The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-08

cle Sam got what he went after, ana almost the whole output of Alaska seal comes to this country.
 The victory was the easier because seal has never been a popular fur Tn either France or Russia, although these two countries are the heaviest and most extravagant buyers at the London sales' Russian and French tastes inclines to the lcng-hired furs, and the nnest sa- bles and silver fox skins are seized py the buyers from these two countries, while very nearly all the rare and cost ly sea otter goes to Russia Russian and French bidding, in the last March sale, drove silver fox up to record prlce of seventeen hundred dollars for s1n- gle skin; and even that price was eclipsed last January, when silver FOX brought $1950. Russian sable, too made a new record, lot of twenty skins selling for two hundred and thir- ty-five dollars each, which means that at retail some of those tiny skins would be worth five or six hundred dollafs apiece. Sea otter brought thirteen hum dred dollars skin.
 The raw sealskins, after being sold'
 
 dyeing. In curing and dressing skins Americans have no superiors, put Eng land halds the palm for dyeing. Just what is the reason for this furriers can hardly explain. Some say that the Wa ter is responsible, others that the at mosphere affects the fur and others that it is merely a case of skilled workman ship and long experience. Whatever tbe cause may be, the fact remains that almost all sealskin is dyed in England; and the California woman who wants d sealskin coat must buy skins that nave travelled from Alaska to London, nave been sold and dyed there, have returned to America, where the 20 per cent. duty is imposed, and have been sold here by retail dealers All dyed and cured furs are liable to duty but the uncured skins come into this country free; so our ta- riff laws add little to the cost Of furs save in the case of sealskin
 The skins of animals other than seal are prepared for shipping by drying upon boards, and are packed tightly in bales The tightness of their packing prevents danger from moths, and II the belts are to be held long in the ware houses they are sometimes placed Tn cold storage or poisoned with a wash Of corrosive sublimate. The Hudson Bay cnmpany's collection is in storage long before the March sale. and is duly and leislrely assorted and catalogued. In fact there are serene majesty and calm about the Hudson Bay company and an memorable quity in it's lnal dealings that are imposing, inpyramid- al fashion. Year after year trappera and hunters SCOUT the Hudson Bay territory, painfully, slowly collecting, skin by skin the items that go to swell the tremendous yearly aggregate; but, promptly, unfailingly, the immense shipments arrive in London are quiet ly handled, and are sold at the appoint ed time in the appointed way.
 There is never a hitch or surprise. The wheels of tne machine roll With absolute smoothness, and the men wlso sec only the mechanical London end of the business can form little idea of the individual effort, skill, pain, fatigue and danger represented in the bales of merchandise they handle. However all the business is not done with Hudson Bay monotony and dignity. Until the very day of the sales consignments of fur come piling in upon the commission firms, and there is a mighty hustling among ass6rters and cataloguers at the last. Supplementary catalogues, or particulars" as they are called blos som out like newspaper. extras, and yeritable triumphs of high-pressure