The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-02-16
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, d. c.
IN BEHALF OF THE HORSE.

IN BEHALF OF THE HORSE.
| New York, Feb. 13.-The last fire
horse in New York is scheduled to be
auctioned off this month, and the en-
| tire fire department is to be motorized,
| much to the distress of the members
| of the new Horse Publicity Association
of America, who are bitterly oppos-
! ing every substitution of a|motor for
| a horse.
! In changing its means OF locomo-
ton the fire department declares that
! the city has grown SO huge. and the
distances to be covered are so long,
! that the horse IS no longer equal to
the task-a conclusion which seems to
| be acceptable to everybody except this
new organization for the champion
ship of the horse. They remain. un-
convinced until they see the actual
| figures. Are we sure, they ask eau
tiously, that the motor can outrun the
horse? Do We absolutely know that
! the motor is more efficient, or do we
merely think so? And SO on, until
| by the time the H. p. A. A. gets thru
with you, you have the guilty feeling
of having done your favorite animal
| a great injustice, and that perhaps
your knowledge of motor transporta-
ton is about as limited as your opin-
! ions concerning spiritisn1.
| For the past few years it has been
taken for granted by most people that
as a means of quick and efficient
| transportation, the horse was fast be-
coming a back number. Gradually,
more and more trucks have appeared
! on the city streets, and one by one
| the largest business houses of the
| country have sold their horses and in
| troduced motor trucks into their de-
| livery systems. Moreover, the sta
tistics show that this is not merely a
| hallucination on the part of the public,
but that the number of horses in in
dustry is actually rapidly decreasing.
In 1910, for example, there were
| 1884, horses on the streets OF New
York. BY 1917 that figure had been
| reduced to 1OS,036, while, according
to the latest report of the United
States department of agriculture,
there are only 75,740 horses owned in
the metropolis this year. In Chicago
the number of horses has decreased
by II per cent in the past year.
The Horse. Publicity association adj
mits that these figures are only too
| true, but they believe this widespread
substitution of the motor for the
values on the part of the driving or
delivering public. They believe that
We are all motor mad, and that If we
would only pause and calmly consider
the facts we would find that the horse
and wagon, while old-fashioned, are
a cheaper means of transportation
than the motor-truck. They do not
blame US for holding such a high
opinion of the efficiency of the motor
| truck, because, they assert, we have
| been subjected to the lustiest kind of
an advertising campaign for the past
few years in-which we have been told
over and over again how much better
| is the truck. Millions of dollars have
been spent by the automobile indus
| try, they declare, in convincing us.
Now the H. P. A. A. proposes to spend
a lot more money in showing us that
we are all wrong.
| I'VE horsemen have sat still and
\ twiddled our thumbs in the face of
| situation that has called for vigorous
action" declared the secretary of the
association during a recent meeting,
many of US secretly fearing or open
ly admitting that The automobile. has
| doomed the horse. when the most
| cursory investigation will prove that
the decline of the horse has not been
| justified by the facts in the case.
| What the horse needs is a fair trial.
and If condemned, well and good. But
| he won't be condemned, The truth is
that there has been a tremendous and
sustained publicity campaign In be-
| half of the commercial automobile, so
that the horse is actually being sacri-
feed to modern business methods and
advertising psychology. Merchants
purchase motor driven trucks and de-
| livery wagons for commercial pur-
| poses without examination of COM
parative costs, because they think it
is the thing to do. Horsemen are en-
tirely at fault for this condition. 1t is
our aim to remedy the fault
| 1--WE want to pound home the claim
the horse is cheaper than the auto
mobile. It is our claim that for the
| short-haul. and many-stop traffic, the
horse is more reliable and cheaper
| than the motor. and that the growth
| of the automobile in this direction has
been entirely fictitious. We believe
that 80 per cent of all hauling can be
done cheaper by horse than by auto
mobile truck"
| In proof Of this contention, the
| horsemen quote certain figures OBJ
! tanned from a large packing house
which show that 1.-The cost OF delivery
| for an average trip of ten miles was
| ton automobile truck, as against fiji
teen cents for one-horse wagon"
| This does not take into consideration
| the cost of depreciation in the auto
| truck which during the second year
would be greatly increased, while
| there would be very little depreciation
in a wagon, they point out.
The initial cost of the two-ton truck
according to the horsemen, is twenty
! two hundred dollars, while two horse
truck, including horse and harness.
costs only a thousand dollars. The
motor truck wears out in five years.
while the horse-drawn vehicle, the
horsemen claim, will have to be dis
carded only at the end of fifteen years.
| Mules are even more economical. they
assert. You can buy two tea&s OF
mules for a thousand dollars, which
will do as much work as a five-ton
| truck for which you must pay six
thousand dollars. Overlooking too
they declare. is much less dangerous
with horse-drawn vehicles, than with
motor apparatus.
AS an illustration of this superior
efficiency of mules to trucks. the asso-
citation says it knows of two mules that
originally cost five hundred dollars
which have been driven on the streets
OF Richmond for the past fourteen
years. During this time. the horse