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61st CONGRESS aR : DocuMENT
2d Session \ SENATE No. 605

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES

ya, HEARINGS

BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION
OF NATIONAL RESOURCES ON BILL (8. 7242)
ENTITLED ‘“‘AN ACT TO PROTECT THE
SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES”

PRESENTED BY MR. DIXON

June 1, 1910.—Ordered to be printed with illustrations

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1910

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INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1910.

ComMMITTEE ON ConsERVATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES,
Unirep States SENATE,
Wasuineron, D. C., February 26, 1910.

The Committee on Conservation of National Resources met at the
call of the chairman in the Senate Office Building.

The committee met at 10 o’clock a. m for the purpose of the con-
sideration of the following bill.

Present: Senators Dixon (chairman), Dillingham, Heyburn, Clark,
of Wyoming, Dolliver, Dick, Newlands, Overman, Bankhead, Smith,
of South Carolina, and Jones.

Dr. W. T. Hornaday, of New York, appeared.

The Cuairman. Before proceeding I want to announce that I have
called a meeting for the consideration of Senate bill 7242, a bill to
protect the seal fisheries of Alaska, and at this point I desire to insert
the bill in full. The bill is as follows:

A BILL To protect the seal fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
shall have power to authorize the killing of fur seals and the taking of sealskins
on the Pribilof Islands, in Alaska, under regulations established by him pre-
seribing the manner in which such killing shall be done and limiting the number
of seals to be killed, whenever he shall determine that such killing is necessary
or desirable and not inconsistent with the preservation of the seal herd: Pro-
vided, however, That under such authority the right of killing fur seals and
taking sealskins shall be exercised by officers, agents, or employees of the United
States appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and by the natives of
the Pribilof Islands under the direction and supervision of such officers, agents,
or employees, and by no other persons: And provided further, That male seals
only shall be killed and that not more than ninety-five per centum of three-year-
old male seals shall be killed in any one year.

Sec. 2. That any and all sealskins taken under the authority conferred by the
preceding section shall be sold by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in such
market, at such times, and in such manner as he may deem most advantageous;
and the proceeds of such sale or sales shall be paid into the Treasury of the
United States and shall constitute a fund to be called the Alaska seal fund,
which shall be used, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, to defray the expense of furnishing food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other
necessaries of life to the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands and of pro-
viding for their comfort, maintenance, education, and protection, and to defray
the cost of administering the laws of the United States relating to the seal
fisheries ‘of Alaska, including the salaries and expenses of all officers, agents, or
employees appointed to enforce said laws.

Sec. 3. That whenever seals are killed and sealskins taken on any of the
Pribilof Islands the native inhabitants of said islands shall be employed in such
killing and in curing the skins taken, and shall receive for their labor fair com-

3

»

+ FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. © \\ 2

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pensation, to be fixed from time to time by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, who shall have the authority to prescribe by regulation the manner in
which such compensation shall be paid to the said natives or expended or other-
wise used in their behalf and for their benefit.

Sec. 4. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of
the United States and section one hundred and seventy-three of the act of March
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

* No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or other fur-
bearing animal, within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters thereof ;
and every person guilty thereof shall, for each offense, be fined not less than
two hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than
six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo
found engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary
of Commerce and Labor shall have power to authorize the killing of any such
mink, marten, sable, fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal under such regula-
tions as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor to prevent the killing of any fur seal except as authorized by
law and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it is
otherwise provided by law.”

Sec. 5. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes
of the United States and section one hundred and seventy-six of the act of
March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“The Pribilof Islands, including the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George,
Walrus and Otter islands, and Sea Lion Rock, in Alaska, are declared a special
reservation for government purposes; and until otherwise provided by law it
shall be unlawful for any person to land or remain on any of those islands, ex-
cept through stress of weather or like unavoidable cause or by the authority of
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and any person found on any of those
islands contrary to the provisions hereof shall be summarily removed and shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine not exceeding five hun-
dred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both fine and
imprisonment; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
to carry this section into effect.”

Sec. 6. That section nineteen hundred and sixty of the Revised Statutes of the
United States and section one hundred and seventy-seven of the act of March
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“Tt shall be unlawful to kill any fur seal upon the Pribilof Islands, or in the
waters adjacent thereto, except under the authority of the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor, and it shall be unlawful to kill such seals by the use of fire-
arms or by other means tending to drive the seals away from those islands; but
the natives of the islands shall have the privilege of killing such young seals as
may be necessary for their own food and clothing, and also such old seals as
may be required for their own clothing and for the manufacture of boats for
their own use; and the killing in such cases shall be limited and controlled by
such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor.”

Sec, 7. That section nineteen hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes
of the United States and section one hundred and seventy-eight of the act of
March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“Tt shall be unlawful to kill any female seal or any seal less than one year
old at any season of the year, except as above provided; and it shall also be
unlawful to kill any seal in the waters adjacent to the Pribilof Islands, or on
the beaches, cliffs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain; and
every person who violates the provisions of this or the preceding section shall
be punished for each offense by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars
nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not more than six
months, or by both such fine and imprisonment; and all vessels, their tackle,
apparel, and furniture, whose crews are found engaged in the violation of
either this or the preceding section shall be forfeited to the United States.”

Sec. 8. That section one of the act of December twenty-ninth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-seven, be amended to read as follows:

“No citizen of the United States, nor person owing duty of obedience to the
laws or the treaties of the United States, nor any person belonging to or on
board of a vessel of the United States, shall kill, capture, or hunt, at any time
or in any manner whatever, ayy fur seal in the waters of the Pacific Ocean,
including Bering Sea and the sea of Okhotsk, whether in the territorial waters
of the United States or in the open sea.”

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 5

Sec. 9. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have authority to
appoint such additional officers, agents, and employees as may be necessary to
carry out the provisions of this act and the laws of the United States relating
to the seal fisheries of Alaska, to prescribe their duties and to fix their com-
pensation ; he shall likewise have authority to purchase from the present lessee
of the right to take seals on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, at a
fair valuation to be agreed upon, the warehouses, salt houses, boats, launches,
lighters, horses, mules, wagons, and other property of the said lessee on the
islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, including the dwellings of the natives
of said islands, the title to said dwellings upon acquisition by the United States
to be vested in the native occupants thereof and their heirs; he shall likewise
have authority to establish and maintain depots for provisions and supplies
on the Pribilof Islands and to provide for the transportation of such provisions
and supplies from the mainland of the United States to the said islands by the
charter of private vessels or by the use of public vessels of the United States
which may be placed at his disposal by the President; and he shall likewise
have authority to furnish food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other necessaries of
life to the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islarids and to provide for their
comfort, maintenance, education, and protection.

Sec. 10. That sections nineteen hundred and sixty-two, nineteen hundred and
sixty-three, nineteen hundred and sixty-four, nineteen hundred and sixty-five,
nineteen hundred and sixty-six, nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, nineteen hun-
dred and sixty-eight, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine, nineteen hundred and
seventy, nineteen hundred and seventy-one, and nineteen hundred and seventy-
two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and all acts and parts of acts
inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. The provisions of this act shall
take effect from and after the first day of May, nineteen hundred and ten.

STATEMENT OF DR. W. T. HORNADAY.

Doctor Hornapay. I fancy that you have time, gentlemen, to con-
sider only the facts that impinge directly upon the subject of the
present hearing. It is my sincere belief that the fate of the fur seal
to-day lies in the hands of this committee, the Secretar y of Commerce
and Labor, the Secretary of State, the Commissioner of Fisheries,
and the President of the United States, and if that small group of
men is not instrumental in securing immediately the measures that
are absolutely necessary to the preservation of that industry, then
I believe that it will be wiped out entirely in the very near future.

First, one word in regard to my own status. By profession I am
a zoologist, but when I am at home I draw as much salary for being
a practical business man as for my zoological work. My interest in
this question is not alone that of a zoologist, nor is it a sentimental
interest. As a business man and patriotic citizen I desire to see a
very valuable industry saved to the Government and to the people of
the United States.

