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E 1, ■ II i. e a e a a s of f e V il s s p 1 r i a i i - ; I ; ! ! - i I ! I I I i I I WAY TO SECURE PROPER WAR HORSE Encourage Racing and Consequently Improve Thor-oroughbrcd Blocd So Essential in Army Remounts, Cincinnati. O.. May ».— Vacillations in the fight- t ing line in Flanders and France, necessitating tlie rapid changing of artillery and the moving of mm. plies, has emphasized the highly Important pari the horse is playing in modem warfare and called at-•. tention to the vitally essential need of well-hnd stock in tie- military establishment. The idea thit the motor truck had supplanted the horse has been proved erroneous, and the, horse has not only held hi -s own for the mounted service, but also for supply purposes. The horse has been used on the battle field with signal success and the motor truck, excepting for the rapid movement of infantry to points of attack, has been used for traction purposes in the rear of the line. The rapid changes in the western line, which put horses to the supreme test for endurance and stam- ina. has demonstrated without tae shadow of a doubt the value of thoroughbred blood in the veins of war horses. In the time of stress, the horse. :is well as man. is put to the crucial test. Then it is that th« spirit of the thoroughbred struggles ever on. while the scrub and nag submit quickly to fa- tigne -mil superlative effort. larking the spirit of a thoroughbred, an animal fails in the hour when most depends upon him. For the possession of that vitalizing blood the buyers of Knropiai. governments long before the preseat war paid fortunes in the purchase of winners of gre.-it races on continental tracks and the great courses of England. They knew that blood and the spiiit of wiim ing engendered in horses by participation in racing was the factor essentially necessary for the war horse. Although the Tnited States government did not invest in thoroughbred sires on an etensive scale liefore the war. the general attention which has been paid to the rehabilitation of our war establish ■MMt has called attention to the necessity of im proving the breed of the American nor e directly by the government and also through the sport of racing. Opposition to this form of s|sirt by legi;- la tares came near ruining the breeding industry in the Inited State:;, for no man will breed high class stock if he has neither the opportunity to show the quality of his product nor a" market in which his horses can be disposed of at an advantage. WOULD BE BENEFIT TO ALL. Anything the federal government might do to improve the breed would react to the benefit of •very horse owner and would assure the government in return the basis of a stock suited for war pur noses and ample to meet any emergency. Colonel Henry J. Reilly. who went abroad last winter for a Chicago newspaper to study condition-;, drew these •oiicliisions regarding the use of the horse for military purposes: "In general, it may !»• said that in army must still have animals for all its cavalry, .he list fulness of which is far from di ..ip|Haring : it must have horses for all its light field artillery, half its heavy field artillery, and ail its regimental ind divisional supply lines." The battle which has lieen raging with unpre •edenteil fury since last mouth is taking its toll, not only in men. but also in horses. Thousands of ihein have met their death. It is estimated that there are 4.500.000 horses in use by all the armie-t Hid that the losses, not including the present battle for which statistics will not In- available for many months, have averaged 47.000 a month. About 1.500,000 horses in the allies armies were imported from the United States. These figures indicate to horsemen that thousands of horses with thoroughbred ouality have baaa killed and maimed. Hid that the governments of all the Ik lligerents are face to face with a problem of replacing them with inimals of high standard that will cause them much trouble and worry when the war is over. This situation, which affects the Inited States ns badly as it does any continental government, calls for the encouragement of the breeding industry and for the revocation of laws that have hampered its free development. Many members of state legislatures that voted blindly against racing are beginning to see how shortsighted was their liolicr. and that they jeopardised an industry that was "doing its bit"-to supply a commodity of great importance for the successful prosecution of any war. Interest n racing and the consequent encouragement which it will give to breed high-class horses, on which rests the basis of pure-bred light stock, is one factor that will help the country out of the dilemma.
