New-York tribune., 1908-07-26
FUR'S FUR, BUT WHAT FUR?
Black Marten Mag Be Skunk and
Also ALASKAN Sable.

ga f,r coat is fur coat. That Is ABOUT d.
much as most persons who enter III -. -,
store know about the history OF a pieoe - -.
rrbus snake an experienced fur saiesiilan 49,,
,ba evnerts do not know everything aOou' '--0
origin of the furS- , oon
His remark was illustrated by an eNpN -
,ac+oa with one of the best known OIL ~
Forks retail furriers IN CONVEX 'N'-'
hapreeentatfve of The Tribune -,
a1I,,. old is the animal from which the fel
,; ,ornh skin Is taken when it Is killed: he
said he had asked of another fur expert
..Oh. two or three years. replied tle o''ie- -
Me offhand and cocksure manner Oh pei-o-
,bo is nIeased TO be able to show hilhSeh 81
berior in knowledge -
The expert had been raised on iaii 80
,o did not accent this statement at its lace
s,oIne All the lambs that he knew OF pesdh "
rro,, wool as soon as they began to eat grass 81
DO ,,,,s willing to wager that the lambs whose
.o.+s find their way to the shoulders OF many
women were not more than two weeks Ola ~hen
they gave UP their lives at FASHIONS olctatloii
He determined to find out the trutn ABOUT 'ei
sian lamb He put the same question u an
other dealer This time he was told that lne
lambs were about one year old when their
lives were taken
An acquaintance was going to Europe 10 at
tend the fur sales, and he asked him to get an
o,,+bori+ative answer to his query. In course of
time he received a long letter from Le1pslc, the
cum and substance of which was that the lambs
are really lambs. being invariably less than TWO
ol-e old and quite frequently only I"o VI
thrae davs old when they are slaughtered:
Te +tis ba true then the article puohsheo
within the last year by magazine WHICH sAi'i,'
n he exact and informing, describing III <.! a.
most heartrending way how the ewes are hAeou
=; or,7or that the coats of their unborn offspring
he
bodies of Americas far sex lloli1 ~
blast is a sentimental dream
17ven tho experts do not know how many
polte arc obtained in the world, nor what lile
IaIIe of the annual catch is. THIS Is because
the Hudson's Bay Company which once aiiiiost
had - rnonopoIv of the fur business OF North
America now has competitors. A nuf!lpeF Oh
the fur dealers have their representatives III tile
centres to which the trarpers come with their
furs Some of these men plant their tradhG
nests within a couple of hundred feet of the
,,oe+e of the company whose control was once
unouestioned As a result large quantities OF
furs come to New York, the centre of the fur
trade for the United States directly from the
trappers without the Intervention OF the middle
mcn The number and value therefore, are not
recorded in a public way.
Not only has the Hudson's Bay Company COM
Detitors in the WiIds Of Canada, bat also in Lon
don. Many years ago. when it had undisputed
sway over the fur catch of North America It
established the custom OF annually selling its
stock at auction in the English capital. About
seventy-fve years ago outsiders established an
other market, which Was held ar the same time
and conducted in the same manner The only
difference was that those who managed ii did
rot own any furs. but sold for others At the
present day this market handles two or three
times as many furs taken and sold by
the famous old company. 1t is at these auction
sales that the prices of furs in the state are
determined The cheaper furs sold in
Strings of a hundred. The and high
priced ones, of which only few dozen may be
taken in the course of year, sold by the
single skin and upon inspection.
Manufacturing furs is a very exact term.