Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-04-25

WASHINGTON. April 25:-The
old gray mare. ''she amt what she
used to be- but nevertheless she and
her tribe remain numerous in the
United States and are an asset OF
| great value which will not be dis
placed for some years to come. Even
| though the automobile a been a
| factor in transportation beyond the
experimental stage for two full de-
cades, it is only recently that the
automotive vehicle definitely dis
placed the horse and caused the de-
cline in the number of horses used.
In 1900 the automobile was no
longer an experiment. Its utility had
been definitely proven. In that year
there were 1880, 900 horses in the
country. BY 1910 great strides had
been made in the automobile indus
try and the automotive product was
In use both for passengers and for
trucking and delivery OF all kinds.
| Nevertheless, the number of horses
in the country has increased to H.
500, 900. The decade from 1910 to
1920 was a motor epoch. The auto
mobile and the motorcycle increased
phenomenally in use. There were
scarcely a million cars in use in 1910
while in 1920 between eight and nine
million automobiles of all sorts were
registered. Yet in this decade the
number of horses continued to in
crease until in 1920 there were 20
7S5. This decade was the high
point and the faithful equine has
been on the decline since. Probably
no country in the world ever will
! have as many horses as the United
Il CAz.z. IL =. 101o& nL1 anoIr u-o <
reached then when there We're
81, 8 5 600 horses.
BY 1921 the horse population had
| decreased to 2~0,1S3,000. In 1922 it
had declined further to 19,056,000
and on January /, 1923, there were
but IS. S53, 900 horses in the country.
Not since 1905 has the equine. popu-
| lation been down to SO low q figure
as it is this year and the indications
are that it will continue to decline
steadily from now on.
But the horses are worth a good
deal of money. The horse population
this year is valued at S1,314,956,000
compared with $1,344,1S6.000 last
year, a decrease of $29,183, 600.
Prices change but little for approx
| mately the same number of horses
were valued at $1,510, 100000 in
1906.
The pleasure car has supplanted
the ~horse-drawn carriage more rap
| Idly than the truck has supplanted
the draft animals. This is indicated
by the fact that the mule population
has held up better in proportion than
the horses. The mule seldom has
been used for anything except farm
work and heavy hauling.
More Mules Than Ever Before
On January l., 1923, there were
more mules in the United States than
at any previous time in the history
of the country. The mule population
amounted to 5.506.000 animals val
ued at $472.735,000 compared with
5.467.0 600 mules valued at $4S1,57S.-
900 the previous'year. Back in 1900
there were only about 100000
mules in the country. BY 1910 they
had increased to 1920, 900 and by
1920 to 5,041,000.
It is possible that the war gave
the lowly mule a new lease on life.
The army mule is traditional. The
old-fashioned soldier was brought up
on the theory that a var could not
be fought without mules and when
the United States entered the war
there was a marked stimulation in
the mule-breeding industry. There
were only about four and a half mil
lion of the long-eared creatures in
1916, just before the war. Since
then the number has increased over
half a million. The fact that this
year there are more mules than last
year would seem to indicate that the
country maintains a demand for
them, "a or no war.
This seems to be proved by the
! fact that the mule family does not
reproduce directly. The mule is a
hybrid produced by the interbreeding
Of the ass and the horse. The ass
Is a smaller creature and the advan-
tage of this interbreeding is hat a
creature is produced which unites
the sagacity and tractability of the
horse and the strength and logged
perseverance of the donkey. This
means that the mule population new
er would increase naturally. The in
terbreedlng which increases the
number of mules therefore must re-
suit from a market demand.
1t seems certain that the horse will
never be entirely replaced for haul
ing, especially for comparatively
light delivery work. Studies Of rela-
tive costs of hauling BY motor truck