6 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



The extent to which these influences have diminished the number 

 of furs marketed is well put in the Fur News Magazine, for November, 

 1912, which says: — 



"We present elsewhere in this issue a record of the collection 

 of all fur skins centring at London, and the maj ority are sent there, 

 for the years 1911 and 1912, both secured under the terrific pres- 

 sure of a strong demand and record-breaking prices which induced 

 strenuous and persistent trapping to the limit — and past good 

 business judgment. 



"The figures are remarkably interesting, and definitely serious 

 as showing the marked decrease in quantity straight down the 

 column with rare and insignificant exceptions; in most instances 

 the declines are very great and invite careful attention, particu- 

 larly as it is perfectly true that every possible effort was made the 

 country over to effect the opposite result, and which surely would 

 have been noted if the fur-bearers were present in usual numbers 

 in their customary haunts or new and unusual retreats. The few 

 exceptions, where there is an increase instead of a decrease, include 

 cross fox and fisher, both of which were so high in value that it 

 paid better to catch one a week rather than waste time catching 

 other animals twice a day every day; but the total increase for 

 both is only thirty-two hundred for the entire year and country; 

 wolf is the only other fur of moment showing an increase in catch 

 over 1911, and the difference is due to a general impulse to effect 

 extermination, and not to the fact that there were more wolves 

 than in the preceding year. Not a few 1911 skins were held back 

 and came forward in this year's sales. 



"A study of the figures further shows the same general de- 

 crease in collections of Russian, German, Japanese and Australian 

 skins. Every fur skin caught anywhere this year will have a value 

 and not a skin should be sacrificed." 



Supplying the Demand 



Confronted with this condition of a decreasing 

 and Domes°fc Furs"^*^^ supply and an increasing demand, the fur trade 



has sought to prevent high prices by popular- 

 izing the use of furs which were formerly considered of slight value. A 

 large part of this work now devolves on the fur-dressers and dyers who 

 can render stiff pelts more supple and change the colour of the fur to 

 resemble that of other more valuable animals. The use of furs pro- 



