8 
THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
make conditions right through the effort to remove the causes 
that make people Bolshevik, or anything else that is unde- 
sirable. 
It is the function of this institution to catalogue and bring 
before the American people the facts as they are, independent 
of any political party, independent of any religious question, 
and let tlie American people see wliat is true agriculture. 
HOW THIS MOVEMENT WILL AFFECT THE DRAFT 
HORSE BUSINESS 
This institution will have its effect upon the draft horse 
business. Just as soon as there is effort and enthusiasm be- 
hind the farm, thru we will attract the right kind of men aiid 
the right kind of women. If you are doing well on the farm, 
and you are taking an interest in the draft horse, you will 
attract others. The farm is the financial backbone of this na- 
tion, and the farmers are vital, as a class, in this nation today. 
MECHANICAL MOTIVE POWER. AND THE END OF THE 
HORSE BUSINESS 
The next question that has had its influence on the draft 
horse during the past year or two has been the meclianical power 
on the farm. There were a great many men that I have 
talked to during the last six months who really and honestly 
believed that they could see the end and the whole end, of the 
draft liorse business, because of the coming of the tractor. Here 
are some cold facts. 
During the period of the war we all know that we were asked, 
coaxed and induced to put in more acres, farm more, raise 
more. We are Americans and we do things in the American 
way, and we go at things with a rush and a tear and tlie 
easiest way to get it done. According to the advertisements 
placed before the American people, the tractor was the way to 
get this work done. There is "'Always Somebody Taking the 
Joy Out of Life" and the tractor has done its full share to 
those who employed it. 
HORSE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA ORGANIZED 
The Horse Association of America was organized in Chicago, 
I think, sometliing like a year ago, with one of our directors, 
Mr. Dunham, as president, and with our former secretary, 
Wayne Dinsmore, as secretary. This association was organized 
for the purpose of trying to do for the horse question just ex- 
actly what the farm bureau is trying to do for the farm 
question generally; that is, to catalogue the facts and figures 
and present to the people of this country the truth in regard 
to llie horse generally and his interest and value to the Ameri- 
can people. 
FACTS EVERY FARMER OUGHT TO KNOW 
The Horse Association has found, first, that the original 
investment in mechanical power on a farm compared with the 
use of horsepower on the farm is one-third more in money and 
in many cases it is more than one-half more. Number two is 
that it costs one-third more, in many cases one-half more, to 
farm with mechanical power on the farm, than it does with 
horse power. Number three is that the horse power on the 
farm will last at least twice as long as the very best kind of 
mechanical power on the market today. Number four is that 
you put fertility back into the soil when you farm with horses, 
whereas if you are farming with a tractor you will rob the 
soil entirely of its fertility. Number five is that you can raise 
fifteen per cent more crops on land farmed with horses than 
you can on land farmed by tractors. This is not so much due 
to the fact that during one particular year you do not put any 
fertility back in the soil, but from the fact that when you use 
a tractor you cannot always use it at the proper time. You 
may have to use it on a wet day, when the ground is particu- 
larly soft. Then afterward, when you go down through your 
field you can see the result of the tractor's work even in the 
late fall days of harvest. Therefore, on the average, that 
truth remains, namely, that fifteen per cent more crops can be 
raised on land farmed with horses. 
BELIEVE IN HORSES— TALK HORSE 
It seems to me, horsemen of America, that if you really be- 
lieved this conclusion, there would not he very much interest 
lost in the draft horse. When you consider that there are six 
million, five hundred fifty-nine thousand farms in America and 
about eighteen million horses, that means that there are only 
about three horses per farm. This gives you some idea of the 
future for the draft horse in the United States. 
As I was talking to some of our directors this afternoon 
about those figures; they could not believe them, but those are 
the figures that have been released by the United States Census 
Department at Washington. Do you think that we are over- 
flooded with horses when we have three horses per farm in 
America ? 
IS A TRACTOR PRACTICAL? 
When you consider that the very men who are using tractors 
today testify that a tractor is not practical on a farm of less 
than two hundred and sixty acres, and that seventy-five per 
cent of the work on any farm must be done by horsepower, is 
there very much cliance of the horse playing out unless we quit 
breeding? When you consider that of tlie six and a half million 
farms in America, more than ninety per cent are less than two 
liundred sixty acres in size, we can come to no other conclusion but 
that the draft horse is needed in America and that there is a very 
profitable future near at hand. 
CONDITION OF PERCHERON SOCIETY AFFAIRS 
Turning to the condition of the Percheron Society during 
the past year, there is not very much to be said. There has been 
a falling off of nineteen per cent in registrations, owing to the 
dull stallion trade. I want to say, however, that from the in- 
vestigations that I have conducted, and from the travels that 
I have made to state fairs and otiierwise throughout the United 
States, during the past year, I believe that the falling off in 
breeding operations has been due principally to the fact that 
good stallions could not be obtained. I have found the stal- 
lions that have been sold during the past year have been high 
class, a much better grade of stallions as a rule than we have 
been selling before. Buyers have become critical. They have 
had some little experience in handling these good horses and 
they want more. 
WHY BREED GOOD HORSES 
When we know that last spring a carload of draft geldings 
left Chicago, that cost four hundred and fifty dollars a piece, 
we must say to ourselves, "There is some money in the draft 
horse business." These men have come to know that in order 
to breed a good upstanding gelding, of quality, you must breed 
to a good stallion. Tiiis apathy on the part of the American 
breeder, seems to me, spells more for success than if they were 
going pell mell into the breeding operations like they used to, 
without any thought of what kind of horses they were breeding. 
There is a great movement on foot in this country, whether 
it is in the horse, sheep, hog, or the cattle business, to put 
upon the market only superior sires. People are sending this 
inferior stock back to the feed lot and to the gelding class, 
where they belong. That condition spells for success. 
I believe that there is just as much of a demand for good 
Percheron sires as there ever was, and a better demand for the 
top-notch ones than there ever was before. 
The number of transfers issued through the Society has 
been less, owing to the same fact, but only four per cent less 
than last year. Cost of doing business has been higher; but I 
want to say to you that the condition of the Percheron Society, 
financially, is very good. Indeed, there is no indication that 
the Percheron Society is going out of business. There is every 
indication that the business is improving, and there is every 
indication that we have passed over the lowest ebb in the history 
of the Percheron Society so far as we know. 
THOUSANDS OF WORTHLESS HORSES 
From statistics on hand I understand there are five million 
horses in America running around now that are absolutely 
worthless. I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say 
there were six or seven million of them, and that is the kind 
of horse, more than the tractor condition, which has brought 
about the dull condition in the draft horse business. 
EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE 
Turning to our export trade, and import trade. I want to 
say that our exports during the past year liave been almost noth- 
ing. But have not our exports in everything else been almost 
on a parallel ? 
The reason why the people of European countries do not 
buy draft horses here is not because they have sufficient draft 
horses, but it is because they have no money. They are short 
on many other things that we have here, but they are not buy- 
ing. The great trouble is that those foreign countries, through 
the ravages of war, have gotten into such a condition that they 
have no credit in America. The very best thing that this country 
can do after the Peace Treaty is signed, is to arrange for those 
foreign countries a line of credit, so that the markets of America 
may be open to them. That would provide a market in Europe 
for the products of American agriculture, including the draft 
horse. 
BEGIN BREEDING GOOD HORSES NOW 
Just as sure as we live another year, or the year after that, 
the time will come when the demand for the American horse 
will be as enthusiastic as we have ever seen the demand for them 
in this country in years gone by. 
