The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-28
Statistics of Fur Trade
 of United States in 1916

States in 1916 will exceed in value those of any earlier year and be fully double those of last year or the year immediately preceding. The war greatly disarranged the fur trade of I the United States, since Germany supplied a larger vslue of furs inn
 ported down to 1914 than did any other country, while for other req
 sons connected with the war, the ex- ports of furs from the United States show a marked decline. A compha- ton by the Foreign Trade Depart ment of the National City Bank of sNew York shows that the total value of furs imported in the years imme- diately preceding the war exceeded
 $2O, 100000 per annum,i this figure including both the undressed and dressed furs, the 'undressed" group consisting of furs and fur skins. and the latter group consisting of furs dressed on the skin.
 1 Addressed furs form during normal periods about three-fourths of the total imports. In the fiscal years inn mediately preceding 1914 the value of furs, dressed and undressed.. inn 1 ported aggregated over $2Q,000, 900 ] per year. In 1914 the total was but
 $12,000, ,00o, in 1915 slightly less than $fa,000, 900. Inf the fiscal year, 1916, lh6wever, transfer of the chief source of supply from Germany to the United Kingdom brought the to- tai for the year of undressed and tdressed up to $2o,000,000, and. in the calendar year which is about to end the total will be quite equal to that of the fiscal year which ended six months ago.. and that of undressed furs probably greater than that of any earlier year.
 , The total value of furs imported i'll ! the last, decade, including both dress { ed and undressed. is about $200, ,000,- {. 900, and of this about two-thirds { came in the undressed form, very largely from Germany. In the five years ending with the fiscal year, 1918, the imports of undressed furs i from Germany alone amounted to
 $29, ,000, ,000. from Great Britain $17.- ] O00,000, from Canada $1O.000.000.
 and from Russia 3.5OO.000, part of i the German shipments having pre- suhably originated in Russia. ] With
 the cessation of supplies from Ger many following the opening of the war, the imports were drawn more largely from the United Kingdom,
 the total finn that country increas- ling from $2,0OO, 900 in 1914 and $2,-
 BOO. 900 in 1915 to $6.50O,O00 in 1916.
 while from Canada the imports grew from S2,000,000 in 1914 and $1,750,-
 900 in 1915 to over $4,000,Q00 Nin ,1916
 Most of the furs now imported as above indicated are now drawn from < GreatS Britain, which is looked >upon | as the worlds great fur market
 drawing its supplies from the British colonies and from Asia. South Amer lea and Africa Of the exports amounting to over $17,OO0,000 in
 1913, $7,0OO,0O worth of undress- led furs went to England, $6,000, 900 to Germany, and nearly $3,0OO,00
 worth to. Canada; and of the dress led flirs amounting to about $1.0O0, 900 worth, very large proportion went to Canada.
 i The export trade. in furs has been also upset by the war, the total ex- ports of ftrs which averaged over
 $10,OO0, ,O0O year in the decade prior to the war and had in some cases reached as much as $18,000,000 in a single year, dropped to less than $4,- 100000 in the fiscal year, 1915, but advanced to $9,O00,000 in the fiscal year 1916
 While the recent change in source of our fur supply is due to war con ditions, another change which began to make it's appearance several years ago is the development of fur farm ing by which fur-bearing animals are grown in semi from to take the place of the reduction in supply caused by the enlargement of human occupation of the areas from which the natural supplies of furs were chie1y drawn, the fur-farming industry having specially developed in Canada. Alaska, Germany and Russia.