Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-05
Some Things You Want to Know
The Fur Industry

The International Fur Workers associa-
ton meets in St. Paul today. Many mat
ters OF interest will be called to the at
tention OF the convention. among them the
problem Of conserving the fur supply, and
the problem Of health for the furrier. Fur
workers are liable to contract a peculiar
catarrh that never has yielded readily to
treatment, and ways and means OF prevent
ing and curing the disease viii figure
prominently in the discussions. Fur work
ers from many countries will attend the
convention. but they will come mainly from
the United States and Canada, which pro-
duce more than half Of the raw furs Of
the world, although not half Of the finished
products
There are few businesses where the
waste is so great as in a big fur working
establishment There are always innumer-
able cuttings and scraps from fur, and the
more valuable the fur the more carefully
must be fashioned the piece made OF II.
hence the greater waste. Yet It is not all
wasted, for the scraps OF fine fur may be
/ used to trim the cheaper fur and all that
hes no other available use can be cut into
fine pieces and the hair blown from It.
This hair sells Al several dollars a pound
! AuI lllH uluIt COsNlN ANEss anu n lew NNAitS
pound for the cheaper ones. OF the
high priced furs the seal Is the only one
that Is dyed. other furs are made in irni-
tation of more costly ones by dyeing and
trimming. There used to be an imitation
Of sealskin made from muskrat hides but
after the Introduction Of the electric seal,
made from the shorn fur Of the cony, the
muskrat seal went out Of style.
! One hears Of beaver hats quite frequently
and yet it is asserted that a genuine bea-
yer hat today would sell at wholesale for
about 500 a dozen Nutria, an aquatic
fur, is now the prime favorite in hat MAX
ing though for the cheaper grades hare
and cony furs have the cali. The muskrat
probably is in greater demand than any
other fur in America today, il being esti-
mated that some 900 of these animals
annually sacrifice their lives to the de-
mands Of the furrier.
The fur trade of North America is very
large, New York City alone Transforming
10000 worth Of raw furs into t26, 900 600
worth of finished product, by the labor
OF 5000 furriers.
! Fur making is the oldest Industry of
the world. After the fig leaf had gone out
of style, Eve concluded that furs would
become her, so the first pelt was taken
and cured. and thus the world started out
on its career OF fur trapping and manu-
featuring. The Astor fortune was started
in the fur trade. London has been the
worlds principal fur market for genera
tions, and selling by inch OF the candle
was a picturesque way OF auctioneering
them off. Pins were placed in the candle
at every inch, and when one Of them
was reached the furs were knocked off to
the highest bidder.
1t is a remarkable thing that more than
half Of the worlds supply Of fur is gathered
by amateurs. The country boy with his
muskrat and 'possum trap, his mink and
coon hunting expeditions, gathers half OF
. the supply. Even the grounghog is made
to yield up his hide to the furrler, for
some OF the best gloves are made from
the skin of the grounding, tanned In
ashes. There is a Journal published in
the interest Of the trapper. and its dis
: tinguishing feature is its great quantity
Of advertisements lofl dealers wanting to
buy furs. .--ut ,s
? For years there has been a belief that
as civilization pushed back the boundaries
OF the unsettled world there would be a
/ growing shortage OF fur bearing animals
The drainage OF swamps and marshes has
tended to destroy the homes Of the musk
rat while the saw mill in the north and
t the south and the west is singing a death
knell to the habitations Of the coon, the
/ bear. the 'possum, the wildcat, the fisher
= the marten and the lynx. The beaver and
otter have so little patience with civlliza-
tion that the appearance Of man in theil
haunts is always the sign for their dis.
3 appearance. The vast demand for furs
is shown by a few examples of the spring
E offerings Of TWO leading fur auction
= houses last year. These offerings in.
: cuded $1,000 mink skins $4,000 skunk
= skins l,2Ss,0oo muskrat skins, 2O5,O00 rae
5 coon skins. 225OOO opossum skins, aO0
! wolf kins 25OCO fox skins 1900 ermint
5 skins and others in proportion.
; North America now furnishes a large per
cent of the furs Of the world. Some Of the
r more costly kinds OF fur come from the
northern parts OF Europe and Asia. Aus
tral:a is the principal producing center in
, opossum hides, and the principal supply
Of chlnchilla comes from South America