284 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



must prove useless; that the "punitive expedi- 

 tion," as the campaign was termed when first war 

 was declared, would be conducted almost solely 

 by infantry ; while reasons innumerable were 

 advanced to prove the " accuracy" of such wild 

 forecasts. 



And now when we look back upon it all we 

 see that the war would most likely still be dragging 

 its way along had only infantry been employed. 



To-day it seems likely, indeed almost certain, 

 that the horse's influence upon the world's pro- 

 gress influence that we have traced back into 

 the dim ages has actually come to a close. 



Evidence that this is so is observable on every 

 side. The discovery of the strength of steam 

 left the horse still in power, so to speak, for the 

 locomotive engine drove only coach horses out 

 of existence. 



The utility of the electrically driven motor, and 

 of the motor driven by petrol power, has been 

 proved to be almost ubiquitous, and the rapidity 

 with which the motor has already ousted horses 

 in almost every direction is little short of 

 phenomenal. 



For the ultra-conservative little body of the 

 community to maintain that this is not so be- 



