PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 2, 1908
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The IdeaLMan and
the Standard Horse
as the Government
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DEAL men and standard-bred car
riage horses are now being turned
out by the United States government.
Of course, the government cannot
breed men to its requirements as it does
horses. But it takes the best it can get,
and by wholesome diet and judicious train
ing turns jhem into soldiers whose pro
portions arhtxactly conducive to hard work
and long life.
So far as horses are concerned, it does
more. The government stud, started three
years ago in Colorado, has already been
productive of widespread results. So heart
ily have horsemen entered into the spirit of
the enterprise that several states are breed
ing to the lines laid down by the experts
of the Department of Agriculture.
Consequently, except for purposes
of racing, the long, exve-nccked, slab-sided,
lank-loincd trotter is likely in a few decades
to be a thing of the past. In his place will
be a typically American carriage horse, such
as Carmon, who gives rate promise of be
coming the progenitor of an equine line
which will haze all the stamina for which
the trotter has become world-famous, but
with far more bone, substance and beauty.
VIRTUALLY perfect men are required for
military service. Soldiers in the field
must be able to cope with all sorts of
hardships. They must be able to stand
long marches in all 6orts of weather, on any
Bort of food they can pet sometimes on none
at all. They must be- able to dig ditches and
construct light fortifications, under pressure
that would make the ordinary work of a railway
Bection hand seem like more play.
And they must be able to keep healthy un
der this regime not only a day, or a week, or a
month, but indefinitely. An army of Bick men
is worse than worthless. The effectiveness of a
military force depends on its men being kept in
condition to fight.
Therefore, when the War Department, in
connection with the bill increasing the pay of
enlisted men, recently issued a circular pre
scribing the proper proportions of men intended
for its service, there was no mere "red tape" in
its requirements. On the contrary, its specifi
cations were compiled principally from the re
ports of life insurance companies, showing what
build of men were healthiest and lived the
longest.
This table was given:
HeiRht.
Feet.
f 4-12
6 6-12
6 6-12
b 7-12
t R 12
6 9-12
6 K-12
11-12
t
t. 1-12
Wi-lgM.
Pounds.
12S
l.':0
lo2
i:t4
141
HS
1S5
162
Itt
176
Cheat mens,
at exp. (In.)
"2
32
S2H
33
32 "i
S34
34
S4"4
S4
Si
Mobility.
Inches.
2
2
2
2
2H
24
2S
8
Literally millions of men were considered
in the making of these tables. Theory was ab
eolutcly banished from their preparation. They
show, beyond the shudo- of a doubt, what sort
of men nre able to stand up longest and thrive
test under the wear and tea: of all sorts of
trades and occupation.
Ordinarily the comment on this would be:
"That is nil very well for those who comform to
the specifications. But what about those who
don't r
Actual practice answer? the question.
Given good, wholesome food and the proper
amount of work and exercise, a man without
abnormalities is either built up or trained down
until he practically conforms to the carefully
prepared standards.
On this point Major Brnjarqin W. Atkin
son, U. S. A., an officer of long end varied ex
perience, who is now in the recruiting service,
recently said:
"Almost invariably a young man who has
served a term of enlistment leaves the army a
better man than he entered it. In the first
place, discipline teache him self-controL than
which nothing i more essentia! to -a well bal
anced character.
"Then be lea ma to lead a regular, normal
life. II mutt keep regular bears. He is ac
customed te a irhokaoma diet, lie rets pleat.
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of work and exercise. In fact, both body and
mind are trained to the highest Btate of ef
ficiency. ".For instance, recruits appVing for enlist
ment are not required to conform exactly to
the standards set forth by the War Depart
ment. Provided a man has good chest develop
ment, indicative of sound lungs, he may be from
eight to twenty pounds under weight, accord
ing to his height. Sometimes, when a man is
apparently sound, has a good strong frame and
sufficient chest development, but is much under
weight, I will write to the War Department for
authority to accept him, knowing that the train
ing he will undergo will develop him to the
standard size.
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One such man I remember particularly,
lie was a long, lanky Kentuckian, with round
boulders and a stocp.' But be had a food,
strong frame, and after w pat him through a
coaria of tp routs ha aqua red up, rounded out.
and was one cf the pest athletes in his district.
"Also, we will ac ?pt a maa who is over
weight, provided he is not positively obese. We
know that the military regime will take off the
superfluous flesh.- and when he gets down to tha
standard size, he will be a
much healthier and mora
useful man than he was bo
fore. ''Our standards may
eem exacting, but thry are
necessary. When we take
men to train for fit-'1 1 serv
ice, we count on developing
them to the highest possible
efficiency. Fur example, I
am always particular to see
that a man has good teeth
at least two perfect mdars
opposite each o'lx r on I t h
sides. Experif nc lias shown
that if a man cannot masti
cate properly any and all
sorts of foo '. he goes to
pieces under tho rigors of
rump life. Other defi
ciencies we might compen
sate for by competent train
ing, but good te"th are es
sential to the physically per
fect man.
Even at best, not a large proportion of the
men of any community tan come up to the
military standards. Hardly a third of those ap
plying for enlistment are accepted. In one
month recently in ilajor Atkinson's district
there were only sixty-eight acceptances out of
204 applicants. This is probably a pretty fair ,
average ratio, for any community, of the num.- ;
ber of men who, by proper training, aro capabla
of becoming physically perfect, so far as perfec
tion is possible.
But to alter the physical make-up of thai
great majority of peopla the government is '
powerless. However, in standardizing the
American carriage horse, it has already ao
complihed substantial results.
In the first place, it has started an equine
line at the government breeding station at'Fort
Collins, Col., of which great thinsrs are ex
pected. The work there is under tho direction
of George if. Ilomniel, of the Department of
Agriculture.
More than three years ago a stud was es
tablished, at which Carmon, formerly owned
by Thomas W. Lawson, and campaigned at
horse shows under tho name of Glorious Thun
dercloud, was placed at the head.
It has been the almost universal rule, in
breedintr, that a great line of horses has been
founded not by the gradual improvement of a
certain species, but by one horse, of such viril
ity and prepotency that his characteristics were
reproduced not only in the first, but in succeed
ing generations. Generally tho typo cf the
parent horo has bocn fixed by inter-breeding
or "inbreeding." until it has become so firm
through several generations that the offspring
will reproduce themselves in other wordi,
'"breed true" to type.
For breeding purposes, a h r must not
only bo a superb individual himself, but be must
com'' from '"fashionable" ancestry, as horsemen
put it. If he does not, hi offspring will almost
certainly revert to the typo from which ha
sprang, and will come nowhere near approach
ing bini in i-pjioaraiii-e or stamina.
In the car of Carmon. no horse could b
better fitted for the purpose for which ha was
acquired. IIime!f a superb individual in ap
pearance, be comes from some i ." the stoutest
lines in th American trottin horse regiater.
On the side of bis sire. Carnegie, Le is related
to the great trotting talIion Croeus, as Car
negie was a son of Robert IfcGregor, tha sir
of Creseeus. On tb side of his dam, Hon i tor
Maid, he trace back to Fthan Allen, llamtle
tonian II, Abdallah I and Black Hawk.
Whila coming from such first ipeaj.-rre-ducxLjr
line. Carmo was rvevrr traincl for tl
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