I represent here the Camp-Fire Club of America, which is a New
York organization of lawyers, doctors, business men, and others, all
of whom are sportsmen and lovers of nature. One of the chief ob-
jects of the club is the preservation of wild life and forests. Our
New York organization is allied with six other clubs, scattered all the
way from Jamestown, N. Y., to Los Angeles, Cal. Our own club in
New York contains about 350 members. A committee consisting of
thirteen members, all of whom, with the exception of myself, are
lawyers, has been formed to promote the better protection of wild
life. It is called the committee on game protective legislation and
preserves, and of it I have the honor to be chairman. One of the
first acts of that committee was to consider the case of the fur seal.
My expenses here are paid by a special subscription in the club for

®

6 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

the work of this committee. I do not come here to represent the
New York Zoological Society. That organization has not elected to
take an active part in the fur-seal matter, for the reason that it has
so many interests in other directions.

THE CURSE OF “ PELAGIC SEALING.”

The present trouble lies first in the fact that the number of fur
seals have diminished to a very low point, and, secondly, that the
situation is entangled with the affairs of other nations, particularly
Canada and Japan. The evil at this moment arises from what is
called “ pelagic sealing,” but I shall be careful not to dwell on the
details of that, because I know that you are already familiar with
it. ‘“ Pelagic sealing” means killing seals at sea; and in killing
seals at sea all ages and sexes are killed, indiscriminately, and of all
that are killed, fully one-half are lost. If you will permit me for
about two minutes to block out the subject, I will point to this map.
| Indicating on maps printed herewith.| (See map No. 2.)

Here are the Pribilof Islands. Owing to the lack of a treaty with
Japan, the Japanese seal-hunters have the right to kill> seals to
within 3 miles of the shores of these islands. They always have had
that right, and during the past fifteen years have exercised it with
merciless vigor and persistence. You will remember that about
two years ago a party of Japanese landed on one of the Pribilof
Islands and actually began to kill the seals on our own soil.

This large circle represents the Canadian dead line. The Canadians
may kill fur seals anywhere outside of that black circle, which is
60 miles from the shore of the islands, but Americans may not kill
seals at sea anywhere.

Now, it is a well attested fact that every year, in the fall, the seals
leave these islands and make the most wonderful migration that is
made by any aquatic species in the world. It covers nine months in
the year, and reaches about 2,000 miles. The months indicated here
represent the seasonal progress of the herd. This region forms part
of the hunting grounds of the pelagic sealers of Canada, who make
their headquarters in Vancouver and Victoria. Until very recently,
at least, the pelagic fleet contained about thirty vessels, manned by
about twelve hundred men, using about three hundred boats. The
sealers know in general the locality of the fur seals at different
periods of the year. The migration route has been determined by the
logs of the various pelagic sealing vessels that have taken fur seals
at various times of the year throughout that great course. The great-
est killing is done around the islands and close along the Pacific coast
from San Francisco up to Prince William Sound. Between 1883
and 1897 a total of 304,713 skins of seals killed at sea were marketed,
and undoubtedly an equal number were lost. In 1895 there were
56,291 seals killed at sea that were secured.

During the breeding season, or from July to October, the mother
seals are obliged to leave the islands to go off shore from sixty to
a hundred miles for food. The moment the mother seals leave the
Japanese 3-mile dead line, the Japanese sealers are after them; and
a mother seal, in order to get her food with which to suckle her
young, is obliged to run the gauntlet of these Japanese vessels. The
destruction of a mother seal means the starvation of the offspring

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. ff

on shore; and uncounted thousands of young seals have perished on
our islands from that cause.

In 1895 a member of Congress, Mr. J. B. Crowley, assisted in
counting about 30,000 young fur seals that starved to death on the
breeding ground because their mothers had been killed while in quest
of food.

Now, let us come down to the necessities of the case. It has been
my pleasure to study both the life history and the political history
of the fur seal during the past thirty years. I have accumulated
during that time a great many documents and publications on the
subject, and facts derived from men who are familiar with the fur
seals and the islands from personal observaticn. Up to this date
several of my personal friends have been advising the Government
as experts, and although I have witnessed this awful and wasteful
slaughter of the fur-seal herd, I have resolutely held my peace until
a few weeks ago. Now, however, as the total destruction of this
industry is imminent and the fur seal is fast following the American
bison, I feel that it is my duty as an American citizen to speak out.

To come directly to the point, from a careful study of the present
situation and the past history that has led up to it, especially the
Russian history of the fur-seal industry, I am convinced that we must
do three things to save our fur-seal herd, as follows:

(1) We must immediately forbid the execution of a new lease for
the killing of fur seals on these islands, for reasons that I will
presently set forth ;

(2) We must secure treaties with Canada, Russia, Japan, and
Mexico which will put a stop to pelagic sealing; and

(8) We must declare a close season for ten years.

THE RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE AND EXAMPLE,

I will give you briefly my reasons for these opinions. Take, for
instance, the necessity for a close season and for no lease. You will
remember that the lease held by the North American Commercial
Company expires next April. It is believed by some officers of the
Government that the law providing for its renewal is mandatory.
That is for this committee to determine. I hold in my hand a docu-
ment entitled “ Fur Seals of Alaska: Hearings Before the Com-
inittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives” (58th
Cong., 2d sess.). On page 63, dealing with the Russian period of
great diminution of the fur-seal herd, we find that in 1820 a report
was made to the Russian Government by its expert, Mr. Yanovsky.
The document says:

In his Report No. 41, of the 25th February, 1820, Mr. Yanovsky, in giving
an account of his inspection of the operations on the islands of St. Paul and
St. George, observes that every year the young bachelor seals are killed and
that only the cows, “sekatch” and half “ sekatch,’ are left to propagate the
species. It follows that only the old seals are left, while if any of the bachelors
remain alive in the autumn they are sure to be killed the next spring. The
consequence is that the number of seals obtained diminishes every year, and
it is certain that the species will in time become extinct.

This view is confirmed by experience. In order to prevent the extinction of
the seals it would be well to stop the killing altogether for one season and to
give orders that not more than 40,000 are ever. to be killed in any one year
on the island of St. Paul, or more than 10,000 in any one year on the island of
St. George.

8 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Mr. Yanovsky considers that if these measures are adopted the number of
seals will never diminish. The board of administration, although they concur
in Mr. Yanovsky’s view, have decided not to adopt the measures proposed by
him unless it is found that there is no migration of seals to the two small
islands which are believed to exist to the south and north of the chain of
islands. * * #*

* a % * * ak 2k

The Russian records show that from 1817 down to 1834 the supply of choice
young male seals was constantly growing less and less as each year followed
the other; they show that no such method of killing these seals at sea, now
so well known to us as “ pelagic sealing,” was known to white men or practiced
by them, or by the Alaskan natives, during the entire period of Russian owner-
ship and control, ending in 1867; they show that this remarkable shrinkage of
the herd from 1817 down to 18384 was due entirely to overdriving and killing
of young male seals; they show that fourteen years before the utter collapse
of the herd took place this result of ruin was announced by an official investi-
gator, who urged, in 1820, that steps be taken then to avert the disaster, and
they show that in spite of this clear note of warning and remonstrance the
greed and the avarice of a Russian board of directors overruled Yanovsky’s
appeal; then they show that the end was reached in 1834, just as he had
predicted under date of February 25, 1820, saying:

* * * “That every year the young bachelor seals are killed, and that
only the cows, ‘seecatchie’ and polseecatchie, are left to propagate the
species. It follows that only the old seals are left, while if any of the bachelors
are left alive in the autumn they are sure to be killed next spring. The con-
sequence is that the number of seals obtained diminishes ey ely year, and it is
certain that the species will in time become extinct.’ * * = *

Then he asks that the killing be stopped altogether in 1821; and then, when
resumed in 1822, that only 40,000 be killed, ete. (Proc. Tribunal of Arbitration
Bering Sea, vol. 8, pp. 323-325, No. 6, 1893.)

