the Amer
ican horse market. Mr.. Darlington
in his room at the Shoreham. tells us
that we have parted with some very
valuable breeding animals, and this
stunt cannot help but react on the
market after the war. He says:
Very soon we are going to be up
against it for mounts IL we should
get into the war. To my mind, we
can partly overcome this situation,
ana the key is to use more motor
cycles.
But there are lots of men who can
ride a live horse and who yet cannot
hold down a bucking steer one, such
as Uncle Sam will have to buy. A
good horse costs about as much as a.
good motorcycle. but a motorcycle can
not Craze wherever it finds some grass
1t must have gasoline or stand still.
l expect to see the cost of the mounts
for the government jump away over
the hurdle, and / think the price is
up for good.
Some of the horse dealers in the
country would not have sold out II
they had had any idea that we were
as close to war as we are. /, for one
would not have touched a horse had
| thought ii. Uncle Sam. when he
begins to advertise and scour around
for good horse flesh, is going to get
fooled. Horses will be very scarce,
and II he must have horses. you can
expect to find some very bony crit
ters, with an officer sitting between
their bones If the government requi-
sitions the horses, it will be a move
toward the almost complete disappear
ance of the horse as a beast of burden.
The number of horses now engaged as
draft animals is rapidly increasing, and
If great numbers of those now in serv-
ice are withdrawn. it will help the
automobile industry more than any
thing that has happened in the past
two years. exclusive of the demand of
the warning nations of Europe for
mounts.
Uncle Sans search for mounts and
artillery horses will be far and wide.
and many of our farmers will be COM
PEELED to resort to machinery. with
which many of them are not familiar s.
TO rN1r crrr.n erp,