50 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 
It can thus be readily understood how highly speculative fox trad- 
ing is at the present time. The tendency towards inflation is encour- 
aged and fostered by many of the older breeders. Their optimism is 
accounted for by the fact that they have become wealthy in the last 
three years, whereas six or eight years ago, some of them possessed only 
mortgaged farms and a few foxes. All but three or four have made 
their fortunes by selling breeding stock and, with the exception of, 
possibly, $200,000, obtained for pelts, all of the million or more dollars 
received by ranchers has been made in this way. 
The present system of buying for tuture delivery is another 
Futures indication of the optimism of investors. In December, 1912, 
many of the unborn pups of 1913 were purchased and partly 
paid for, delivery to be made in the first week of September, 1913. The 
difference between purchasing futures in foxes and gambling in futures 
in May wheat of October cotton is more apparent than real. 
Naturally, the rapid rise of sucb an industry has unsettled 
paaddts the peaceful rural conditions in a country like Prince Ed- 
r ward Island. Farmers are using the credit of their farms 
to purchase shares in silver foxes, or to buy outright cross foxes, red 
foxes, blue foxes, minks and any other fur-bearer likely to prove profit- 
able. The banks report a serious withdrawal of deposits and realization 
upon outside investments, while the lawyers of the little town of Sum- 
merside, P.E.I., are reported to have recorded about $300,000 in farm 
mortgages in 1912. A goodly share of the savings banks deposits made 
by these prosperous islanders has also been withdrawn. 
Remarking on the great craze for shares of stock in fox ranches 
and for fox ownership, Wesley Frost, the United States consul at Char- 
lottetown, wrote to his government in December, 1912: 
“Tn adjudging the soundness of the present position of the fox 
industry on Prince Edward Island it should be borne in mind that 
the community is an intensely conservative one, composed of Scot- 
tish and English farmers, intelligent and fairly educated, and with 
a per capita savings deposit figure to compare with almost any 
portion of the civilized world.............. 
“Tt is true that a large number of the foremost citizens of the 
Island refuse to participate in the fox boom to any degree whatso- 
ever. Every large sale by one of the big ranches is hailed as an 
effort to unload before the tide turns. Investment at the present 
time is regarded as an attractive speculation—but with the specula- 
tive element too conspicuous. Granting nearly all that the fox 
men say, the sceptics fear that, in the readjustments involved in 
as teint icene a . 
