The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-29

further back each year as the nhe
 tarn, lands and grazing places vanees. the trade Is ever lhcreeslns, and the present value Of tae .s,tson catch ia from fifteen to twenty n~iiti.on ~ doIlars This is not the only price tpae is annuaIly paid for the luxury-ot lurs. .Ir- The demand for that commooiAy n
 sci explorers toward new lahus' founded new nations. has preclpi.a.ssu ware and has caused the loss or Hves enough to populate good-sizeu sou. trv When men first came to the Ne" World it was for gold ana sSn.s. a,4 Mexico aud Peru offered these put ane country of the St Lawrence VII o,,s,,ss nvs Tine indians offered the new furs for trlnkets, and then began uie greatest trade the world has knoWn.
 New types of persons were proushe into existence ins the New Worlo oy the new trade. The coureur uss oe and the trapper became mover u valuable factors in history-making. They pierced forests. defied death anu danger in scores of forms. and passeo unscathed through hostile Down the pathways they blazeds .ae nation has since spread. over the river crossings they made priosn n ~ heen flung. Through the mountain na sses they found. railways have oeoH laid. Among the Indians whom they bought to friendliness. a progressive nation has set up a civilization.
 buring the first ten months of tnis vear there were exported from the limited States furs and fur skins to the value of over s6.775.oOo. one -nan went to the United Kingdom, ana the next largest number to Germahy' Our export fur trade has averaged s4,- Hlr fha Tfa GiEnLSGn years In the ten-month period ferreJ to the United States Imported undressed furs and fur skins to the value of ss, ,000,0 ,0O0. one-tenth of these came from British America by way or London. Paris, Berlin and Vienna. London is the worlds greatest TUT market, the auction houses alone handling $5,0o0.0o0 worth of trade year.
 The report of the National Conser- vation Commission. now in the hanus of the President argues for the pro lection of fur bearing animals. ana shows that the national forest reser- yations could afford considerable shet- ter for these, to the advantage Of the forests, as certain of these animals prey on noxious insects.
 The great demand for cheap furs has thrown a great number of small pelts on the market. The passing Of the buffalo and the great decrease in the beaver. the sea otter and the seal, have been regarded as national calamities, and yet the amount of money spent each year for skunk. musk rats ana fox is far greater than was ever eoni- manded by these furs. The beaver. once abundant in three-fourths Of the country, is now practically extinct In half of It's old area, and where z25,OV0 beaver skins were exported from North America in 1870. in 1890 there were only s2. 2.000 The latest census on skins shows that about 5000 are now taken every year, and their value approxi- mates S40,0oO. Tn the late seventies and early eighties. the annual catch of sea otters in Alaskan waters was three or four thousand year. and the value was $500 each at least Now the catch is less than 400 year, and the fishing is done In stormy water.
 Musk rat fur has been known to the trade for three-quarters of a century. Over 5000 900 skins are taken annual ly in the United States, and the value totals considerably over a million doi- lars. Millions are taken from the swamps of New Jersey and Delaware, and Canada does twice as big bust ness as these two states. The skins are not only used for things for coats, but are used as limitations of marIeTi and mink and have the value of more lasting qualities than the real furs
 Skunks were unnoticed as fur-bear- ing animals before 1851. Tn that year the Hudson Bay Company offered about 1,500 for sale. and for the next twenty years the annual sales amount ed to 10000 skins. Now the number approximates a million and half skunk farms have sprung up in the Middle West and are doing a profitable business The grease under the skins of the skunks Is utilized fin soap manu- facture, and the skins are deodorized in mahogany sawdust. Over s00,0O0 skins come from Michigan. Wisconsin and Ohio. alone every year. This is one of the animals protected by Mfchi- Ean's very good laws which provide a close season for marten, mink rac- coon, skunk and musk rat, and pro- hibits tue taking of beaver until December 3i, 1910.
 The fox furs run the scale of prices from St for the gray. $5 for the red, | $15 for crosses, up through varying | grades to the $250 and S750 for pure silver fox. Silver fox farming has be- come an industry in Maine and the | Canadian maritime provinces. A wide area of the northern and western states IS SullcQ FOX IT LuC l industry should become more popular. Blue foxes are being successfully bred on the government reservations on the Pribylov Islands.
 Great slaughter has invariably mark | ed the introduction of a new fur on | the market. Between the years 1871 and 1874 between 4,000, ,O00 and 4,50O,- l 900 buffalo were killed. In 17S7. the year after Pribylov discovered the | breeding ground of seals on St. George | and St. Paul Islands. 5O0,000 seals were taken. In the first twenty years or American ownership 100000 a year were taken. and the value of the pelts taken in Alaskan waters and Russian American from 1745 to 1890 was over $93, 900, 900.
 The seal herd now numbers ISO, ,O00. and these. by terms of the Behring Sea Arbitration of 1893, are protected by a close season which begins May l. ana ends June 91 every year. and Is ob- served in both the northern Pacific and Behring Sea. Even then many thous- and young pups die annually of star vation, the mothers often being killed on their way to the feeding grounds many miles away.
 The islands that Pribylov discovered have been set aside since the purchase of Alaska as a place of revenue for the government and are under the Depart ment of Commerce and Labor. They are leased to sealing companies for long terms at a certain rental and an additional tax per skin, the number taken being limited. At first 100000 skins a year were taken, but the de. crease in numbers being so great, only about 24.0O0 are now taken. The most extensive seal fisheries in the world are in those waters. Every year from 200 to ROO casks are shipped out from