Annual Meeting 1085 



'O 



to you like good business ? It is good business for the Government 

 all right enough, but do let us establish a record in this matter. 

 Let us prove for once that the farmer does not always mean to 

 be the goat. 



Some of you probably " fell for " that political game of the 

 Jockey Club, and I wish I had the time to tell you the inside 

 history of that piece of breeding philanthropy. If you were an 

 innocent party to that enterprise, and profited by it, I hope you 

 will get up right now and tell this meeting how much you made, 

 and what prices you received. If you, on the other hand, lost your 

 time, your temper, and your money, please be equally frank. The 

 truth should be known about all that thoroughbred-stallion-for 

 the-poor-dear-farmer-to-improve-the-breed-of-horses-business, and 

 if the result has been wholly or even approximately successful, all 

 farmers should know the facts, and share in the emoluments on 

 their own account. 



]^o Government can expect to mount its troops cheaply unless 

 it assumes most of the risk and expense. Where our people oiler 

 $150 for cavalry horses, other countries pay $250-$375. Do you 

 imagine that if our Government would pay such figures as these 

 it would find it impossible to secure 2,000 army horses per 

 annum — or 100,000 for that matter? 



Kobody knows — the army buyers themselves do not know 

 what they will buy for army horses two years consecutively. 

 Horses rejected one year go through with a rush the next. How 

 is any one to cater to such a market? If that is true now, what 

 will it be in six years or so, bearing in mind the inevitable fact 

 that cavalry will sooner or later become " mounted infantry ? " 

 Stick to the drafter — the horse you can use, can sell, and which 

 as a '' gunner " or artillery horse at $225-$250 will fill a place on 

 the army picket rope much more surely than any " cavalry 

 horse." 



Start breeding this year, if only with one mare. Stick to the 

 drafters, at least until all the countryside is filled with fine, big, 

 upstanding, lusty mares and fillies. Then, if you choose, and 

 only then, experiment with the lighter breeds, crossed upon these 

 worthy dams, carefully watching the tendencies of the times, and 

 anticipating them if you can. A farm without a colt is like a 

 dairy without a cow. 



