THE FUR, LEATHER AND HIDE TRADES 63 



creased demand for furs of all kinds, which demand was accelerated 

 during and after the World War, but it had been going on more slowly 

 for many years prior thereto, as the more valuable furs were becoming 

 fewer in proportion to the demand. Beaver pelts were sold in 1875 

 for $1.00, in 1920 for $17.50 to $20.00 ; muskrat in 1875 f r ten cents, 

 in 1913 for 40 cents to $1.00, in 1920 for $5.00 to $7.50; rabbit skins 

 once 10 cents a pound, but in 1920 the best Australian rabbit skins 

 brought $1.40 to $3.15 a pound in New York. 19 In 1921 the market 

 declined rapidly and has never recovered, though prices are still very 

 high as compared with those of a decade or two ago. It is said that 

 puma skins sold for $1.00 each in St. Louis in i88o. 20 



Complete statistics of the fur trade are not available indeed, are 

 practically impossible to obtain. There are many items upon which much 

 definite information is at hand, such as the number sold at particular 

 auction sales, the quantity handled by particular companies or organiza- 

 tions, the quantity imported to or exported from various countries, and 

 so on. After all this information concerning the number of pelts pass- 

 ing through the great centers of the fur trade is assembled, a very 

 large, but unknown, amount must be added to cover the furs used locally 

 in various parts of the world, that do not pass through the regular 

 channels of the trade. The "big business" in the trade is in the form of 

 regular auction sales in a few trade centers, such as St. Louis, New 

 York, London, Leipzig, and other cities. Much additional information 

 bearing upon the trade will be found in the systematic discussion, Part 

 ii of this book. 



Some sort of an idea of the tremendous drain annually made upon 

 wild life by the fur trade may' be drawn from the following figures 

 given by Osborn and Anthony of actual recorded sales of the skins of 

 23 kinds of fur-bearing mammals in 1919, 1920 and 1921, and there 

 are at least 100 other kinds used in the trade, the exact number being 

 difficult to ascertain, owing to the use of trade names : 21 



Mole 23,801,908 Weasel or ermine 3,492,412 



Squirrel 14,858,316 Civet cat 2,114,535 



Muskrat 14,109,288 Nutria 1,941,784 



American opossum 9,987,742 Wallaby (Kangaroo) 1,722,588 



Skunk 6,895,674 Mink 1,683,500 



Australian opossum 4,265,621 Ring-tail opossum 1,321,625 



White hare 3,713,036 Red fox 1,295,258 



19 Laut, The fur trade of America, p. 5, 1921. 



20 Townsend, Zoe, in, 311, 1893. 



21 Osborn and Anthony, Close of the age of mammals, Journ. Mammalogy, in, 219- 

 237, 1922. 



