Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-13
FUR AND SENTIMENTALITY
By Frederic j. HaSkin
~ ASHINGTON, Jan. 8.-Much atten-
w ton was attracted recently by
cartoon which Denoted a. fashion

Inc implication was, or course, that the
| trapping of fur-bearing animals is a cruel
| bushes that every woman who wears fur
| is party to it, and that she ought, therefore,
to be put in a steel trap herself in order to
learn what it feels like.
| This is the kind of sentimentality that
still makes hit with large part of the
American public, despite the fact that it is
| as alien to common sense and the facts OF
| the case as nightmare. 1t is in the same
class with the persistent attack on the use
of living animals for scientific experiment,
which involves the sacrifice of their lives.
The prevention of this use Of animals in the
preparation of serums and anti-toxins alone
would cost thousands of human lives the
first year it went into effect.
| The fallacy underlying all of these senti-
mentalities about the killing Of the lower ami
mails consists in the failure to recognize the
| fact that man is a carniverous animal who
| lives by killing, and whose only alternative
is to be killed himself, directly or indirectly.
| It is~our inevitable destiny, as the species OF
mammal which dominates the earth, to kill
all other living things in order to maintain
that domination. And it is our duty as civ
ilized men to kill. as clearly and painlessly
as we can. But the sentim entality which
shrinks in horror from killing is a symptom
| of degeneration. The sentlmental1sts
who would abolish all killing, lives only by
the protection of those who are not so
squeamish. If we all became sentimentalists
on the subject, the race would soon disap-
! pear off the face of the earth. At least 1t
would if we stuck to our sentimentalty. AS
| a matter Of fact, would probably revert
| to savagery and recover our lust for blood.
Is Trapping Necessary?
1t may be objected that while killing in
general is undoubtedly necessary, the cruel
form of killing represented by the catcnlng
| of animals in steel traps Is not necessary.
But as a matter of fact it remains necessary
until some other equally effective and more
| humane Way of killing these creatures is dis
| covered. And not primarily because we need
their fur, either. The fur problem is rapidly
| being solved by the raising Of fur-bear1ng
animals in captivity. Already ranch-ralsed
fox and skunk furs are standard commodities,
and great variety Of other fur-bear1ng AMI
mails are being raised in small but growing
numbers. The ranch-raised fur is better IN
quality than the wild fur, and it is bound to
| improve enormously as the methods OF Sc
lective breeding are applied to these crea-
lures. Consider what man has done with
the dog, producing from one to two parent
stocks a great variety of creatures, varying
in size, form, color and coat. There is no
reason to doubt that some of the fur-bearers
will be equally improved. The fur farmer
will put the trapper out of business. the
trapper will no more be able to compete with
him than man with a shotgun could COM
pete as food producer with the owner OF
well-stocked poultry farm.
Fur will then be produced humanely, at
least in appearance. If given his choice, the
fox would rather run wild and be trapped
than live in pen all his life and be drowned
in a bucket. But at least there is nothing
about fur-farmng to outrage the sentimen-
talists.
Animals Must Be Killed
The trouble is that the trapping will have
to go right on. If trappers in almost every
county in the United States did not wage
ceaseless war on the predatory animals, no
sort of stock raising would be possible any
where. These animals, unchecked, would
reach an astounding abundance. 1t would
be as impossible to raise chickens in an
ordinary farming community as it is now to
raise them in a complete wilderness. AL
ready the taxpayers of the nation, jco-operat-
ing with those of number Of western states,
are maintaining a little arm of government
trappers to keep down the coyotes, wolves
and panthers in the west. When the private
trappers go out of business, as they probably
will, it will be necessary to extend this army
enormously. The foxes, skunks, raccoons
and weasels would make life just as hard
for the farmer in the east as the larger beasts
do in the west, were they not kept down.
How Trappers Work
Perhaps the sentimentalists who campaign
against trapping and wearing of fur can sug-
gest some better way of killing these animals
than trapping. If so, they should come for
ward These creatures cannot be shot be-
cause they are nocturnal In habit. POISON
is less sure and often more painful way
of killing them tnan trapping. Auu IAo
trapper makes his trapping as painless a
business as possible because of a frenzled
animal is apt to injure it's own fur. Traps
| for aquatic animals, such as muskrat and
beaver, are nearly always set attached to
sliding pole in such way that the trapped
animal is dragged under water and drowned
almost Immediately. The trapper goes to his
| traps as often possible because he knows
some wild thing is apt to find the quarry
| and devour it, He makes the business as
| quick and painless as he can. because it pays
| to do so.
I good example, of what happens when
| fur-bearing animal, any other creature.
| is completely protected, has taken place in
| the west. In several western states the
beaver was nearing extinction and so laws
were passed protecting it for number OF
years. No doubt the laws were broken
good deal on the sly, but, at any rate, the
beaver have increased greatly.
Now the beaver is one Of the most harm
less and friendly creatures in the woods He
kills neither flesh nor fish. He eats no
growing crops He lives on the bark of trees
in the west are mostly of no timber value.
But the beaver could build dams, and he
will build them wherever you let him. In
many parts of the west he has built dams
in such a way as to flood whole farms anu
DESTROY whole crops, leaving men poor IL
then becomes a case of kill the beaver or
starve the man. The state game Wardens
are kept busy signing special permits for
trapping beaver where they have seriously
interfered with farming or made it impos-
sibe.
It is too bad that you can't go out and
reason with the beaver, but the fact remains