by the government. This fact was stated in 

 a Maine newspaper, and thence it was 

 quoted in newspapers all over the country, 

 and invariably with approval. 



Of course it cannot be expected that no- 

 body should ever sell a horse ; but every 

 owner of horses, and especially large firms 

 and corporations, should draw the line 

 somewhere. In the first place, they should 

 lay down a rule that no horse that has be- 

 come worn-out in their service should be 

 sold, and, secondly, their disposal of horses 

 not worn-out, but still unfit for their partic- 

 ular work, should be as humane as is pos- 

 sible under all the circumstances of the 

 case. It seems almost incredible that after 

 a horse has served his owner for many 

 years he should, in his old age, be sold to 

 the first pedlar or other person that comes 

 along ; and yet that is sometimes done. For 

 example, two years ago a horse that had 

 been owned and worked by a trucking firm 

 for fifteen years, and had become worn-out 

 and really unfit for any labor, was sold to 

 the first purchaser that appeared in the 

 stable without inquiry or investigation. 



It is plain that the disposal of the horse 

 should depend upon several circumstances. 

 First, on the wealth of the owner, for ob- 

 viously a rich man or firm can afiford to be 

 more humane than a poor man. Secondly, 

 it should depend upon the age and condi- 

 tion of the horse. And, thirdly, on the 

 number of years he had been used by the 

 concern. Corporations in which everything 

 is done by rule, no allowance being made 

 for individual cases, should at least make it 

 a rule not to sell horses who have labored 

 for them for a certain number of years, say, 

 ten years and upwards. Such horses, to 

 use a common expression, "owe them noth- 

 ing." When these animals become unfit for 

 further use, the corporation should either 

 kill them or make some other humane dis- 

 position of them. 



Another way of getting at the matter is 

 to fix a price below which a horse should 

 not l)e sold. Many firms, for example, do 

 not sell a horse that will not bring $50 or 

 more in the market. If his market price is 

 lower than that, they cause the horse to be 

 killed. Another firm fixes the price at $75, 

 and mercifully kills any horse whose mar- 

 ket value falls below that. For this pur- 

 pose $75 certainly is none too high as 

 things now are. The price of horses, espe- 

 cially of second-hand horses, is so ex- 

 tremely high that it is really difficult to pur- 

 chase in any Eastern city for less than $75 

 a horse that can be worked without actual 

 cruelty. 



But if the old, worn-out or lame horse is 

 to be sold, at least let some care be taken 

 to find a good home for him — or a home not 

 so bad as the worst. There is now such 

 a demand for cheap horses that, with some 

 trouble, it is possible to make a selection 

 among purchasers. This does not amount 

 to much, but it is a little better than selling 

 to the first customer. 



The most humane owners are those who 

 never sell a discarded horse. Thus a well- 

 known coal dealer, when questioned on this 

 subject said:— "When a horse is no longer 

 good for us, he is not good for any one 

 else. We shoot him." This sounds rather 

 harsh : is death the best rew^ard that the old 

 horse can expect for long years of faithful 

 service? Yes. it is; and death is a thou- 

 sand times more humane than to sell the 

 old horse, or even to give him away. No 

 old horse, in fact, should ever be given 

 away. Lend him if you will ; but keep track 

 of him, and get him back if he is being 

 abused. Long experience has convinced 

 the writer of this Bulletin that only about 

 one man in a hundred will take good care of 

 a horse for which he has paid nothing. 



And here it should be said, parentheti- 

 cally, that Ijv far the most humane manner 



