CHAPTER XIV 



Mules Are Profitable 



The production of mules in the United States 

 has shown a steady increase for a number of years, 

 but the demand is still much in excess of the supply. 

 Prices are the highest on record. In spite of the 

 high prices offered at all the leading markets, and 

 in spite of the increase in the number of animals 

 owned in the country, the market offerings grow 

 smaller yearly instead of increasing. Notwith- 

 standing that there are more horses and mules in 

 the United States today than at any previous period 

 in our history, a very marked scarcity prevails in 

 all the leading markets. This unique condition is 

 caused primarily by the marked prosperity of the 

 agricultural sections. The South is the greatest 

 mule-buying section of the country, and on account 

 of the extremely high prices the southern farmers 

 have received for cotton in recent years, there is 

 more money in that section to be used for agricul- 

 tural development than ever before. A good deal 

 of this ready capital is being used in the better 

 equipment of southern farms with work stock, 

 which consists almost entirely of mules. Also, 

 recent years have witnessed a phenomenal expan- 

 sion in the farming and mining industries of the 

 West and Northwest, which has called for enor- 

 mous numbers of work animals for use in farming 

 operations, in building irrigation ditches and rail- 

 roads, and for use in the mines. This western de- 

 mand has served, not only to decrease the exporta- 

 tion of range horses and mules, but has drawn, to 



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