The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



175 



pealed to Dan, and he settled for the fee. Not 

 that alone, as when the afternoon of the rac< 

 came, he drove the horse for the man. and gol 

 second money. His price for driving in a race 

 was alwavs high, hut in this instance he gave 

 his services free. The following evening 1 

 happened over to the railroad depot, and who 

 should I meet going away but the man Mace 

 had assisted. Now he had not paid hack to 

 Dan that money for entrance on the horse, so 

 T hurried over to the hotel and told Dan that 



the man he had befriended was skinning out 

 without settling with him. He said to me: 



"Let the poor fellow go; he may need the 

 money in another place." 



There is no doubt that at one time Mace 

 was worth over $100,000. hut at his death, in 

 (885, he left little property, as he had lost 

 the most he had in bad speculations. His habits 

 were temperate, and in the last five years of 

 his life he quit smoking entirely, and only 

 occasionally took a glass of wine. 



Well-Bred Horse with Quality and 

 Soundness is Best for Business 



( By Henry C. Merwin ) 



Permission of An. Horse Br^ier 



Editor's Note. — There is no person more capable of knowing the future of the 

 work-horse than Henry C. Merwin, president of the Boston IVork-Horsc Relief Asso- 

 ciation, therefore, his statement of facts must prove of immense benefit to all identified 

 ivith the business horse. 



SIX years ago, the Boston Work-Horse 

 Relief Association (then called the 

 Work-Horse Parade Association) is- 

 sued a small pamphlet, written by 

 Gilbert Tompkins on the work-horse 

 and the automobile. As the result of a careful 

 investigation made by him for the association, 

 Mr. Tompkins strongly advised horse breeders 

 in the West to raise as many good animals as 

 their farms would support. If this advice had 

 been followed, everybody concerned would 

 now be better off. The price of work-horses 

 is much higher than it was six years ago, and 

 all signs indicate that it will go higher still. 



For long hauls, the auto-truck may be, and 

 probably is, more economical than horses, but, 

 for short hauls, the case is just the opposite. 

 The use of the commercial car is increasing, no 

 doubt, but the increase is very slow, indeed — 

 and is more apparent than real. In many 

 cases, prominent concerns are using auto- 

 trucks, leased to them at a low rate, with the ex- 

 pectation that the advertisement thus obtained 

 will compensate for the loss in rental. In other 

 cases, the use of the automobile is an experi- 

 ment, and such experiments usually end in dis- 

 aster. We hear frequently, it is true, of busi- 

 ness concerns that are buying or hiring auto- 

 cars, but. on the other hand, we hear fre- 

 quently of other business concerns that are 

 giving them up as being economically impos- 

 sible. The cost of repairs and the deprecia- 

 tion are enormous. 



At the Boston Work-Horse Parade, in 1913, 

 there were 1,225 entries, as against 1.062 en- 

 tries the year before. It was estimated that 

 the number would have been about twenty-five 

 greater had it not been for the competition of 

 the automobile. In other words, the loss oc- 

 casioned by the automobile amounted to about 

 two per cent of the total number of entries. 

 Nothing very alarming in that ! 



Unless some startling improvements are 

 made, which will greatly lower the cost or in- 

 crease the durability of the commercial auto- 

 mobile, there is no prospect of any serious 

 competition between it and the horse for many 

 years to come. In fact, some mechanical en- 

 gineers believe that the horse will never be 

 superseded for short hauls. "The horse." 

 they say, "is the most economical machine yet 

 invented." 



But let no one think that he can make money 

 by raising an inferior work-horse ; let no one 

 breed an old worn-out mare, or a mare with 

 any constitutional unsoundness, or tendency 

 to unsoundness. The produce of such stock 

 will seldom be sold at a profit — to say nothing 

 of the cruelty involved in breeding horses 

 which are almost certain to suffer from pain- 

 ful lameness before they reach middle life. 

 Buyers now demand work-horses that have 

 soundness and quality, and the whole tendency 

 is in that direction. Beauty in the work-horse 

 has now a recognized value as an advertise- 

 ment. Who are the men that are making 

 monev as master teamsters in our great cities? 