To this warning and remonstrance against overdriving and killing young
male seals on the Pribilof Islands in 1820 the Russian board of directors from
St. Petersburg, under date of March 15, 1821, made the following reply and
denial: “ That aithough they concur in Mr. Yanovsky’s view they have decided
not to adopt the measures proposed by him,” ete,

What was the result?

The entire disappearance of the killable young male life occurred on the
islands in 1834. Then came the long rest of ten years on these rookeries before
killing to any noteworthy extent of young males was or could be resumed.

In 1854 the Russian records show that just 100.“ halluschickie ’” were taken—
all that could be secured on St. Paul Island ‘ safely ’—‘ leaving in 1835 for
breeding 8,118 fresh young seals, males and females together.’ (Veniaminov:
Zapieskie, etc., Vol. II, p. 568 et seq., 1842.)

From the Russian experience there stand forth several important
facts by which we may well profit at this hour:

(1) In 1821 the Russians were warned to suspend the killing of
the seals.

(2) They refused to heed that warning.

(3) They thought that the killing of the surplus young ae
under strict regulations, would not be detrimental to the herd as
whole. .

(4) The rapid decline of the entire herd, to 8,000 head in 1834,
proved the folly of the continued-killing policy, and

(5) In 1835 a ten-year close season was ordered.

There is a chapter of experience that is applicable to the present
moment. During that ten-year close season the seal herds increased
to such great numbers that ‘killing was resumed on a large scale, and
in 1871 we found 4,000,000 seals on our islands.

My prediction is that if the present system of killing continues
that the fur seal as a revenue-producing animal will be blotted out of
existence in two or thr ee more seasons.

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 9
VIEWS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSIONER.

At this point a few passages from the latest Report of the Com-
missioner of Fisheries becomes of special interest. I will read from
pages 27, 28, and 29, and I desire to file the whole of Commissioner
Bowers’s reference to the “Alaskan Fur-Seal Service” as a part of
my testimony:

From the report of the agent at the seal fisheries it appears that during the
season which closed July 31, 1909, the lessees were unable to obtain the quota
of 15,000 skins, for the reason that the requisite number of bachelor seals did
not appear in the drives during the legal season. The total take of skins was
14,336, of which 11,022 came from St. Paul Island and 3,314 from St. George
Island.

* x * * * * *

During the season—
That is, of 1909—

a special count of the seal herd was made by Mr. George A. Clark, a member
of the fur-seal commission of 1896-97, to whom was assigned the detailed
study of the rookeries in those years. His investigations in 1909, following
the same methods and having the same scope, are particularly interesting and
important. It appears that the fur-seal herd has undergone a heavy decline
during the past thirteen seasons, as evidenced by the fact that in 1896 and 1897
there were 157,000 and 130,000 breeding females, while in 1909 there were only
50,000. This decline has been caused by the continuance of pelagic sealing,
which results in the killing of the females in excess of the natural increment
of young breeders. The injurious effects of pelagic sealing have greatly
increased in recent years, owing to the presence of a large fleet of Japanese
vessels using firearms and operating throughout the season in close prox-
imity to the rookeries, sometimes forming a close cordon through which the
seals have had to pass on their way from and to the rookeries.

The fur-seal service has come under the jurisdiction of the bureau at a
time when the condition of the seal herd is worse than ever before, when the
outlook is most discouraging, and when the contract for the lease of the
islands for a period of twenty years must, under the law, be renewed. Under
the existing circumstances the value of the franchise is greatly diminished,
large financial losses may be sustained by the Government, and the perpetuity
of the herd is seriously menaced.

Continuing elsewhere the report says:

The net outcome of the work, arguments, recommendations, and pleas of a
long procession of special commissioners, experts, and agents has been (1)
the passage of a law by which American fishermen are prohibited from engag-
ing in pelagic sealing, while fishermen of all other nationalities are permitted
to do so, and (2) the steady and rapid decimation of the herd, which has
occurred entirely independently of the legitimate operations on the islands.

The Alaskan fur seals constitute the most valuable fishery resource that any
Government in the world ever possessed. It is little less than a national dis-
grace that the herd of four to six million seals which came into our possession
when Alaska was acquired from Russia and has been under our charge ever
since should have been allowed to dwindle until to-day it numbers less than
150,000 of all ages.

I regard Commissioner Bowers’s report as a very valuable docu-
ment. I do not see how it could have been improved upon even had
it been written by Henry W. Elliott himself.

Senator Drxon (chairman). What is your estimate of the total
number of seals of all ages now alive and really inhabiting our seal
islands ?

Doctor Hornapay. I accept Mr. Clark’s figures of 50,000 for the
females and of 1,760 for the breeding bulls. You observe that ap-
parently all the killable bachelor seals were killed in 1909, so they are

10 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

out of the reckoning. I believe that 60,000 as the total number is very
near the mark; but to save argument over a trifiing detail I am quite
willing to admit 75,000 as the number now alive.

OPINION REGARDING HENRY W. ELLIOTT.

Senator DittincHam. A moment ago you mentioned the name of
Mr. Henry W. Elliott. I wish you would state your opinion of him
as an authority on matters relating to the fur seal.

Doctor Hornapay. I have known Mr. Elliott for twenty-eight
years. You will remember, some of you at least, that Mr. Elliott was
the first man ever sent to Alaska by the United States Government to
study the life of the seals. He was sent to the Pribilof Islands in
1871, and he spent three long years there. He was previously con-
nected with the Smithsonian here in Washington, under Secretary
Joseph Henry.

Senator Diniincram. But did he go as the agent of the Govern-
ment 4

Doctor Hornapay. He went up there as an agent of the Treasury
Department. His monograph of the fur-seal islands, embodying all
of his observations, was published, I think in 1879, and for twenty
years or longer it stood as the most—in fact, the only—complete and
authoritative document relating to that subject.

Now, Mr. Elliott has just one hobby in the world, and that is the
preservation of the fur seal. That is his one idea in life. Mr.
Elliott has accumulated a mass of precise information regarding the
life history and the political history of the fur seal that I think is
unrivaled. I have never known any important fact stated by Mr.
Elhott to be successfully controverted. He has made two or three
minor errors, which he has not hesitated to acknow ledge; but as a
source of information, and of valuable opinions regarding the fur
seal, I regard Mr. Elliott as the first man in the world.

T will add that during the past five years Mr. Elliott has become
almost wild with indignation at the way this valuable industry has
been ‘annihilated; and. “he has appealed to a great many members of
Congress, to the President, and to various cabinet officers, for action
to stop pelagic sealing and preserve the fur-seal herd. He has been
so bitterly disappointed at the way things have gone that he has
used a great deal of strong language. At times his language has
been even violent. He has no personal interest at stake in the ae
none whatever; but to him these fur seals are, you might sa _ his
proteges, and he feels very strongly regarding their deste HS
this committee, or any member of Congress, ever has occasion to call
upon Mr. Elhott for information or opinions, I think you will get
those opinions and information from the very highest authority. “Tt
is quite true that Mr, Elhott has antagonized the expert advisers of
the Government. They are in disagreement on many ares and
for myself, I try to stand between the two, urging everybody to get
together, and unite in an effort that will preserve a once valuable
industry from complete destruction.

OPPOSITION TO A NEW LEASE FOR SEAL-KILLING.

We come now to the question of a new lease, which is the urgent
question of this moment. I am advised that the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor feels that he is compelled by the terms of statute

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 11

law to make a new lease as soon as the present lease with the North
American Commercial Company has expired. I think that the Sec-
retary is now debating in his mind how he shall call for bids. It
was reported in.the New York papers the day I started for Wash-
ington that he was on the point of calling for bids. I have not
received that information from Secretary Nagel, so I do not quote
lim to that effect. I considered that information very alarming,
and that is why I came on the short notice that I did. I have quoted
the view of the Commissioner of Fisheries, who states that the law
for a new lease is mandatory; and that is where the shoe pinches.

TREATIES REGARDING PELAGIC SEALING.

