V. The Commerce in Raw Furs 
HE raw furs of America are mostly collected by large companies 
having elaborate systems for gathering the skins from the trap- 
pers. The chief operators in Canada are the Hudson’s Bay Co. and 
Revillon Fréres, and, in Labrador, the Harmony Co. During the 
past ten years a change has been taking place in marketing and many 
furs, particularly the more valuable ones, are consigned direct to Lon- 
don or to American fur houses. In the Old World, furs are collected 
at fairs at the following places: 
TOWN TIME OF FAIR 
Prankfort-on-the-Oder 5.34 2.2 ose eh, Oe January 
Inbal GMOlberian sees ee Oi SF Ue Waa gy t February 
Deer zig Germanys aN ee an Oe Nel oneal Kaster 
ha Nagni-Noveorod,Rissia.< set calle. oes August 
TST STD OPI veychs cietcstens aaeetorels lef oiedayy cata etre oe December 
Many of the skins, particularly those of finer quality, are ulti- 
mately offered at the London sales where the majority of the world’s 
fine furs are sold. In recent years, however, Germany and the United 
States have been purchasing a larger proportion. 
The total sales in London are generally utilized in estimat- 
pea ing the quantities of furs at the world’s disposal. Of the 
undressed skins not usually sold at London sales, there are 
the Persian lambs, broadtails and karakules, of which Thorer estimates 
that 2,900,000 come to Leipzig alone. A United States consular report of 
1911 estimated that Russia produces 4,525,000 squirrels, whose raw pelts 
are valued at $2,000,000. Of squirrel tails, Russia, in 1911, produced 
twenty-one tons, valued at $5.50 per pound. Owing to the growing 
popularity of muskrat or ‘Hudson Bay seal’, the use of this skin has 
increased enormously and the sales now amount to over 9,000,000 an- 
nually, London selling 6,000,000, Leipzig, 1,000,000 and America re- 
taining 2,000,000. Two hundred thousand ermine pelts, valued at 
$350,000, are sold annually in Russia. About 83,000,000 rabbit skins 
are imported into Great Britain annually, while immense quantities of 
skins are used in the felting industry in Australia. 
Leipzig, Germany, is the most important city for the 
Centres of dressing and manufacture of furs. Its raw supplies are 
the Fur Trade ; 
drawn from all parts of the world but particularly from 
London and Moscow storehouses and the Nijni-Novgorod Fair. Mos- 
cow is the largest storehouse for Russian and Asiatic furs, while New 
York, St. Louis and Montreal are important American centres which 
are rapidly increasing their facilities for fur-dressing and fur-dyeing. 
London is the largest selling centre and is still of great importance in 
the dressing, dyeing and manufacturing of furs. 
