BUSTING THE FUR TRUST
By George Clover
Although his nose showed no trace of
ever having been on the grindstone,
Moses was a man who would not im
press one as being a director of frenzied
finance, or a manipulator on Wall
street.
As inevitably as tne sun rises in the
east and sets in the west, Mosps.for
the last five years could have been
Lrund in Sitka every year, and never
later than the loth of May did he ar
rive in the village where for so many
years he had teen in attendance upon
the auction sale of fur seal skins.
Simply by the exercise of the pre
rogative, Moses began to .count
the skins as his own; but to his sur
prise he found five new buyers in the
field waiting for the day of the sale
to arrive.
It was intuition in Moses rather than
the presentation, of cold, material fact
which led him to believe that he was
decidedly out of luck this season again
st such a combination of buyers which
had been thrown into, .the Sitka fur
market.
“What am I going to do this yeaj:?”
Moses confidently asked a leading light
in the commercial circle of the little
village. “I am broke and these peo
ple have money. My credit is good with
the Indians when there is no other cash
in sight; but this year I am lost.”
Moses was well known by reputation
and record to the fur buyers then gath
ered in Sitka, and until it was known
that he was “broke” he had been ap
element of fear to that combination of
manipulators. Now, without money,
poor Moses became an outcast from
their confidential circle; and. in their
meetings to form the “combination”
Moses was ignored. Frankly admitting
his poverty to the landlady of the Mill
more, Moses was received as a guest
of the hotel by the kindhearted Mrs.
Solberg, who accepted his promise to
pay when he got money.
The fur buyers formed a “combine”
to “do” the Indians, agreeing that at
the sale, bidding should stop when the
price of sixteen dollars a skin had been
reached. Into the secrets of the com
bine Moses was ignominiously ignored.
“It breaks mv heart,” said Moses,
“to see these men planning to buy the
skins this year, while I am powerless
to prevent it. For years I have been
at this post when the furs Tvere sold
and now to be treated so it breaks my
heart. ’ ’
As a guarantee of faith in the fulfill
ment of the articles of the combine,
each buyer placed a cash forfeit of
two thousand dollars in the hands of a
local official. It was the day before
the auction when Moses in a fit of
frenzy went into one of the stores and
managed to get the ear of the raw
boned proprietor long enough to tell
his tale of woe. “Last year,’’said he,
“vou were glad to see me in your store.
Last year I had money, plenty of mon
ey; but now you don’t even know me.
Nevertheless I am going to throw my
self at you, put my pride in my pocket,
and make myself humble—a thing I
have never done before in my life. It
is only that my wife and nine little
children are starving in Seattle that I
come into your store at all. I want
seventy-five dollars and here is my
watch for it is worth one hundred and
fifty of any body’s money. Give me
the money, but don’t tell those Jews
about it. Don’t tell them I am broke,
for if you do they will freeze me out
tomorrow entirely. I know their com
bination but I am going to the sale even
if I am broke; and my face will be
good with the Thlingets to beat ’em.
Now just loan me the seventy-five dol
Jars to send off to my wife by this boat;
and some day I will have plenty to
remember a friend in need; but what
ever you do don’t tell the Jews what
I told you. ’ ’
Moses’ appeal was wasted as far as
extracting the desired seventy-five
from the hard hearted merchant, so he
solemnly walked out of the store with
a look of deep sorrow on his face as he
thought of that starving wife and nine
hungry little mouths away on in Seat
tle crying for bread.
Scratching his bony fingers through
his shock of unkept haid, the store
keeper consulted his wife, and in the
excitement of the moment he swallow
ed his “chew,” Without even waiting
for his hat, he started across the street
to the Millmore; and in disregard to
poor Moses’ wish, he communicated the
entire conversation to the fur buyers,
thinking it a wise policy to stand in
with the upper dog. Silverstine, he
knew, lost his razor on tne boat and
he might buy another before he left
Sitka, for he needed a shave.
The shopkeeper left after having un
loaded his burdened mind with the mo
mentous weight of gossip; and the fur
buyers immediately got their heads to
gether.
“Moses may go to that auction to
morrow,” said the spokesman, “al
though he has no money, he may spoil
our combination; and I think that it
would be a very wise idea to buy him
off.”
The suggestion was received favorab
ly and Moses was sent for. '
“Mr. Moses,” said the spokesman,
“we understand that during the last
year you have met with financial re
verses winch place you, today, in an
unfortunate position. We want to help
you; and of course, you will grant us
a little favor if it will cause you no
inconvenience or loss. We are going
to give you one hundred and fifty dol
lars if you will not attend the auction
tomorrow. ’ *
“Gentlemen,” replied Moses, “It
breaks my heart. My life is in the seal
auction. For years I have been here
and bought the skins. I know, gentle
men, that I need money; but as an in
vestment it is worth more to you than
one- hundred and fifty dollars to have
me away from the sale; and it is not
only that my wife and children are
starving, that I would accept any mon
ey as payment for remaining away. For
two hundred and fifty I will not show
my face in your presence tomorrow;
and you are getting off cheap at that.”
It did not take a lengthy‘consultation
to decide that they would pay Moses‘
demand whereupon he was given the
money on his word of honor to absent
himself from the sale.
True to the agreement, Moses walked
around the crescent-shaped bay to the
Indian Eiver Park, where he sat on a
bench and looked off over the hundred
islands which cast reflections in the
mirror surface of the water. The beau
tiful scenery did not appeal to Moses.
He was thinking about the auction
sale; he was thinking of that hard
hearted store keeper; he was thinking
of revenge; he was thinking of the
hungry mouths that that two hundred
and fifty dollars would feed and he was
thinking of the store in which he would
not spend a cent.
The skins were all brought to the old
trading post; and there the sellers and
buyers met. Bids opened at six dollars,
seven, eight ,nine, ten; then it hung for
some time. Eleven, twelve, thirteen
and fourteen dollars followed slowly.
Fifteen, sixteen, the crises was reached.
The matter hung there. Buyers would
not raise the bids nor would the Indians
sell for sixteen.
Pleased with the work of the ‘ ‘ com
bination” the buyers returned to their
hotel. Although the Indians declared
their intention to resalt the skins and
keep them for the next season, they
made no effort to do so, leaving them
in the old salesroom which was a sign
of capitulation to the fur buyers. The
natives had no alternative. Their cred
itors who had “staked” them early
in the season must be paid. There were
no other buyers in the field, so the visit
ing “fur trust” had them pretty well
tied up; and well, too, did they know
it.
Patting each other on the back, they
retired and dreamed of the morrow
when the skins would be theirs for six
teen dollars apiece.
Moses, however, had elected other
wise. Night was better than day for
his business. He sought the chief in
whose hands rested the sale of the furs
and arranged to pay him twenty-three'
dollars apiece, spot cash, for the seven
hundred skins.
Did he have the money? Yes, all the
time “cached’’ in an old ore bag.
Long before the sun rose that day in
Sitka, Moses sat behind a table in the
old trading post, upon which was piled
near twenty thousand dollars in twenty
dollar gold pieces. Indians were stand
ing by their bales waiting for their
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