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STATEMENT OF MR. JOSEPH POSER, FUR CONSERVATION INSTI- 

 TUTE, ACCOMPANIED BY MR. EUGENE DREISIN, AMERICAN 

 FUR MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION; MR. JAMES SHARP, ESQ., 

 WASHINGTON, D.C., REPRESENTING THE FUR CONSERVATION 

 INSTITUTE OF AMERICA; MR. FRED HESSEL, AMERICAN FUR 

 MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION; MR. WALTER SCHWARTZ, MEMBER 

 OF THE FUR CONSERVATION INSTITUTE; AND MR. IRVING 

 HECHT, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATE FUR MANU- 

 FACTURERS ASSOCIATION 



Mr. Sharp. Before Mr. Poser begins, Mr. Chairman, I am James R. 

 Sharp, an attorney in Washington, D.C., and I represent the Fur 

 Conservation Institute of America which represents all segments of 

 the U.S. fur industry. 



In order that you may know Avho is here from the institute, I will 

 introduce them. We have only two witnesses and I have a memorandum 

 which I will offer. On my left is Mr. Joseph Poser, who is the president 

 of the American Fur Brokers Association and a vice president of the 

 American Fur Merchants Association. 



Beyond him is Mr. Eugene Dreisen, president of the American Fur 

 Association and also the U.S. delegate to the International Fur Trade 

 Federation in London. 



To my right is Mr. Hans Hessel, vice president of the American Fur 

 Merchants Association and chairman of its foreign trade committee. 



Next to Mr. Hessel is Mr. Walter Schwartz who is a member of the 

 Fur Conservation Institute and a member of the American Fur Mer- 

 chants Association and next to him is Mr. Irving Hecht who is 

 the executive vice president of the Associated Fur Manufacturers 

 Association. 



With that introduction, I should like to turn the mike over to 

 Mr. Poser. 



Mr. Poser. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am 

 Joseph E. Poser, a New York fur merchant, president of the American 

 Fur Brokers Association and a vice president of the American Fur 

 Merchants Association. However, I speak here on behalf of the Fur 

 Conservation Institute of America, a body representing all segments 

 of the fur industry in the United States. 



Contrary to impressions the members of this committee may well 

 liave gathered from the highly emotional and either purposely warped 

 or sadly misinformed presentation of proponents of the Harris-Pryor 

 Ocean Mammal Protection Act, the U.S. fur industry is devoted to 

 the concept of conservation of fur-bearing animals. 



Since primitive times when furs served as shelter to man from the 

 elements, fur trading has had an honorable history in this country 

 and around the world. For centuries no thought had to be given to the 

 question of continuity of supply. Vast lands existed, unoccupied by 

 man, where fur-bearing animals lived in abundant numbers, and the 

 early traders took what they wanted without endangering any species. 



In those years the necessity of conservation did not guide actions 

 of the fur industry or of Government officials or of the general public. 

 Early in the 20th century the necessity of conservation of our wild 

 mammal resources first became evident when it was found that the 



