Imperial Valley press., 1942-06-15
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison


lhossy set that horses are due to
stage comeback in this era of
gasoline rationing might as we'll be
kissed goodby Here and there some
one may hitch up rig or a buck
board and make a brave show of
solving the crisis in transportation
with a swish of the tail and "Gitty-
I'D. Napoleon. But the sad fact is
there simply aren't enough horses
to fill the bill these days, even
counting the bangtails and those
on merry -go-rounds.
So, if you are worrying about
how you're going to get any
where in 1945, you can place
more reliance on having syn
thetic rubber to recap fabric
carcasses than you can on eX-
pecting the available supply of
brood mares to fOal enough
colts to grow into enough three
years Olds to haul any sizable
proportion of the nation about
its business. 1t takes three
years to raise a horse that you
can get anything out of, and
there aren't even enough stall
lions available, it seems, to SER
vice the mares.
The total hoss population of the
country in 1941, according to the
| Department of Agriculture, was
around 10 million head, four mil
/ lion of which were on farms. In
in 1920 there were 20 million. The
1885 there were Is million head,
peak was in the l912-9-17 period
when there were 81 million head,
Compare those figures with the
estimated 80 million passenger cars
and five million buSSes and trucks
in service before this gas and rub
Der shortage developed and you see
how big the gap is and how hope
less it would be to try filling it
with horSefleSh.
NOT A CHANCE
Even if you include the mule
population, the figures don't even
come close. That's four million head
or better today, as against top
figure of six million in 1924.
So, even with a brisk market
for horses and mules IN various
centers where such flesh is ped
died, there isn't chance of
solving this crisis for farm
work, city delivery or just plain
| joy rides down lovers lane, to
use the horse and buggy -age
name for the petting park.
The Department of Agriculture,
which is supposed to know every
thing about anything rural, has
/ been trying to get out some IN
| formation on the possibilities for
the return of the horse, but its ex-
pertS can't agree on a policy. The
Bureau of Animal Husbandry
thinks horses are wonderful, while
the Bureau of Agricultural Eco
nomics contends that horses are
uneconomic, expensive, wastefu.
| inefficient, slow, outmoded, trou-
blesome and useless except possibly
when saddled for amusement pur-
poses on a race track or bride
path and for rough country oper-
ations like herding cattle. The re-
suit of this controversy has been
that no statement has been issued
and the issue is being allowed to
take its own course
HARNESS HITCH
Horse traders who are given the
job of organizing delivery stables
have so far been able to get
enough horses and suitable wagons
They have been able to contract
for feed. But they run into snags
on fittings. Steel tires for wagon
wheels, it seems, are harder to get
than rubber. Harness is now made
only for heavy trucking or racing,
and there are priorities on leather.
Medium weight delivery harness is
practically unobtainable. The same
thing goes for wagon hardware. AS
for drivers and grooms, they're
rarer than machine tool designers
and bomber pilots.
Of course the cavalry accounts
| for large part of the useful moss
population today, in spite OF mech
anization.
There probably wouldn't be
any horses at all available to-
day if it weren't for the Army
RemOunt Service, which Tor
wears has seen to ii that good
blood stations have been scat
hn
breed a tough grade OF colt
not thOrOughbreds-th could
be picked up when needed. But
the Army knows where they all
are and they get them as they
reach maturity.
AS for the stockmen, they'd ra-
ther raise beef. More money in 1t.
| There's always demand for meat
and YOU can sell calves when they
are yearlings.
. WASHINGTON
POT AU FEU
Men over six feet tall or weigh
ing more than 1875 aren's accepted
as paratroopers Examinations for
doctors wanting to join the medical
corps will be held Aug. l0-l3 The
office of Solid Fuels Co-ordina-
ton has had For War" tackled
onto its name by presidential ord
er. Bureau of Standards has is
sued instructions on how to protect
radium (yalue, $4,000 a gram
during air raids. Sick and injured
war production workers lose six