THE FUR, LEATHER AND HIDE TRADES 



her, newsprint paper and manufactured wool; United States pro- 

 duces $70,000,000 worth of furs annually, Canada $15,000,000 and 

 Soviet Russia $3 5, 000,000. 34 



In the campaign of the United States Biological Survey against 

 predatory mammals in national forests and on western stock ranges, 

 from 1915 to 1925, 222,503 skins were obtained and sold for 

 $310,306.76, as follows: 35 coyotes, 186,172; wolves, 4916; bears, 

 579; mountain lions, 999; bobcats, 23,274; lynxes, 83. 



Prior to the World War the greater part of the fur business was 

 centered in Great Britain and Germany, and a large part of American 

 furs were sent abroad, where they were dressed, dyed and prepared for 

 use, then returned to this country for sale to ultimate American cus- 

 tomers. During and immediately after that war many fur-dressing 

 plants were established in Canada and the United States, and the 

 center of the fur trade, with its secrets of dressing and dyeing furs, 

 crossed the ocean to North America. 



The following items concerning the fur trade of the United States 

 for three years, compiled by the United States Bureau of Foreign 

 and Domestic Commerce and published by Ashbrook, will show some- 

 thing of the magnitude of our trade in this line since this country 

 became the leading fur market of the world: 36 



1918 1919 1920 



Imports of undressed furs $ 32,158,939 $ 69,289,909 $ 84,427,592 



Imports of dressed furs and fur manu- 

 factures 2,491,278 7,472,336 9,131,348 



Manufactures and exports of domestic 



furs 11,374,174 23,788,599 32,866,995 



Dressed by Fur Dressers' and Fur Dy- 

 ers Association 35,212,230 51,366,253 52,910,589 



Total turnover of fur industry in U. S. as 

 estimated by Board of Trade of Fur 

 Industry 232,748,201 342,441,687 352,605,927 



Auction Sales St. Louis New York 



1915 $ i,coo,ooo 



1916 



1919 7,924,330 



1920 27,102,588 



1921 1 1,000,000 



$ 250,000 

 6,000,000 



2,000,000 



Ten per cent federal revenue on articles manufactured from fur in 1920 equalled 

 $15,311,214.24. 



84 Mills, The international fur trade, Journ. Home Economics, xvm, 623-626, 1926. 



33 Adams, Roosevelt Wild Life Bull., in, 583, 1926. See also Bell, Hunting down 

 stock killers, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1920, pp. 289-301. 



36 Ashbrook, The fur trade and the fur supply, Journ. Mammalogy, in, 1-7, 1922. 

 Nelson, The economic importance of wild life, Scientific Monthly, xvi, 271-273, 

 1923. 



