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PREVENTING THE COWBOY RIDE.

John G. Shortall, president of the Illinois Humane Society, is determined that the proposed cowboy race from Chadron, Neb., to Chicago shall not be run if the society can prevent it. He has addressed a letter to the secretary of the cowboys' association calling attention to the Illinois statute which imposes a punishment upon any person guilty of cruelty to animals and notifying the secretary that all participants in and all others connected with the proposed race will be arrested the moment they enter the State of Ilinois. The letter is temperate in tone, but it is so pointed as to leave no doubt of the earnestness and sincerity of the society's purpose to put an end to the cruel and unnecessary contest at the instant that the Illinois authorities may assume jurisdiction of the persons engaged in it.
The distance from Chadron to Chicago is about 700 miles. The programme for the race includes 300 contestants, each man to be provided with two horses, which are to be ridden alternately. While riding one horse he is to lead the other. The conditions are that the race must be finished with the same horses that started. The death of one or both horses operates at once to remove the rider as a contestant. The start will be made June 23. The winner is to receive a purse of $1,500.
It has been claimed that this will not be a cruel contest because of the provision requiring a contestant to finish the race with the same horses he starts with. But there is nothing in such an argument to make humane people look with any degree of tolerance upon the proposed contest. At the race itself they could not, of course, be expected to look. By allowing only two horses to each contestant from start to finish, so many animals would not be made to suffer as would be the case if relays were permitted, but the suffering of those involved would be so much the greater. torture would continue through many days and would terminate, no doubt, in the death of every horse in the race.
The cowboys will do well to heed the warning conveyed in Mr. Shortall's letter and declare the race off. They may disregard it if they choose and inaugurate their proposed contest, but they will not be permitted to finish it according to programme. They may get through Nebraska and Iowa in safety, but when they enter Illinois the trouble for them will begin. Mr. Shortall says he will have the riders arrested every hour, charged in each warrant with a separate offense. The interference of the courts will make it impossible to run the race through to Chicago. Under these circumstances the only sensible thing to do is to abandon the contest. Chicago would welcome the cowboys at the world's fair, but let them come by rail, or, if they must come on horseback, let them make the trip by easy stages.