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GENERAL WOODS WARNING RECALLED. Little did Major General Wood, commander of the United States army, imagine how soon his prophecy would be fulfilled, when in the winter of 1011 he said to tlie press of our country: "A s a result of recent State legislation affecting racing there has been, and still continues to be an extensive shipment out of this country of the best thoroughbred blood. These shipments in some eases consist of entire studs of thoroughbreds, and are assuming the magnitude of a national calamity so far as the effect on the breeding of thoroughbred stock, in this country is concerned. "Tliliiauatter touches the mounted service in such Af vital way that the War Department cannot be J indifferent to it. While other countries are spend-. A lug immense sums of money in imported thorough, fcbred stock, many of our most renowned breeder Hftliave ontrelv sold out, shipped abroad, or are gradV ually reducing their establishments. "The loss of thoroughbred stock to such an extent as is now taking place threatens the further improvements in the American horse and will gradually reduce tlie source from which the army can secure the proper mount. This matter is one of such importance that it is thought the attention of Congress should be invited to it." Today our country is invaded with agents from Canada, England and Trance in search of horses for caxillry and artillery for the present great war. with the result that even the meagre supply in existence will soon lie exhausted. Our farmers are losing thousands of dollars in not being able to supply tlie demand, and the dearth of any horses wiM soon be felt all over our broad land, and what our army can do for remounts even in time of peace is iiidced a problem. That great English authority "Boulanger." has the following to say through the daily press of England, and it should be carefully read and considered by thinking men in this country: "We race horses for the sake of breeding, hut we do not breed horses for the sake of racing." Of the many things said and written in these days, this is one of the truest, and. indeed, ha must be a biased man who does not admit it. Too many faddists are getting a hearing at the present moment, hut while in times of peace stronous efforts have often had to be made to silence the; crowd who decry racing as a menace to the economical and moral welfare of the people, it should not be a dltlicult task to prove they are in error when the wnr horse of tlie various nations, which has so vastly been improved during modern times, is put to its severest, and. possibly, decisive test. Opposition against a jpeedy resumption of racing denotes a painful ignorance- with regard to all the vital points of horse breeding generally, and in particular of the cult of tlie noble liorse. Nobody can accuse me of lieing possessed of a too vivid imagination if I declare that there is not a single liorse on tlie liattletields which conies within the range of army remounts that, in parentage or ancestry, is not related to the British thorougbred. I had in iny time many an K-casi;iii to inspect registers of fiscal and private half-bred studs, and I am certain that if I compiled a list of British breeders mentioned in these I could get a complete directory of English and Irish breeders which one would have seme difficulty to obtain by the usual means. It is perfectly true V say that, for the first time in British history, the English soldier is to become aware of the ellicenc.v of that essential "weapon" which has produced and raised on the soil of his motherland, viz., his mount, and being, I am nlmost inclined to say. an instinctive connoisseur of horseflesh, we shall probablv have to listen to lucid descriptions of the French army horses, which, for my part. 1 consider tlie most efficient means of offense to lie employed in this disastrous war. Thoughts of this kind induced me to observe, in iny article in the "Sporting Life." of August 11 that the establishment of fiscal studs in England on Continental lines can be a matter of time only. It js certain to come, since the government is now obtaining tin; first practical conception of the immense value of a uniform type of armv liorse, and may In the future, therefore, lend a willing ear to those whom they thought to be pleading for a wrong and impossible cause. I am highly pleased to note that an esteemed confrere has "been encouraged by this comment of mine to discuss this important subject from the proper English point of view, and versatile and impulsive us be is, he should not fail to strike a suitable scheme with a view to encouraging the government to at once take the necessary steps. "Only a few days ago I chatted about these matters with a prominent English breeder who was commissioned to buy horses for the war office, aud he alluded to the great difficulty in procuring tlie proper material. Of course, there are heaps of splendid hunters aud hacks to be gut, but thev are not used to army routine, which is so vastly different from, and much more strenuous than, daiiv work over a country. Only tlie dire need for horses for military purposes can justifv the enormous capital outlay connected with this item o" the mobilization. "It has certainly cost omre than the maintenance of fiscal studs would have required, yet this sort of remounting can never serve its purpose, since uniformity in type of Ihe army horse as a whole, and not supreme individual merits oil the part of a few amongst them, is Its chief asset. A squadron of lancers mounted on 10.2 hands hunters and 15 hands hacks cannot iossIhly attack in straight and close lines, and, instead "of overriding a column of Infantry, they would soon be all over the ground, uud, seriously handicapped In the proper use of the rifle, would be made prisoners or shot without difficulty. "We have to wait some time ere the man in the street will admit tlie enormous, though passive, part which the British bloodstock breeder is playing In, this war. Even then, if problems of this kind are discussed, he will probably stubbornly deny the existence of any relatipns between breeding and racing. However, rhe may In time listen to this. No industry can prosper which is deprived of a testing ground for the. quality, of its products. Prices are determined by quality, and quality is the result of competitive labor. "The ultimate goal of international competition is to gain a sort of monopoly in the production, manufacture and supply of such goods or articles that are essential for the maintenance of national health, comfort and safety. In the course of years it was proved tlia.t, while tlie natural resourcea for the production of an essential article are, in respect of cither quantity or quality, limited in one .cQimtry, they are unlimited in another. Consequently, the more fortunate country can attain i sort of monopoly in the supply of a special article, but only as long as opportunities are given to test anil prove its superiority. "Tim British bloodstock industry is in exactly the same position, it would be doomed if its testing grounds the race courses are abolished. Wo have no need to fear that this will ever happen, but it is a certainty that If racing is stopped for any length of time, particularly during the most important part of the year, breeding will suffer so severely as to be unable to cope with the enormous demand for bloodstock which is certain to spring up after tlie termination of the war. Unless a breeder is put in a position to prove the quality of his stock, ho risks losing his home and foreign market for a considerable time, if not forever, for the simple reason that he would run short of the capital needed to keep up the high standard of breeding which lie has attaiued after many years of arduous and costly labor. "Once his reputation is gone, his enterprise slackens. I happen to know of several particular instances of breeders who, assisted by the boom of the last few years, had sufficient means to spare to mate their mares with tirst-rate stallions. Unless they now find a good market for the produce, they will have to fail back upon their old and primitive way of breeding, and will probably ruined before they are able to retrieve the enormous losses they would sustain if this years market should collapse."