I have been convinced all along that if a new lease is now made,
to take the place of that which expires next April, it will greatly
complicate the negotiations of our State Department, not only with
Canada, but Japan and Russia as well. We believe that the Japanese
and Russians are willing to enter into an agreement with us for the
suppression of pelagic sealing as soon as we come to satisfactory
terms with Canada. Last year our State Department endeavored
to negotiate a seal treaty with Japan, but with no result.

Now, what is the state of affairs with Canada? During the past
three years the State Department has submitted several propositions
to Canada. I do not wish to say much regarding the work of the
State Department, but there are some things that really must be
said. I understand that certain propositions were submitted by
Senator Root, then Secretary of State, and that they have all been
rejected. The matter remains as much open and unsettled—and
irritating—to-day as it was four years ago. Now, here is an im-
portant fact bearing on this subject:

In 1905 Mr. John Hay, who was then Secretary of State, prepared,
with the assistance of Senator Dillingham, the basis of an agreement
with the Canadian government that, if ratified, would have settled
this whole matter and put it on a good foundation for many years
to come. That agreement, a copy of which I hold in my hand, pro-
posed that Canada should have a compensation for the suppression
of pelagic sealing by her people. The Canadians are not willing to
give up their pelagic sealing privileges for nothing, for the simple
reason that the Canadians have made much money out of it. Now,
Mr. Hay and Sir Mortimer Durand agreed that it was right for
Canada to have compensation—in the form of a small percentage of
the net annual income from the killing lease—20 per cent of what-
ever the amount might be, and also the privilege of being represented
by a commissioner on our islands. Well, just as this was on the point
of being ratified into a treaty Secretary Hay died and the whole
thing fell to the ground. Mr. Elliott exercised every form of per-
suasion and insistence that he knew of to induce this Government,
through Congress, through cabinet officers and the President, to
renew it along those lines, but I am told by Mr. Elliott that it never
was done.

At the Paris tribunal, in 1893, we made a treaty with England and
Canada, by which the Canadians were estopped from pelagic sealing
at the 60-mile limit. We have no absolute treaty with Japan and
Russia, and therefore the terms of international law hold good;

12 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

that is to say beyond the 3-mile limit. We can not protect our fur
seals from either Japanese or Russians. Canada is still bound by
the Paris award to the 60-mile limit.

THE SENATE COMMITTEE’S PROPOSAL.

The proposition that the Camp-Fire Club submits now is exactly
what Senator Dillingham’s committee proposed several years ago. It
is nothing new, but it is ten times more necessary to-day than it was
then. In talking this matter over, and I refer once more to the fact
that, with the exception of myself, all of the members of the Camp-
Fire Club’s committee on game protection are lawyers and level-
headed business men. In discussing the situation we concluded it to
be well worth while to make a clear field for the State Department for
the making of treaties, by the withholding of a new lease and the
enactment ‘ot a ten-year close season. This seems clearly imperative,
both from the diplomatic standpoint and because of the necessity of
allowing the seals time in which to breed up to say a million head, so
that we can again begin killing and can derive an annual revenue of
a million dollars. We have str enuously held that there should be no
renewal of the lease now, for those reasons.

Although this Government submitted to England, last Novem-
ber, a proposal for a new treaty concerning the fur seal, we know
that we are only on. the threshold of negotiations in the matter. As
everyone has read in the newspapers, the proposition submitted by
our State Department to England was by England transmitted to
Canada. We know it reached Ottawa about the 15th of this present
January, and we have recently been advised from London that it
“has been held up.” We feel sure that the reason why Canada has
made no sign, and why we have heard nothing from that proposal, is
that the terms of it are not satisfactory to Canada. In other words,
we think it likely that there is no compensation to Canada provided
for in that proposition. An interested citizen with whom I have
recently discussed this matter thought that, if necessary, it would be
proper to give Canada some compensation for the total suppression of
her pelagic sealers.

IT said to him, “ Would it not facilitate our negotiations if that
lease is not renewed this year, so that we can go with clean hands
before foreign nations interested, and say ‘We have stopped all
killing on our islands?’” He replied, “Tt certainly would.” “It
stands to reason that our Secretary of State would be glad to have a
clear field while he is negotiating.”

A CLEAR FIELD FOR TREATY MAKING.

That opinion is extremely important at this time. It will take a
year to make these treaties; and it may take even longer. I insist
upon it, as representing three hundred and fifty good citizens who are
interested in this subject, that the making of any new killing lease at
this time would complicate our negotiations with foreign govern-
ments, and it might easily be the means of entirely defeating the pur-
pose of our Secretar ‘y of State. We believe that ‘the imperative need
at the present hour is that this committee shall secure from Congress
such action which will enable the Secretary of Commerce and Labor

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 13

to abandon all thought of now executing a new lease, and at the same
time, if possible, provide for a ten-year close season.

There is one other matter that I desire to mention, because it is cer-
tain to be brought forward by those who desire the execution of a new
slaughtering lease. The law provides that the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor shall have the power to restrict, or in other words,
to place a limit upon the number of seals that may be killed under the
lease, according to his discretion. It is claimed by some of the
gentlemen who do not agree with us in the matter, that it is not nec-
essary to have a new act passed, or any new regulation of any kind
adopted on the theory that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
has the power to regulate killing operations upon our islands and
suspend all killing if he chooses. I do not think that, as professional
and business men, this committee is likely to lose sight of this fact:
With a new lease in existence, and with thousands of dollars invested
. in the sealing industry, it will require a Secretary of Commerce and
Labor with a tremendous amount of courage to go to the length of.
stopping the killing privilege entirely, even though he should think it
ever so necessary. I do not think that it would be right for this
Government to expect any Secretary to assume the entire responsi-
bility of virtually abrogating an existing lease where the holders of
the lease have large vested rights, and assuredly would put in large-
sized claims for damages.

THE LOSS TO THE UNITED STATES.

We got last year (1909) $10.22 per skin for 14,336 skins, making
our revenue about $150,000, whereas the protection of the islands
with five revenue cutters and other charges on account of the fur-
seal industry cost the Government about $340,000 for the year, thus
entailing a loss to the Government of about $190,000 for 1909. Ever
since 1895 we have had to maintain up there a fleet of from four to
five vessels to protect the seal herds from total annihilation. You
will remember that on one occasion a marauding force of Japanese
seal killers landed on St. George Island and eight Japanese were
killed by our guards. With the assistance of Mr. Elhott, I have
ascertained from official records the cost of maintaining that patrol
fleet, and our other expenses in connection with the fur-seal industry.
The diagram I now submit, drawn exclusively from official records,
shows that up to 1891, when the present lease was executed, we had
received a net revenue of $5,738,724; that since that time, or from
1891 up to this time, the net loss for the twenty years has been
$2,247,544; and that during that time the fur-seal herd has decreased
from 4,700,000 to whatever it is now, which may reasonably be
estimated at 60,000. As stated by Commissioner Bowers in his re-
port, our loss on seals killed at sea easily runs up into more millions
than we can reckon up. The worst of it all is that the situation to-
day is so critical that nothing save quick and drastic action can save
the industry from complete annihilation.

Now, gentlemen, I think that is all that I need to offer on this
oceasion. In conclusion, I wish to repeat what I said before—that
the fur-seal industry rests in the hands of this committee, the Secre-
tary of Commerce and Labor, the United States Commissioner of
te the Secretary of State, and the President of the United

tates.

14 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

I have read various articles in Canadian papers, voicing the senti-
ments of the Canadian government, to the effect that Canada is not
willing to make any new treaty except on a basis of compensation
and joint control. It has been stated in several different forms that
Canada is willing to enter into a treaty if she secures those two
objects in return for the suppression of her pelagic sealers. It is
plainly intimated that Japan and Russia is willing to make treaties
with us as soon as we have made one with Canada, but not before.
The necessity for the suppression of our killing on land, for a period,
surely is obvious.

Senator New.anps. Can you tell us w ho owns the bulk of the stock
in the company holding the lease that expires in April?

