Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 289, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1920 — LOCAL TRAPPERS HARD HIT BY DECLINING MARKETS [ARTICLE]

LOCAL TRAPPERS HARD HIT BY DECLINING MARKETS

Naturally when one thinks of trapping mink, muskrat and other fur-bearing animals, one thinks of the wilds, the forests and thinlysettled frontier places, but do you know that the trapping industry in this county is followed on a greater scale than is generally supposed; that quite a few people make a comfortable living or at least make considerable side money from their traps in this county each year? And do you know that these tappers have been harder hit, relatively, than the farmers in the recent slump in the hog market? It is true, nevertheless, and there is much grumbling and kicking going on among the old heads who also got in on the war-inflated prices on most everything and are now being forced to endure the re-adjustment that is taking place in industry and business of all description. The prices for pelts have decreased 300 to 600 per cent. That is some drop and means the trapper must get out and work hard to come way near his record of last year.