28 The Alligator and Its Allies 
commerce, may cease to exist in our Southern 
States. 
It has been claimed that the destruction of the 
alligator has allowed the cane rat and muskrat 
to increase to a serious extent, the former doing 
great damage to crops, the latter often injuring 
the levees to a dangerous extent. Legislation to 
forbid the killing of alligators of less than five feet 
in length has been suggested and should be passed, 
since animals of less size have almost no commercial 
value for leather. 
In 1902, the annual output from the tanneries 
of the United States approximated 280,000 skins, 
worth about $420,000. Of these about fifty-six 
per cent. came from Mexico and Central America, 
twenty-two per cent. from Florida, twenty per 
cent. from Louisiana, and the remaining two per 
cent. from the other Gulf States. South American 
hides are not handled by the United States markets. 
In 1908, there were marketed from the South 
Atlantic and Gulf States 372,000 pounds of alligator 
hides, valued at $61,000. 
According to the United States Bureau of 
Fisheries the hunter in 1891 averaged about 60 
cents for the skin, while in 1902 the price averaged 
about 90 cents, varying between 15 cents and $2.00, 
depending on the size and condition of the skin. 
“Prime hides five feet long, with no cuts, scale 
slips, or other defects, are worth about 95 cents 
each, in trade, when the hunter sells them at the 
