THE ARMY REMOUNT PROBLEM. 117 



Fiscal year 1910. 



Cavalry horses, average contract price 1_ $173. 24 



Artillery horses, average contract price 205.25 



Young horses for remount depots 127.45 



Fiscal year 1911. 



Cavalry horses, average contract price $166. 76 



Artillery horses, average contract price 212.17 



Young horses for remount depots 134.07 



The age at which young horses are being purchased is becoming 

 less than was originally suggested, quite a large number of 2-year- 

 olds being selected. Mainly, however, these horses are 3 years old. 

 and few, if any, 4-year-olds are bought. 



It is expected that eventually all the horses supplied to the Army 

 will be purchased in this way. In. fact, the contract system of buying 

 is even now more or less of an exception, the only recent contracts of 

 importance being during the maneuvers in Texas. 



The remount plan in itself has everything in its favor and practically 

 nothing against it. The farmer gets a fair price for his colt rather 

 than a poor price on which a middleman formerly had to figure a 

 profit. The Army now has a range of selection which it never had 

 before ; it is not now necessary to " take the cats and dogs " or go 

 without horses ; and, above all, the writer ventures the assertion that 

 the remount system has had a decided influence on the horsemanship 

 of mounted officers in the Army, for the simple reason that much more 

 interest will be taken in a better horse concerning whose breeding 

 something is known and whose history is known practically from 

 birth. 



WEAK POINTS OF THE REMOUNT SYSTEM. 



The remount system has two weak points, which are not, however, 

 inherent in the plan itself, but obtain in the conditions surrounding 

 the horse-breeding industry, due to the peculiar developments of 

 horse breeding in the United States during the last 40 years and the 

 average man's lack of ability as a horse breeder. 



The scarcity of suitable horses. The scarcity of horses of the light 

 type, from which the Army supply must come, has been fully set 

 forth in the foregoing pages. Under the present peace footing the 

 Army can and will obtain a fairly satisfactory supply of horses by 

 the remount system ; it can keep a staff of officers in the field looking 

 for horses just as a large city firm of horse dealers keeps its buyers 

 traveling, although at greater expense, because the Army is looking 

 for only a few classes of horses, while the city firm handles all kinds ; 

 the numbers the dealer purchases are therefore much larger and the 

 average expense to be charged against each horse is correspondingly 

 less. It is not claimed that the Army can not now find the mounts 

 needed under the present peace footing by means of the remount 



