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 fogitered 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 future delivery is another 

 Futures indication of the optimism of investors. In December, 1912, 

 ' many of the unborn pupa 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 or October cotton is more apparent than real. 



N^aturally, the rapid rise of such an industry has unsettled 

 Ownership the peaceful rural conditions in a country like Prince Ed- 

 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. Tlie 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 by these prosperous islanders has also been withdrawn.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 : 



" In adjudging the soundness of the present position of the fox 

 industry on Prince Edward Island it sliould 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 



" It 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 \u 



