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3 Our Dumb Animals 1 (1870-1871)

handle is hein.journals/animals3 and id is 1 raw text is: -4vwH 1I-\X0 CANNOT, (V.0 U) I CA I would not enter on my list of friends, Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility, the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. Vol. 3. BOSTON, JUNE, 1870. No. 1. Our Dumb Animals. Published Monthly by the Massackusttts Stittl for tt Vrtbention of AT utHt to imaOs, AT THE SOCIETY'S ROOMS, 46 Washington Street . . . . Boston. TERMs.-$1.00 per annum, in advance. Postage in the city, FREE. To all parts of the United States, outside of Boston, TwELVE CENTS PER ANNUM for each package of four ounces, payable in advance, at the office where received. Articles for the paper and subscriptions may be sent to the Secretary. GEORGE T. ANGELL . . . . . . . . . . President. HENRY SALTONSTALL . ........ Treasurer. FRANK B. FAY . .... .... . . . SecretarY. CHARLES A. CURRIER . .... ..... Special Agent. SPlEE 1 C TI OF DR. GEORGE B. LORING, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THIS SOCIETY, MARCH 29, 1870. MR. CHAInRAN:-* * I was asked to come here, as one versed in the feeding and care of animals. There is nothing spiritual in this, nothing poetic, there is nothing sublime, but there is everything humane and Christian. That is the only excuse that I have for appearing here as a Massachusetts farmer, happy to look in the face of this distin- guished fraternity on this occasion, to deal with the question of humanity to animals in an agricultural way. I congratulate you and myself and all the farmers and all the cattle and all the horses of Mas- sachusetts upon the existence of this Society. It does seem to me an earnest and assurance that into the business of life has at last entered, for man and for beast, the great element of humanity. Man has exhausted himself in this country and in this age, in working out and solving and removing that statement long ago made, that Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn; but now you have come down to the older and more sublime doctrine, it seems to me, that The merci- ful man is merciful to his beast. It is higher au- thority, at any rate, and it is older doctrine. It is as sublime a one as a Christian one. OUR RELATIONS TO ANIMALS. Now, my friends, the relations we hold to our domestic animals are most intricate, most remark- able, and most interesting. There is hardly a man or woman who has not some pet animal, and some immediate association with the animal kingdom. The boy comes into the city from his father's home, he has been familiar with animals on the old farm from his earliest days, and as he rises in wealth and position how eagerly he supplies himself either with his favorite horse or his pet dog; or he must have that cow in his stable, not that her milk is any bet- ter than any other cow's, but he cannot resist the old association. It comes home to us, as the first teaching of our lives, that our relations to animals are so immediate that we can never divest our- selves of them; and so in all ages, it has been de- creed that the animal kingdom is the great practical staff which man uses in his passage through life. It is an old French proverb and a true one, No cattle, no farming; few cattle, poor farming; many cattle, good farming. How true that is! This is of itself a most important relation, and the old Roman knew it, when he said, on being asked, What is the best method of farming?' It is to feed cattle well. And what pext? To feed them with moderation. This relation exists to- day, and has existed as a practical matter in the life of man from time immemorial, and is now brought more immediately home to us, and gilded with the great humanity and charity of the present age. PROGRESS-PRPACTICAL QUESTION. The subjugation of this animal kingdom to the wants and necessities of man, constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the whole history of man's advancement. * * The progress is wonderful, and so it is interesting to us, this passage of man and the animal kingdom ending in all the great civi- lization of life. To us here, all this is a matter of practical interest. I speak for the business of this Commonwealth; and in this branch of it with which I am dealing, I am sure that kindness, gentleness and profit go hand in hand. We have here in Mas- sachusetts 90,000 horses, worth over $9,000,000. We have 50,000 oxen, worth $3,000,000; we have 150,000 cows, worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000,000; so that the agricultural branch of the State supplied by cattle, constitutes $19,000,000 or $20,000,000 of the wealth of this community. This is worth looking after; and it can be materially in- jured, made worthless and unprofitable by misman- agement. This is too much the case now. GOOD FEEDING. We may consider with care all the efforts that are made to remove the cruelties which have been alluded to to-night in the admirable report of the Secretary. We all know how necessary these efforts are. Before our eyes day by day, the wrongs to the animal kingdom go on. The power of our dumb allies to aid us is diminished by neglect and maltreatment. The service rendered by horses on our street cars, and drays and carriages, is only profitable when rendered by those animals with the cheer and alacrity which attend a good condition. The discouragement which attends abuse and neg- lect, shortens the length of the animal's service, and reduces its amount. Life to him is a prolonged weariness, and such an existence should be to us a rebuke and a shame. While we protest, therefore, against the open and palpable cruelties practised before us, and appeal to the civil tribunals to aid us in suppressing them, let us not forget that intelli- gent and skillful care of animals, which can alone make their lives comfortable, their labors light, and their service, in all its various forms, really useful and profitable. It is the cruelty of the stable and the stall which I would remove. It is the humanity of good care and judicious feeding, the only reward we can bestow upon the faithful beast, which I would impress upon your minds. * * That mercy which feeds and cares for an animal with judgment and skill, is the mercy which is most warmly recognized, and is that form of humanity which makes labor light, and relieves almost all the suffering incident to the animal's subjugation. But the prolonged weary distress which attends starva- tion and neglect, or the mistaken kindness of inju- dicious feeding, exhausting the animal powers, and converting all effort into pain, is the refinement of cruelty, and should be prevented, as you would pre- vent the merciless lash from wounding, or the over- crowded car from its savage work of destruction. I have great faith in the comfort, happiness, and health to be derived from judicious feeding for animals as well as for men. * * I am confident that the well fed man and the well fed animal can defy all winds and swamps, and morasses. A good digestion will enable a man to live where a frog would die. The question of health and strength is more a question of nutrition than of climate. I go to Europe and I find the inhabitants of Holland living in a low, flat, cheerless country, defying all the depressing influences of soil and climate, by their confidence in a judicious diet, and their belief in the laws of healthy nutrition. The rule which man wherever he goes, whether under the eternal frosts of the poles, or the heats and miasms of the tropics, whether on land or on sea, whether on hill or in valley, must obey if he would preserve his health and strength, applies also to the animal. Perhaps more to the animal than to man. You may thlqil you are peculiarly segsitive and impressible, 51pil l -4 ,r,,,szt.vZS.

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