42 The Furriers. 



Take Greater New York as an illustration. In 1870, 

 the fur business there was conducted along legitimate 

 lines b}' John Ruszits, D. Greenfield, James Brodie, A. 

 Jacobson and Brother, L. Zechiel, G. Lowerre, Mischo and 

 Mueller, Frederick Booss, C. G. Gunther, Geo. C. 

 Trea dwell, H. M. Silverman, ]M. Konvalinka, Charles 

 Herpich, Philip Weinberg, Nichols, Burtnett and Co., 

 Harris and Russak, Duncan, Ash and Jaeckle, Balch and 

 Price, and a few other equally well known furriers. 



Today the number of fur manufacturers, of differing 

 degrees of responsibilitj'. Avho are competing for trade 

 in New York City runs way up into the thousands. 

 Many of them are worthy successors of the men who 

 in earlier days made Ncav York the fur market of the 

 "Western Hemisphere ; but whether on the whole the 

 change from the old conditions to the new has been a 

 benefit to the trade, or the public, is a question for serious 

 consideration. 



We all believe in the day of small things, and in the 

 fur business as in other lines of endeavor some of the 

 greatest successes have resulted from the smallest begin- 

 nings ; but we can have too much of even a good thing, 

 and what seems to be needed just now in the fur indus- 

 try is more concentration, rather than a further division 

 of interests. 



The small dealer who thoroughly understands the 

 details of the business in which he is engaged, and who 

 has a proper sense of responsibility, and an ambition 

 to establish a reputation for honorable competition and 

 fair dealing with customers, is alwaj^s an influence for 

 good in the commercial life of his community; but the 

 class who rush into any line of business without any 

 knoAvledge of the value of the goods they offer for sale, 

 and with no other object than to divert to themselves 

 a share of some one else's profits, demoralize the trade 

 into which they inject themselves; and too often, when 

 they find they cannot make the expected enormous pro- 

 fits by the sale of legitimate goods, rob the public by 

 misrepresentation, and the substitution of inferior grades. 



^Many of the people selling furs today are neither Fur 

 Traders, Furriers, nor Skin Dealers as the men who sup- 

 ply the manufacturers with dressed skins are called. 



