Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-01-12
PRODUCTION OF THoRoueH.
BREEDS MUST BE EN-
coURAGED.
PRESENT SUPPLY is SHORT
Army Would Need One Animal for
Every TWO Men Should We Be
Called Upon to Engage In
Military Operation for
Any Reason.


of national defense may be had by a
study Of the reports Of the remouni
officers of the A. E. f., for the period
of 1917-191S. It was found in France
that the old theory that the prop
0sition of horse strength to man
strength in armies should be two to
five was erroneous. One horse for
every two men was needed. To their
establishment the officers of the re-
mount service, many of whom had
never seen the inside of military
text book until a few weeks before
they received their commissions, dis
covered that six hundred horses were
required to equip a single infantry
regiment Of war strength, that :s :,
regiment of 1900 to $500 men.
1t was next 20 impossible to obtain
horses In sufficient numbers to
properly equip even the artillery.
transport and ambulance services OF
the A E. F., because for a period o.
two years before the participation OF
the United States in the conflict th.'
entente allies had been draining th'
kinds. The A. e. f. had no cavalry.
Modern Armies Are Large.
Nowadays armies are reckoned by
hundreds of thousands, If not by
millions. The strength of a single
division of the A. E. F., was greater
In men and horses than the bigges
army commanded by Stonewall Jack
son in his entire career The COM
bined armies of Lee and Meade thai
took part in the struggle of Gettys
burg could have done no more in TIL.
titanic conflict that terminated las
November than hold two-score of
miles of the western front. If the
United States were called to arms.
whether to defend some interes
peculiarly our own or to fulfill 4
League of Nations obligation, the
mobilization of from 100000 to 1,00O,
600 soldiers might be necessary. If
the old theory that the correct pro-
portion of horse strength TO man
strength in armies was still accepted
by military opinion, 100000 horses
would be required for the outfitting of
half million soldiers, 100000 for the
Quitting of force of 100000 and,
If an army Of half million or a
million soldiers had to be kept in the
field in q state of military efficiency
Il reserve of 100000 to 100000 would
be necessary. If the future military
forces of the United States are to be
QUILTED with horses on one to two
basis with adequate reserves. and
such a scheme Of Quitting would be
necessary If the armies of the United
States were to attempt intervention
in Mexico to protect American o.
European interests in the maintenance
Of the Monroe Doctrine, it will BE-
necessary to provide an immediat
mobilization force of from 100000 to
100000 with reserves equally strong.
Today the United States could no
properly outfit with horses an arm,
of 100000 soldiers. There are horse-
in the country, many of them Blu:
they are mostly draught horseshoe
mans, Percherons, Clydesdales, Bel
gians, Shires, etc.-whoSe military use
fulnesS Is limited to the dragging O:
heavy artillery. Horses of these
types are not in the least serviceabl-
to a mobile army, or an army of
maneuver, as the new phrase de-
scribeS an army that must perform
marches of fifteen to twenty miles
day or retreat quickly If strategy sug-
gests retreat. They are too sluggish
too lacking in spirit. The horses that
are wanted are the light types and of
these there are so few the aggregate
may properly be said to be
negligible quantity in any practical
scheme of national defense The gaso-
line motor long since made the pro
duction of this type of horse un-
profitable. Farmers and stockmen
have ceased to raise light horse in
considerable numbers The creation of
new supply must be stimulated by
the United States government, but
nothing the government could do
would suffice If there was any inter-
ference with the production of
thoroughbred stations. Stations of
the thoroughbred types are indispen-
sible because the offspring Of such
stations, whether from mares OF
thoroughbred blood or from mares of
no particular breeding, proved best
in half century Of experimentation
conducted in Europe by the great
military powers before the outbreak
of the war of nations and the half
and three-quarter bred outstayed and
outgamed the representatives Of the
colder breeds under the hard con-
ditions Of actual warfare between
1914 and 1918.
Light Horse Not Raised.
Since it is no longer profitable for
farmers and stockmen to raise light
harness horses for the market officers
OF the military service who have
studied the problem of military horse
supply. most deeply have declared In
Recommendations TO the general staff