FOREWORD 



Is fur trading founded on cruelty ? 



For the past few years, there has been a campaign waged in 

 the United States, which almost charges any one wearing a piece 

 of fur with murder. 



When that question is asked me, I feel like answering by asking 

 another set of questions — Is child birth cruel ? Is any type of 

 birth for animals or humans painless ? Should we abolish all birth 

 and strive for the Nirvana of Nothingness because all birth is at- 

 tended with even greater pain than death ? Should we cease to 

 fight for right and award honor to the heroes of war, because the 

 triumph of right must necessarily entail death to those who fight 

 for wrong ? 



But I do not hurl back this bombardment of counter questions ; 

 for I realize they are founded on misconceptions ; and I love the 

 creatures of the wilds — feathered and furred — with a passion 

 that has taken me to the open every year of my life and keeps me 

 to-day by preference a resident of the country rather than a deni- 

 zen of the town. As a girl, I learned to shoot. As a woman, I 

 have never fired a shot at a wild creature, except in the air to scare 

 husky dogs away from molesting the ham and bacon stored in our 

 camp kit; and if I hadn't, they would have eaten our boots. The 

 people, who have accused the fur trade of being founded on cruelty, 

 I notice eat game birds and ham and bacon and roast beef and fresh 

 lamb ; but that inconsistency apart, let us face the question without 

 any side issues or inconsistencies — Is fur trading founded on 

 cruelty ? 



And I answer unhesitatingly — It is not. It is not because 

 the very existence of the fur trade depends on protecting wild life 