Doctor HorNapay. I have been informed, on what I regard as reli-
able authority, that two-thirds of the stock of the North American
Commercial Company is now held by the estate of the late D. O. Mills,
of New York, and that one-third of it is held by Mr. Henry Liebes,
a dealer in furs, of San Francisco; and also, that Mr. Liebes is the
president of the company.

For your information I would like to file as a part of my testimony
my diagram designed to show at a glance the financial status of the
fur-seal industry, and maps to illustrate the pelagic sealing situation.
(See maps 2 and 3.) With the annihilation of a valuable industry
actually impending, it is time to separate the enemies of the fur seal
from its friends, and to know where every man stands.

Seteesenee je (oi N
9 LON

erp

Ta

Sr
sexes a aj
ey

bet

.

SSees— 227

Ho

ea

i

Saadanneen ssa

nd

eeessaggees

(PL sed vovy Of) Z-19 ‘G09 ‘00q ‘s

“SPT IV
OW 06 Op OL O9 OF O& OF OF OF

‘a

se Says - i ‘

i peo @ 7”
as hi,

THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS

AND THE

SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

OF THE JAPANESE AND CANADIAN

. KILLERS OF FUR SEALS AT SEA.
~~
= By
>
59 =
SN
S —
ee
2 >~
Nee
er
9
ies
oe
4 ee
S— — — JAPANESE DEAD-LINE,
4 3 MILES OFF SHORE.
<
=
ad
ee
aes 20 age
ae —
-- aoe
+) VAFANESE DEADLINE,
ae a FMILES OFF SHORE
—_ % ao aaa —
= —— a << ae
ee eee
ae
€
ee ea Fe AAA DAN pEAD :
ar yr a oO mizes oFF SH
t
gl a A ed THE SEAL HUNTERS OF ALL NATIONS EXCEPT
we e* Ze THE UNITED STATES MAY KiLL SEALS AT SEA ANY-
ae vA a WHERE OUTSIDE THE 60- MILE LIMIT.
vs .

(~7o 20°70 40 50 60 70 50 90 so
MILES .

S. Doc. 605, 61-2. (To face page 14.)

MAP

SHOWING THE

Annual Migration of the Fur Seals of Alaska

From. the Chart of Henry W. Elliott (1892),

The Pelagic Seal Hunter's Killing Grounds,

(indicated by the shaded areas)
From the Chart of Charles H. Townsend (1899).

‘Prepared by W. T. Hornaday, February 26, 1910, for
the Senate Comnitteé on the Conservation
of National Resources.

’

From 1883 to 1897, 123 vessels engaged in killing
seals at sea secured 304,713 skins (Townsend),
and lost at least an equal number by inability to
recover them when killed.

In 1895 J. B. Crowley, Member of Congress, as-
sisted in counting the dead bodies of about 30,000
fur-seal pups that had starved on our islands
because their mothers had beer killed at sea.

S|
~~
‘S)

a |

PT GONCEFTION

i ! t ¥ ‘b ns i
> . } ‘he. “4 5
as Beer A Gn" alti
i Tr Mi , ie
i aa oa ne
' a aay Ba = Mr)

pe Sf?
ef i
i}

| AMA’

MAP

SHOWING THE
Annual Migration of the Fur Seals of Alaska,
From the Chart of Honry W, Elliott (1892),

Grounds,
A it

ct
‘les H. Townsend (1899),
iaday, Fob

S, Doe. 605, 61-2. (To face page 14.)

BZ
NMA

4

eh
VFGbOA 9.00% | OS

~~ +

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1910.

CoMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES,
Washington, D. C., March 22, 1910.

The Committee on Conservation of National Resources met at the
eall of the chairman in the Senate Office Building.

Present, Senators Dixon (chairman), Dick, Jones, Briggs, Dilling-
ham, Guggenheim, Heyburn, Dolliver, Clark of Wyoming, Bank-
head, Overman, and Smith of South Carolina.

Hon. Charles Nagel, Secretary of the Department of Commerce
and Labor ; Solicitor Charles Earl, George M. Bowers, Commissioner
of the Bureau of Fisheries; Dr. B. W. Everham, of the Bureau of
Fisheries; Walter I. Lembkey, Agent of the Seal Fisheries, and
Dr. W. T. Hornaday appeared.

Secretary Nacer. Mr. Chairman, I take it that the members of
your committee are familiar with the position taken by the depart-
ment, and more especially by the President, with respect to the fur-
seal business, and I am not clear to what extent you care to have the
subject discussed.

Senator Drxon. Just make a statement of the situation up there
and the purposes for which you have drafted this bill.

Secretary Nacet. Well, to put it as briefly as possible, the chief of
the bureau and I have come to the conclusion, after reading the
report and getting such information as we have been able to get. that
the situation in Alaska presents a question of conservation ‘and not
a question of business for immediate profit. Of course, we could
go along as we have for a number of years, and perhaps have a cer-
tain income, but at the present rate it is easy to anticipate the end
of the seal, and to my mind therefore the one question is what can be
done to protect the seal against absolute destruction. Everyone
understands that the real difficulty is the continued pelagic sealing,
and we have a condition to deal with which necessitates our adopting
such measures as may be best calculated to bring about a cessation
of that system. In that matter we have to deal with other countries,
and we ought to adjust our interests in such fashion as to be able to
respond from time to time to the conditions that may arise. To that
end the Secretary of State and I have a complete understanding—we
are of one mind.

Senator Drxon. Now, this bill fills all the possible requirement
that the foreign office wishes i in connection with the possible treaties.

Secretary Nacen. Yes, sir; I wanted to be entirely accurate, so I
submitted the memorandum £0 the Secretary of State and also the bill
in the form in which it had been drafted, and the memorandum was
carefully read by the Secretary. It had his entire approval, and I
so stated to the President prior to his message.

15

16 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Senator Dintincuam. This puts the fur-bearing animals under
your direction ?

Secretary Nace. That is the controlling idea. The President and
I would like to have the fur-seal business put in such position that it
may be pressed forward or receded from—treated from time to time
just as the exigencies of the case call for.

Senator Dittincuam. As I understand it, it will place the matter
where, for the preservation of the seal, you can act within your discre-
tion, and leaves you in an attitude where you can negotiate with
other countries and have the power to meet any condition that arises.

Secretary Nacen. That is the idea; we did not think it absolutely
necessary to provide for the killing of the bachelor seals, because a
condition might arise when that would encourage pelagic sealing;
so that we thought it best to leave that matter absolutely in our discre-
tion to handle it as the conditions seem to call for. Of course, you
know that this plan involves the care of the inhabitants.

Senator Dixon. How many inhabitants are there up there?

Secretary Nace. I think, in round numbers, there are about 300.

Senator CrarKk. That includes the employees of the company ?

Secretary NaceL. You mean those of the natives that are employed
by the company? I take it we would be relieved as to all responsi-
bility except as we might employ them.

Senator Dininrncuam. I think, as a matter of fact, the lessees have
employed the natives on the islands.

Senator Dixon. Some one made a statement in the Senate that there
were only about 37 or 40 of the natives on the islands.

Secretary Nacet. No; there must be over 200.

(Reading of the bill on page 2, line 4:)

And provided further, That male seals only shall be killed and that not more
than ninety-five per centum of three-year-old male seals shall be killed in any
one year.

Senator Dintincuam. I suppose that 95 per cent is based on a
recommendation to the Secretary by the seal board, that is, the ad-
visory board of the Commissioner of Fisheries, including Doctor
Jordan, who is one of the members.

Mr. W. I. Lempkey (agent in charge). I would state, Mr. Chair-
man, that the regulations at present in force on the islands reserve
more than 5 per cent of the number of 3-year-old seals estimated
to be in the herd at the present time; this I take it, however, is the
minimum limit, under which it would be impossible to go without
violating the law. At the present time with a herd, in round numbers,
of 140,000, we reserved only 2,000 males each of 2-year-olds
and 3-year-olds and 1-year-olds, and that represents 12,000 3-year-old
males in existence

Senator Brices. How do you reserve them ?

