Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-10-14
Million Horses in Montana Are Free
 For the Asking

Billings, Mont. Oct 13-Want a horse? Anybody in Montana will give you one for the asking Any body will give you dozen or 40, or 50--or 100 if they happen to have that many. And all without a single cent of cost. All you will have to do is to feed them. Or, better still, take them out of the state
 Montana has 1,O0G,OO0 horses that are worthless. In fact, they are worse than worthless. They cant be sold, they can't be worked and they can't be eaten. They are eating their way acros sthe Montana plains and they are the states worst curse. They are worse than grasshoppers. Figures compiled by the state vet erinary places the number of no- account horses in this state at slight ly more than 100000
 300,O00 Pounds of Fodder.
 These animals eat about 300,000 pounds of fodder every day, the state veterinarian figures. And fodder IS worth $40 per ton-or more. Thous- ands of ranchers are simply being eaten out of house and home No matter how many horses Montanan may own or what their quality, he cannot ship them to mar ket at profit. There isn't market in the United States where these Montana horses will bring enough to pay the freight. The more horses a fellow owns in Montana, the poor CT he is. They can't even eat them A state law prevents the butchering of horses.
 Some time ago J. B. Long of Great Falls succeeded in getting a stranger to accept 1000 head of his horses, with contract that the stranger would get the animals off Longs ranch within 60 days.
 Thought Is Was Bluff.
 The stranger thought he was "call- ing bluff" on the part of Long. Long gave the man a contract per- knitting him to pick out 1000 horses taking any he pleased. The stranger gathered up a [arload and sent them down to Kansas City to "try out" the marked. When he finished, the load had cost him $500. He refused to take the balance of the horses from Long and the latter attempted to force him to do so. But the courts declared there had been no consid- eration for the contract, and Rancher Long had to keep his horses.
 The Montana horses are the scrub biest kind of scrubs. They are the worthless descendants of wothless Indian ponies. They are not large eonugh to do the work required on the modern ranches.
 Of course, there are good horses m Montana-lots of them. They are not included among the million scrubs.
 Thousands in Boer War.
 During the Boer war thousands and thousands of Montana scrubs were sold to the British army and sent into South Africa, where they were found to be too small for use. Most of them were purchased from the Crow Indians. The Crows took the money they received for the po- nies and bought first-class stock. Today the Indians are better SUD- Ilied with good horses than any h. dian tribe in the country.
 But even medium good horses can be had for nothing in Montana They too, are drug on the market There gre too many of them for use and Montana is so far from horse market that by the time freight is paid on them the bill is greater than the selling price.
 So, if you want horse, or a dozen horses, or a hundred horses, come to Montana and get them. They are as free as jack rabbits in Oklahoma. The more you take the better the na- tives will like you.