The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1920-01-21

regiment OF 36OO TO SSO men.
II was next to impossible to obtain
horses In sufficient numbers to
properly equip even the artillery,
transport and ambulance services OF
the A. +. f., because for period OF
two years before the participation OF
the United States In the conflict the
entente allies had been draining the
country of horses of all sorts and
kinds The A. +. F. had no cavalry.
Modern Armies Are Large.
Nowadays armies are reckoned by
hundreds of thousands, II not by
millions The strength of a single
division of the A. Il. f., was greater
in men and horses than the biggest
army commanded by Stonewall Jack
son In his entire career. The COM
bined armies of Lee and Meade that
took part In the struggle Of Gettys-
burg could have done no more in the
titanic conflict that terminated last
November than hold two-score of
miles of the western front. If the
United States were called to arms.
whether to defend some interest
peculiarly our own or to fulfill I'll
League of Nations obligation, the
mobilization of from 100000 to 1000
600 soldiers might be necessary. II
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 Quitting of
half million soldiers, 100000 for the
QUILTING of a force of 100000 and.
If an army of half II. million or II
million soldiers had to be kept in the
| field in state of military efficiency
| a reserve of 100000 to 100000 would
| be necessary. If the future military
| forces Of the United States are to b..
| QUILTED with horses on one to two
basis with adequate reserves. and
! such scheme of outfitting would be
| necessary If the armies of the United
| States were to attempt Intervention
| in Mexico to protect American or
| European interests in the maintenance
of the Monroe Doctrine, it will BE-
necessary to provide an immediate
mobilization force of from 250,000 to
| 100000 with reserves equally strong.
Today the United States could no:
| properly outfit with horses an ARM
! of 100000 soldiers. There are horses
in the country, many of them. Blu:
! they are mostly draught hOrses-Nor-
| mans, PercherOns, C1ydesdales, Bel
| gians, Shires, etc.-whOse military use
fulness is limited to the dragging OF
heavy artillery. Horses of these
| types are not in the least serviceabls
to mobile army, or an army Of
| maneuyer, as the new phrase de-
scribes an army that must perform
marches Of fifteen to twenty miles a
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 q
negligible quantity In any practical
scheme of national defense, The gaso,
line motor long since made the pro.
ductiOn of this type of horse I'M
profitable. Farmers and stockmen
have ceased to raise light horse In
considerable numbers. The creation of
a new supply must be stimulated by
the United States government bur
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 o'
thoroughbred blood or from mares OF
no particular breeding, proved besi
in half century of experimentation,
conducted in Europe by the great
military powers before the outbreak
and three-quarter bred outstayed and
Outgamed the Representatives of the
colder breeds under the hard con-
dltons 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
Audied the problem of military horse
supply most deeply have declared In
recommendations TO the general staff
at Washington and to congress that
the government must obtain anu
place at the disposal of farmers In
sections of the country in which horses
may be raised most economically be-
tween 1000 and 5000 thoroughbred
stations. A beginning has been made
in this tremendous work. but no more
than u beginning. The remounl
service has placed in Virginia. New
York. Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas ana
in the far west some seventy-tive or
eighty thoroughbred stations, ana
these stations have, almost without
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