Evening star., 1915-11-14

The bare announcement a few days
ago that the United States government
had sold nearly $4,000
St, Louis worth of furs at auction
in st. Louis was read by
rur center. the average man, per-
haps. as of little significance. Behind
it, however, stand two significant but
little known facts: That the fur indus
try of the world has shifted its market
center from London to st. Louis: and
that the United States is conducting
governmentally owned Industries worth
millions of dollars about which most of
the citizen stockholders know nothing.
The recent sale was of blue and white
fox skins. and the announcement of its
successful completion stated also that
the governments sealskins were not
put on sale at that time. The produc-
tlon of the latter fur is the really i'm
portant fur industry in point of magni-
tude carried on by the government; the
raising of>foXes is merely incidental to
the bigger business. but is more closely
bound up with it than might at first be
assumed. Both enterprises are carried
on by the government by virtue of it's
ownership Of the Pribilof Islands, small
patches of land in Bering sea. 400 miles
west of the Alaskan mainland and 200
miles north of the chain of Aleutian
islands that sweeps out across the
north Pacific toward Asia
These volcanic islands, two more
than a dozen miles long and two mere
outlying rocks-constitute the summer
haunt and breeding place of the largest
sedl herd IN existence; and at the same
time are the home of unique strain
OF foxes, almost all of the priced blue
variety. which elsewhere is an abnor-
maj color phase found only in the case
pack,
Tne value of the Pribilofs, because of
Us seals, was well known in 1867, when
the United States bought Alaska from
Russia. but it was believed this poten-
tial wealth could best be exploited by
experienced sealers, SO the sealing
rights were leased. This arrangement
was followed for twenty years, but In
1910 the lease was not renewed and
tne government stepped in to manage
directly: through the bureau of fish
erles, AFFAIRS on its unique seal and fox
islands. 1t found that 1T had a tremen-
dous industry. and that under direct
management it could be made much
more profitable than in the past Thus,
while under the old leasing system the
islands would have produced In 1910
=
the Treasury in that year over 100000
interest on q capitalization of nearly
s7,000,000.
Since that year there has been by act
OF congress closed season for the
purpose of building up the seal herd
which was greatly depleted under the
easing system and sealing at sea which
was practiced by large fleets during
the same period. This latter practice
was abolished by treaty in December,
arfi tb..,
the United States and Great Britain,
Japan and Russia, the only countries
engaged in the sealing industry. By
the treaty, the United States in re-
turn for the cessation of all sealing
at sea is to have entire control of
the land sealing operations and is to
pay to Great Britain and Japan Is per
cent each of the total skins taken.
Experts who have recently made a sur
vey of the condition of the herd
recommend resumption of killing. and
estimate that the annual production
will amount to interest on an invest
ment of s10,000,00O
The two large islands Of the Pribilof
group have in the past supported ex-
ceptionally large packs of foxes, these
animals living in spring and summer
on eggs of the countless birds that nest
there and on the birds themselves, and
in winter on the remains of the seals
slaughtered for their skins The fox
dependent on sealing and has suffered
'ince the closed season was promul-
gated. Even SO, however, the returns
rom the recent sale of fox skins equal
ed interest on s1,0Oo.000, and when seal
ing is resumed, it is estimated, the size
of the fox pack can be materially in
creased.
The Significance of the recent sale of
fox furs in the commercial history of
the United States was pointed out the
other day by Dr. II. NJ. Smith, COM
missioner of the bureau of fisheries,
who said that it marked the beginning
of a commercial epoch. Formerly all
of the United States governments furs
were auctioned off in London, the
acknowledged world fur center at that
time. Two years ago some of the furs
were sold privately in St. Louis The
recent sale, in which the government
furs made only 4 part, was the first
general auction of furs on a large scale
ever held in America. Taken with the
fact that Russia and other foreign
countries are shipping large quantities
of furs to ST. Louis for sale, this means,
Commerce Department officials believe,
that the fur center of the world has
swung from London to the Missouri
metropolis.
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