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I We expect Frenchmen to stand by the Percheron, as a matter of course. 1 
i One cannot conceive of draft horses of any other sort grazing in the valley of i 
I the Huisne or plodding up and down the furrows of the Beauce. By the same 1 
oo 1 token no one will likely ever see anything but Clydesdales in the hands of the 1 
55 1 canny Scots ; and the yeomanry of Herefordshire will never have any use for | 
g cattle other than their own beloved "whitefaces." j §5 
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In the United States, however, there exist no local prides or prejudices 1 
to affect the judgments of farmers in the matter of types of improved domes- | 
oo 1 tic animals best adapted to particular environments. The American farmer 1 
So I has an open mind. He is always ready and willing to be "shown." Hence 1 
■ it comes about that our country is recognized as the greatest of all experimen- 1 
So 1 tal grounds in the matter of submitting the claims of various breeds to the 1 oS 
oo I adjudication that follows long-extended practical tests under new and widely- | o§ 
oo i divergent conditions. This being the case, the breeders and owners of Perch- ■ o§ 
oo 1 eron horses surely have every reason to be satisfied with the verdict that has | o§ 
oo 1 come to them through two generations of American farmers. 1 oS 
oo i I am advised that the three banner counties of the United States in point i oo 
oo i of registration of purely-bred foals during the past 12 months were Delaware 1 oo- 
oo I County, Ohio; Tazewell County, Illinois; and Keokuk County, Iowa. To i otj. 
oo 1 students of Percheron history in America that showing has a profound sig- | go 
oo i nificance. It is a long, long trail that leads from the days of "Pleasant Val- i go 
oo I ley Bill," Louis Napoleon and Victor Hugo down to 1920; but it appears | go 
go 1 that in the regions in which the Percheron blood was first tried out there is | go 
gg ■ it still in highest favor. It may therefore be said of the Percheron in Amer- i gg 
og g ica that where he has been the longest there also is he the strongest. | gg 
gg 1 That one suggestive fact then is the message that comes with greatest 1 gg 
gg i force, it seems to me, to the breeders of the French horses of heavy draft in | gg 
gg i this country as we enter the New Year. Through prosperity and through I gg 
gg I adversity the Percheron has, wherever properly handled and adhered to, J gg 
gg I demonstrated his efficiency in harness, as well as his capacity as a money- 1 gg 
gg I maker. My own earliest recollections are of the gay big grays and blacks, and i gg 
gg i 1 never expect to live to see the day when they shall lose their popularity on | gg 
gg I this side of the Atlantic. ; | gg 
gg 1 As for the draft horse ever being completely eliminated by mechanical 1 5S 
oo I power, 1 am firmly of the opinion that tractors and trucks, useful as they 1 Sg 
gS I are, important as they undoubtedly are, as factors in our industrial life and 1 SS 
oo I development; as essential as they confessedly are in the economic progress 1 SS 
^ of the age in which we live, they are no more destined to remove the draft 1 SS 
So 1 horse from the realm of agricultural production than was the locomotive. g SS 
So 1 It must not be forgotten that Stephenson's "Rocket" frightened for a time | oS 
SS 1 the farmers of England into the belief that the steam engine sounded the 1 oS 
SS I death-knell of horse-breeding in Great Britain ; but time proved such fears to 1 oS 
So 1 be absolutely groundless. The railways stimulated British farming opera- | oS 
SS i tions because they brought about a much closer relationship between pro- g oS 
So i ducer and consumer, and so with the gasoline and petroleum-burning 1 0{> 
og 1 engines that have now come to help knit closer and closer the bonds be- 1 gg 
og i tween the fields, the factories and households of the nation. There is no 1 gg 
oo 1 finish-fight on between mechanical and horse power in this year of our Lord 1 go 
oo 1 1 920, as some would have us believe. Elach supplements the other. Both J gg 
oo 1 are necessary and desirable, and both will undoubtedly go forward to 1 Jo 
oo new and greater achievements as the country expands in population and go 
gg production. ALVIN H. SANDERS. SS 
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