Mr. Lempxey. Before any killing has been allowed the lessee these
seals are driven up and marked by the government agents in such
a manner as to make them recognizable during the drives in the
summer. These seals bearing this mark are immune from killing,
and those 3-year-old seals which have been branded and immunized
from the killing, that is, from the 3-year-old killing, pass over until
the next year to the 4-year-old kills.

Senator Briccs. How do you mark them ?

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 17

Mr. Lompxry. Mark them by sheep shears by clipping a piece off
of the top of their head.

Senator Smiru. Does this marking render them immune from
killing when they pass the 3-mile limit?

Mr. Lempxery. No, sir, that is speaking of the killing entirely on
land.

Senator Hryrurn. I would lke to ask you: Do seals mate like
birds?

Mr. Lemexey. No, sir; they are highly polygamous; a family is
established by each bull, having in it as many cows as he can seize.

Senator Hrysurn. Do you think one seal bull is sufficient for a
hundred females?

Mr. Lempxey. I have my doubts about that; the average harem
on St. Paul is about forty.

Senator Dixon. Now, someone raised a question yesterday in the
Senate, I.don’t remember who it was, that instead of the proceeds of
the skins going into a fund to be disbursed by the Secretary that it
ought to go into the Treasury straight and appropriations made from
year to year. What would you say, Mr. Secretary, to the members of
the committe regarding that ?

Secretary Nacev. Personally, I should prefer it; I do not know
how convenient it will really prove to be, but as a matter of account-
ing, and as a matter of my responsibility in the premises, I should
prefer to have it go into the Treasury, because I never like a side
business like this and would consider it only because of the general
temporary character of this legislation; as a permanent piece of legis-
lation I would never be willing to advocate it.

Senator Crark. I think, Mr. Chairman, from past experience my
own impression is that a great deal of the difficulty that has arisen
from the administration of the Forestry Service has been because of
the fact that this same line was followed in the early administration
of the Forestry Service and gave rise to a tremendous amount of
criticism adverse to the officials of the Forestry Service, and I can see
where this will lead to the same thing.

Senator Drxon. Would you suggest any amendment there ?

Senator CrarK. No; I was going to suggest that we pass it over.

Secretary Nace. Before passing, I wish to call your attention to
this fact, that this law must be enacted very promptly, if at all, be-
cause in five weeks

Senator Crark. Now, of course, we have not had this bill very
long to look over. I understand that the principal point in which
you are immediately concerned—the great cause of haste is because
the law states that on the expiration of the lease a new lease shall be
be made by somebody, and that that lease expires on April 30. Speak-
ing in a legislative sense, if we should give relief to that part of the
bill, would it be necessary to fix all the details for the future govern-
ment of the islands?

Secretary Nacret. Perhaps not; but you would of necessity be com-
pelled to make provision for the inhabitants and conditions of that
kind, and that is precisely the point to which I expected to address
myself. Appropriations will have to be promptly made because
inside of five weeks Mr. Bowers must take charge of these islands and
have provision made for supplies, ete., for these people.

S. Doe. 605, 61-2

9
a

18 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Senator Crark. Of course, I may be mistaken, but our appropria-
tion for the inhabitants of the islands are now carried in our general
appropriation bills—in the sundry civil appropriation bill. Now,
our sundry civil appropriation bill of last year continues up to the 1st
of July, and if found necessary, could not the same provision be put
in the sundry civil bill for the next year ¢

Secretary Nacet. Perhaps so; but in the meantime, if the con-

‘actors retire within five w eeks, we ought to be in position not only
m protect the inhabitants, but the herds themselves, ought we not?

Senator Crark. Well, I am going on the assumption ‘that that is
already provided for by law at the present time. There are pro-
visions of law at the present time as to the preservation of those
seals which are unsatisfactory. The preservation of the seals and the
government of the islands and everything is now in the hands, as I
understand it, of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and that the
authority of the Secretary of the Treasury was transferred to the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Now, those laws provide that
nobody shall land on the islands, and give the Secretary absolute
dominion over the islands in all particulars. And then this law that
was passed in 1870—I think it was 1870—provides that this contract
should be by the Secretary either renewed or a new contract made
with some other person when that contract had expired. Now, the
question raised in my mind was whether, if the relief were granted—
this hasty relief that is to be granted, according to the views of
everybody, relieving the Secretary of making this new contract—
whether or not the same was necessary to

Senator Dixon. But suppose this bill only carried the repeal of
these present laws, wouldn’t it leave it in a state of chaos up there
for the next year ?

Senator Ciark. I don’t think so.

Senator Drxon. What authority would you have to take care of
the natives?

Senator Ciark. Civil authority. You would have exactly the same
authority, as I understand it—the Secretary would have the same
authority over the islands and over the seal herd that he has now.

Senator Dixon. But if you merely enacted the repealing clause—
over here in section 8 it provides some new legislation making it
unlawful for citizens of the United States to kill or hunt anywhere
above the 35th parallel—wouldn’t it be just as easy to get your new
legislation as it would be to attempt it in a separate bill?

‘Senator Crark. Possibly.

Senator Dintrncuam. The fund provided for in section 2 is really
of small importance compared to other funds—for instance, the for-
estry fund.

Senator Drxon. As a matter of fact, if this bill passes, it would be
a closed season; you would really have no fund, for sometime, at
least.

Senator Hrysurn. We would have fund enough to protect the
3-mile limit of the islands, which runs to the end of the fiscal year.

Dr. W. T. Hornapay. I would like to point out at this juncture
one very important matter for consideration. We must constantly
have our eye fixed on the work that the State Department will have
to do, with Canada in particular. It seems to me absolutely certain
that the Secretary of State can not do much with Canada unless he

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 19

can go to the Canadian government and say, “ We have stopped
killing seals on the islands absolutely; there is no more killing for
profit; only to feed the natives. Now, if we can say that, our posi-
tion with Canada will be strong, and if we can not say that, our
position will be weak. Look at our position with Canada ; the moral
effect of going to Canada with absolutely clean hands in our negotia-
tions and asking them, for decency sake, to join us in our efforts to
get this matter on a practicable basis.

Secretary Nacex. If we once agree not to kill at all we may find
that we have furnished the very ‘condition that makes it attractive ;
whereas, if we have the power to do either, we are in a much stronger
position. I know nothing about it myself, but we may find that a
proposed agreement between our country and some other country is
based on the returns—of course, I Besibite to speak too strongly in
favor of this bill because I am not inviting the burden. I would just
as leave have it some place else. But in my judgment this is the
intelligent way to approach the subject.

Senator Heysurn. Now, there is a provision that the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor shall have authority to purchase from the
present lessee of the right to take seals on the islands of St. Paul and
St. George, the warehouses, salt houses, boats, launches, ete.

Solicitor Earn. I do not think the contract provides for what
should be done with the lease.

Senator Dixon. This section simply gives the Secretary the right
to purchase.

Senator Hrysurn. The question is whether we want to purchase
this at all. The question is why should we purchase it at all.

Senator Dixon. Doctor Lembkey, what have you to say as to why
the Government should purchase these articles.

Mr. Lemsxey. Mr. Chairman, whether the Government should
purchase these dwellings or allow them to be occupied by the em-
ployees of the Government, after purchasing them, is a question not
for me to decide, but I do think, as a matter of fairness, the company
should receive compensation for that property which they shall
abandon.

Senator DintrncHam. How many buildings are now occupied by
the natives there?

Mr. Lemexey. There are 50 or 60 native houses on St. Paul Island,
and there are about 25 or 30 on St. George; I imagine they are
appraised by the company at about $250 apiece; these are occupied
by the natives as their family residences, erected by the Alaska
Commercial Company in about 1872, and purchased by the North
American Commercial Company from the Alaska Commercial Com-
pany in 1890, when the property of the old lessee was turned over to
the new. In addition to the natives? dwellings atrace is a large
residence on either island for the company employees, a storehouse
on either island, several warehouses and houses for the storage of
goods, there are "two salt houses on St. Paul and one on St. George,
four or five mules on St. Paul, and various other stock, one steam
launch, and some boats. This property, with the exception of the
boats, could not be removed, in my opinion, and of course it would
remain on the island if it was purchased by the Government. It
would be impossible to remove the dwellings, Of course, they might

20 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

‘aze them, destroy them, or tear them down; in that case, it would
be obligatory by the Government.

