Mr. FRANCIS. Yes; we do have some competition from China in the way of various imports; some amounts of what they call China mink is coming in and I cannot enumerate the amount. I could give it to you and supply it to you if necessary; but it is not great.

Mr. DOLLIVER. Does not represent anywhere near the competition of Russian furs?

Mr. FRANCIS. No; Russia is the largest single importer.

I might say this for the benefit of the committee, on this, that the United States still is the largest fur-producing country in the world and nature has blessed us with the variety of the finest species of fur. You will find that the finest species of fur in most instances are produced here on this continent and in the United States and, therefore, the influx of cheaper furs of all kinds coming into our country, and misusing them and mixing them up with the names of furs produced here has the effect of breaking down the reputation of domestically produced furs.

Mr. DOLLIVER. That is all, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Any further questions, gentlemen.

Mr. BECKWORTH. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Beckworth.

Mr. BECKWORTH. Of the furs produced in this country, what percentage are exported?

Mr. FRANCIS. I could not give you those figures. I would want to give them to you right. Therefore I cannot give them to you offhanded for the period for the past year but it is a very small percentage. Mr. BECKWORTH. A very, very small percentage?

Mr. FRANCIS. Yes. The amount of furs today exported from this country is very small. You can understand why that is. It is due to the dollar exchange and the shortage of dollars in foreign countries that is prohibiting the use of furs in their countries, or buying of that type of imported articles. So today's figures would not give you a normal picture. I can furnish it for a period of years if you would like it for the record.

Mr. BECKWORTH. You may have covered that, but I was not here at the first part of your statement. Of the furs used in this country, what percentage are imported?

Mr. FRANCIS. On a dollars-and-cents basis, Mr. Congressman, we estimate, and this is the estimate of the Fish and Wild Life Service of the Department of the Interior, the value of the domestic production at around about $130,000,000. I think that is their report of last May. I am giving that for the record, because I have not seen any figures that have been released since then. And, the imports for 1946 were $241,000,000.

Mr. BECKWORTH. You mean then in dollars, we get a lot more furs from foreign countries than we produce here?,

Mr. FRANCIS. Yes, sir; and today we are taking the entire world output of furs. That is because they can send fur articles into this country and get dollars to buy food and clothing.

Now, under normal operations that would not be the case. These figures are presented here. I can look them up, but this would not show normal operations. That is the condition today.

Mr. BECKWORTH. That will not be necessary right at this time. You may put it into the record if you care to.

Is there any particular fur, kind of fur, such as we will say, mink produced in some foreign country that displaces mink produced in this country? I am using that as an example. Or, does it place mink at a disadvantage? In other words, does that problem confront the people who grow furs in this country with reference to any kind of fur; one particular kind or 2 or 10 particular kinds? In other words, Í would say if, for example, Russia produces sable and there is no sable produced in this country, then sable does not compete with any sable that is produced here. Now, does this kind of thing give you any problem? Is there any unusual competition occasioned by the importation of certain kinds of furs?

Mr. FRANCIS. I would say this, Mr. Congressman, in relation to that, that there is.

Now, let us take Canada for instance, our neighbor here. Canada produces, in the over-all picture, on their farms and in the wilds, the same mink in quality that we produce here. They produce good and poor quality and under the bill we would not like them to sell their poor qualities under the name of domestic mink and use our better mink to be sold as Canadian mink, which is done.

There is a very deceptive thing that goes on in connection with this business, gentlemen, that is that some women think that when they are getting something wonderful it it comes from the moon or away off in the jungle, Persia, or some other foreign country. You have seen that important thing built up in the English textiles today, that they have benefited by using their name in this country on their best articles, and not using their name on the shoddy wool, but using it on their fine woolens, to convince the consumer that the domestically produced fabrics today are not good, and that, we think, is wrong, and we want to avoid it in this business, and it has been carried on here.

Another example is Norwegian platinum foxes. We know that some of our finest platinum foxes that have been produced in this country have been sold under the name of Norwegian platinum foxes and they are building up a reputation for Norwegian foxes today where even it affects our prices on the market, on the raw pelts before they are sold; but after they are bought then they are sold as Norwegian foxes.

All we are asking is that the Norwegian platinum foxes be so labeled, so that the consumer can identify them from American pelts, and make up her mind which is the best, the most beautiful, and the most practical.

I hope that covers it.

We have another situation relating to the mink. During the war most all mink_imported from China and Japan bore the name of 'Jap mink." But because the Japanese attacked us, then the name was changed and it was imported into this country under the name of China mink, or Oriental mink, Far Eastern mink, Asiatic mink, all those names. All used in advertising, all used and attached to placecards in windows. There is practically no difference. I have yet to see any firm to differentiate in quality or specie among any of the names used in connection with that mink.

We question if it is a mink at all in the first place, to start with, because it does not compare in quality, and in characteristic to the mink produced in this country. But, Mr. Chairman, again there I am not going to express an opinion as to whether it is not a mink or

it is a mink. We are merely asking that when these hearings are held before the Federal Trade Commission that we assemble all the evidence possible to establish what these proper names should be, and then all of us agree to abide by the names that we agree to call the animals.

That, I hope, covers your question. Maybe it is more than you

want.

Mr. BECKWORTH. You mentioned $241,000,000 worth of furs coming to this country, or that came in one particular year. What is the number, in dollars, that came from Canada? Was it anything nearly as much as came from Russia, in dollars?

Mr. FRANCIS. No, sir. Canada is a large importer. I think for the record, Mr. Congressman, I should file this table furnished by the Tariff Commission that was presented in the 3-day hearings held before the Agricultural Committee of the House in May of 1947. The CHAIRMAN. How many pages does it cover?

Mr. FRANCIS. I think we can just set in one page to show the total imports of all kinds from all countries, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. We will see that it is put in the record at this point. (The information is to be made a part of the printed record at this point.)

74903-48- -3

TABLE 1.-Furs (except silver or black fox), undressed: United States imports, by principal sources, 1920, 1921, 1923, and 1925-46

1 Before 1928 may include some imports from British South Africa.

TABLE 6.-Undressed furs (except silver or black fox): United States imports for consumption, by kinds, 1946

Source: Compiled from official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Mr. BECKWORTH. You mentioned that you compete with the Russian Government. When the Russian Government sells $70,000,000 worth of furs in a given year, how many buyers actually obtain in the first purchase, those furs? In other words, I would assume large department stores probably buy some of those furs. Is that true? Mr. FRANCIS. No. It usually comes through the brokers.

Mr. BECKWORTH. How many brokers-it is an estimate, doubtless, that you would have to make-but how many brokers actually get hold of those furs when the original deal is made in bringing them into this country?

Mr. FRANCIS. I could not answer that question. I could give you some enlightenment to this effect: You know there have been certain restrictions about brokers going into Russia and buying furs. But I think it should be applicable to this committee and of interest to you to know that at the time that Congressmen of the United States were prohibited from going into Russia, Russia solicited fur buyers from this country to come in there and buy their furs. I do not know the number, Congressman.