Senator GuGccenuemm. What is the probable value of that entire
outfit 4

Mr. Lempxny. Well, I could not estimate it, because I have no idea
of the first cost; I have heard it variously estimated from $60,000
to $90,000.

Senator Dixon. Does that include the boats, launches, and every-
thing? .

Mr. Lempkery. Yes, sir.

Secretary Nace. Are you speaking of the first cost ?

Mr. Lempxery. I was speaking of the amount the new company
paid to the old company; the amount they paid for their para-
phernalia.

Secretary Nacen. That would be twenty years ago?

Mr. Lempxkery. Yes, sir; I have heard both of those amounts
stated—$60,000 and $90,000.

Senator Hryspurn. Would that include the boats?

Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir, everything; the boats are simply small row
boats, with one steam launch.

Senator Dixon. I do not think it is objectionable myself.

Senator Hrysurn. I do not want to appear objectionable, but if
we purchase them, it should be because we want them and not because
they have to abandon them.

Senator Dinnrncuam. They stay there on account of the sealing
business; there is absolutely nothing else to do except that; they are
fixtures the same as the seals are. I was wondering if it would not
be better if those are acquired, that they be acquired by the United
States and then any disposition of them made afterwards which
seems to be best.

Mr. Lempxey. May I state that it would be necessary for the Gov-
ernment either to acquire the paraphernalia of the sealing company
or to provide paraphernalia of its own. It is absolutely impossible
for us—for the present officers or the officials of the islands to con-
duct the business without this or similar paraphernalia; we must
have the paraphernalia of the North American Sealing Company or
similar paraphernalia.

Secretary Nacrn. As to these buildings and this property, we,have
put this provision into this section really because it was suggested
in the original transfer of the old lease to the present lease, and
because we know we shall be in immediate need of just these kind
of facilities. Of course, we might rely on our right to secure these
buildings at the expiration of the lease, but I imagine that the tenant
has the right to destroy them if he sees fit so to do.

Senator Dotutver. What kind of houses are these!

Mr. Lempxey. They are frame houses.

Senator Drxon. One room or two?

Mr. Lempxey. I think there are two rooms, very small houses, an:|
a small overhang which serves as a room.

Senator Dotiiver. You do not seem to provide for the valuatic»
on these things.

Senator Dixon. Line 16 “at a fair valuation to be agreed upon.

Secretary Nacen. Doctor Lembkey, you have been stationed u>
there ?

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 21

Mr. Lempxery. Yes, sir.

Secretary Nacen. For how many years?—A. Ten years.

Mr. Lempxey. What is your official title?—A. I am special agent
in charge of the seal fisheries.

Senator Dotutver. I would like to ask who holds the lease at
present ?

Mr. Lempxey. The lease is now held by the North American Com-
mercial Company, a corporation chartered under the laws of the
State of California.

Senator Dotiiver. Is it known who are the stockholders?

Mr. Lempxkery. There is a pamphlet in existence which gives the
articles of incorporation and the names of those who appear as
stockholders.

Senator Dotiiver. Who are the present owners of the stock ?

Mr. Lempexey. I have no knowledge as to that.

Senator Crark. It is generally understood, whether it is based on
facts or not I do not know, that D. O. Mills, or the estate of D. O.
Mills, owns the greater portion of the stock.

Doctor Hornapay. Y es, sir; and Mr. Henry Liebes, of San Fran-
cisco, the president of the company, owns one-third of the stock, and
the estate of D. O, Mills at present two-thirds of it.

Mr. Lempxey. Mr. Taylor is the present president; Henry Liebes
was the president, but Mr. Taylor is at present the president.

Secretary Nace. Now, of course, this bill was delayed, and I am
in a measure responsible ‘for the delay. Without going into details,
I would like to say that I have been in conference with the Secretary
of State for some time, and he suggested to me not to take any steps
of any kind for a time because of the condition of the negotiations
pending, and I am moved at this time beeause I could not ‘delay the
matter any longer.

Senator Dorriver. Did you find out what negotiations of the State
Department are likely to be disturbed by this legislation’ ? A member
of that committee tried to explain to me that it was rather a delicate
subject to go into at all.

Secretary Nace. How this proposed legislation might affect the
negotiations pending between the State Department and other
countries! U

Senator Dotuiver. Yes; these negotiations with Japan and Russia.

Secretary Nacen. No; quite to the contrary, I think I am at hberty
to say that this legislation meets with the entire approval of the
State Department ; T have not taken a step without conferring with
them.

Senator Dixon. How urgent are the old lessees that you execute a
new lease ?

Secretary Nacex. I do not know, but I should imagine that they
would like to have it; they have been quite reticent with me.

Senator Dixon. If a new lease is authorized, the present company
is practically the only company that can bid?

Secretary NAGEL. T do not know about that; I may not be in posi-
tion to give all the facts, but there have been a number of inquiries
from other persons as to when this lease would be awarded.

Senator Dixon. Have you advertised ?

Secretary Nacen. No, we have not, but as early as last November I
put this matter before the State Department, taking the position then

99, FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

that it was a case of pelagic sealing—the end of the seal or the end
of pelagic sealing; since then we have communicated, and I have held
off as long as I could. What is now done is done with the entire
approval of the State Department.

Senator Dotuiver. What is this $150,000 for ?

Mr. Lempxery. That would be for the cost of getting supplies to
the islands, the cost of maintaining the school, wages, salaries, ete.

Mr. Bowers. I will say that the natives have received from the
sale of the skins 75 cents for each skin, amounting to $12,000, which
goes to the natives to their support, and that $12,000 with the $19,500
makes an appropriation of $31,500.

Senator Dixon. You say now about $19,500 carried in the sundry
civil bill?

Mr. Bowers. Yes, sir.

Senator Dixon. And $12,000 which the natives receive for skinning
the seals?

Mr. Bowers. Yes, sir; that is the whole amount of money that the
natives have received. Is not that your construction, Doctor
Lembkey ?

Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir; under this lease; under the previous lease
they got as high as $40,000.

Senator Dotitiver. Why should we have this amount of appropria-
tion ?

Secretary Nacrer. I can see one reason: This North American
Commercial Company provides educational facilities and things of
that sort, as I remember the contract, doesn’t it, Doctor ?

Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir; I will state, Mr. Chairman, that it is
necessary to take about 600 tons of supplies to the islands each year,
purchased in San Francisco and other points on the coast; in order to
do this heretofore it has been necessary to charter a vessel. A rather
undetermined amount, of course, will have to be paid from this
appropriation.

Senator Drxon. Approximately, how much?

Mr. Lempxey. It 1s questionable if you could get it chartered on
the coast at this day for less than $300 a day.

Senator Drxon. How many days?

Mr. Lempxey. About one hundred and fifteen days.

Senator Drxon. That would be $40,000.

Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir.

Senator Dixon. And then the purchase of supplies as well; how
much would that amount to?

Mr. Lempxey. The entire $31,000 would be expended, of course.
If you intend to take out the appropriation of the $19,000 from the
sundry civil bill that, of course, would make the charge against this
amount of $150,000 just that much more.

Senator Dixon. Would it take $150,000, or would $100.000 suffice ?

Mr. Lempxey. One hundred thousand dollars would suffice, in my
opinion, provided it is not necessary to expend any of that money for
the paraphernalia of the company; but being a man interested in the
practical work of the fur-seal industry there, I feel that we should
have some assurance that in landing these supplies and taking the
sealskins that we shall be required to take we should be able to use
the complete paraphernalia for that purpose which the lessee has

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. oS

provided; otherwise we would be almost at a loss to transact the
business of the Government.

Senator Drxon. You think, then, that $150,000 would cover the
entire amount of the expenditure ?

Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir.

Doctor Hornapay. I wish to express, on behalf of myself and
the men that I represent, our great delight in the progress that has
been made for the saving of the fur seal. Far be it from me to
offer any form of criticism, but since the matter is now in the forma-
tive stage, it is perhaps proper for me to offer one or two suggestions
that seem to me to be important; otherwise I would not occupy your
time with them. As you are aware, I am deeply interested in this
subject and am indeed delighted that it is to reach this conclusion.

Now, the men of the Camp Fire Club, which club has a member-
ship of 350, who have taken this matter up in the most patriotic
spirit, are convinced that our position as a nation really demands
the going to Canada and Japan with absolutely clean hands and
saying, “ We have stopped the killing of seals on our islands.” If
we go to them and say that, they will, of course, say to us, “ How
do you prove that—what have you to show for that assertion—where
is your regulation that backs up your statement that you have stopped
the killing of seals on those islands; ” this bill, No. 7242, is to provide
for the killing of seals and the taking of skins. Now, that brings
me to the crux of what I consider a very serious condition. We have
contended in our own minds at least, and sometimes on paper, that
following the Russian experience, the situation demands an absolutely
closed season. I am aware of the fact that the advisory board of the
fur-seal service holds a different view; in fact, holds to the view as
enunciated to the Commissioner of Fisheries and the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, that it is right to kill 95 per cent annually of
the 38-year-old bachelor seals.

Now, in conversation with some of the members of the advisory
board, I have learned that those members have held the view that it
is necessary for the preservation of the fur-seal herd that these males
be allowed to be killed; that they will fight over the females and tear
them to pieces and thus kill them. I am obliged to say here that I
differ entirely from that view. As a zoologist who has made some
study on the subject of the restoration of nearly exterminated species,
IT am fully convinced that the finest way in the world to restore any
depleted species is to protect that species on good feeding grounds
and let it alone. We know that just prior to the acquisition of those
islands by the United States, seals existed there literally in millions.
The proportion of males was so great that it was possible to kill a
hundred thousand without their being missed. And we know that,
as a matter of zoological history, there is not a single species in the
world which has required the intervention of man for the purpose of
the killing off of its surplus males. Now that is a fact that is not
open to argument at all; it is a fixed zoological fact. In my opinion,
there is absolutely nothing to fear from the surplus male seals if you
declare a closed season there for a certain period of years. I think
that the situation would be greatly strengthened if this Government
and Congress could have now some assurance from some one, pre-
ferably the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, regarding the future
operations on the seal islands during the next five years.

94 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Senator Crark. How could we have that, Doctor ?

Doctor Hornapay. If the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
should elect to assure us now that he does not consider it expedient
or wise to kill any seals there for commercial purposes during the
next five years, I think that would be entirely sufficient.

Senator Cuark. How could that possibly be sufficient when you
consider the possibility of a change in administration, and when you
consider the further possibility of the fact that the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor can in no sense, except as a matter of policy,
bind his successor; of course, he could establish for the present the
policy of his department, but that policy would be subject to any
change that any successor might see fit to make.

Secretary Nacren. I might say here that it would be subject to the
President’s control at any minute; and I might also say that it would
be subject to conference with the State Department, and my policy
would be controlled entirely by that consideration.

Senator Duxincuam. Does not this bill place the Secretary, and
in fact, the Government, in a position where they can say anything
they please to Japan and to Great Britain; they have the power by
law to kill or not to kill, and in their negotiations, do they not now
possess the advantage that you think they should have?

Doctor Hornapay. Well, that is quite true, but I do not think it
goes far enough; there is no assurance in this bill or in these proceed-
ings, so far, that there is actually to be a cessation of the killing
of seals for commercial purposes on those islands for any given
length of time. The point is raised, of course, that if we can not
suppress pelagic sealing then the logical thing to do is for us to pro-
ceed to kill on the islands until the seals are all exterminated. You
will remember, a bill was introduced in Congress not long ago pro-
viding that unless we got some arrangements with Canada, that we
should proceed to the killing of seals on the islands. I do not at all
agree with this plan of procedure. If we can not stop pelagic seal-
ing and the seals are to be exterminated, I should much rather see
them exterminated on the high seas than on the islands of the United
States. We have for a matter of twenty years smarted under the
wanton disgrace of the destruction of the buffalo millions, and for
my part, as an American citizen, I would not consider it desirable for
one moment for this Government to exterminate the fur seal simply
because we can not stop pelagic sealing. I would rather see the
odium rest entirely on the pelagic sealers, even though we should
lose a few thousand dollars ourselves.

Senator Dixon. As I understand it, the policy of the administra-
tion is to enforce a closed season; that is the desired policy?

Doctor Hornapay. I should like to see it the policy, and that is
what I am asking. I wish it remembered now,.that I make the spe-
cific request that, no matter how it is attained, that there should
be provided a closed season of at least five years. I think it is a
zoological necessity.

Doctor Evermann. I wish to say that the advisory board of the
fur-seal service carefully considered this question as to whether there
should be an entire stopping of killing on these islands for one year,
{wo years, or any number of years. The advisory board is made up
of people who have all been to the seal islands and are more or less
familiar with conditions there. It was the unanimous opinion of this

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 25

advisory board that the entire stopping of killing of the seals there
could have no effect whatever upon the increasing of the herd. It
would have no more effect upon increasing the herd of seals upon the
islands than would the fact of a farmer keeping all of his bulls and
rams and boar pigs. The seal is highly polygamous and leaving all
of the males would be just as useless as it would be for a man who has
a flock of sheep to keep all of his rams, and by tying your hands so
that you will not kill any seals at all upon the islands you will be
playing right into the hands of the pelagic sealers.

Senator Crark. Upon what authority of law was this advisory
board appointed ?

Doctor Evrermann. Under no authority of law, but it was ap-
pointed by Secretary Straus, former Secretary of Commerce and
Labor.

Senator Crark. And of whom does the board consist ?

Doctor Evermann. The board consists of Mr. Lembkey, the chief
fur-seal agent on the islands; Dr. David Starr Jordan, president
Leland Stanford University; Dr. C. Hart Merriam, director of the
Biological Survey; Dr. Leonard Stejneger; Mr. I’. A. Lucas, director
of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; Charles H. Townsend,
who has been on the islands many times, who is now director of the
New York Aquarium; Edwin W. Sims, formerly solicitor of the de-
partment, and Mr. Frank H. Hitcheock, the present Postmaster-
General; all of whom I think, with the exception of Mr. Hitcheock,
have visited the islands.

The Crartrman. Is there anyone else present who desires to be
heard? [Pause.] If not this concludes the hearing and the com-
mittee will stand adjourned.

Appended hereto will be found the bill as introduced, the message
of the President, the report of the committee, and the law on this
subject.

[Pusnic, No: 146. SS: 7242.)
AN ACT To protect the seal fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor shall have power to authorize the killing of fur seals and the taking of
sealskins on the Pribilof Islands, in Alaska, under regulations established by
him prescribing the manner in which such killing shall be done and limiting
the number of seals to be killed, whenever he shall determine that such killing
is necessary or desirable and not inconsistent with the preservation of the seal
herd: Provided, however, That under such authority the right of killing fur seals
and taking sealskins shall be exercised by officers, agents, or employees of the
United States appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and by the
natives of the Pribilof Islands under the direction and supervision of such
officers, agents, or employees, and by no other person: And provided further,
That male seals only shall be killed and that not more than ninety-five per
centum of three-year-old male seals shall be killed in any one year.

Sec. 2. That any and all sealskins taken under the authority conferred by
the preceding section shall be sold by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
in such market, at such times, and in such manner as he may deem most ad-
vantageous; and the proceeds of such sale or sales shall be paid into the
Treasury of the United States: Provided, That the directions of this section,
relating to the disposition of sealskins and the proceeds thereof. shall be
subject to the provisions of any treaty hereafter made by the United States
for the protection of seal life.

°6 FUR-SEAL. FISHERIES.

Src. 8. That whenever seals are killed and sealskins taken on any of the
Pribilof Islands the native inhabitants of said islands shall be employed in such
killing and in curing the skins taken, and shall receive for their labor fair
compensation, to be fixed from time to time by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, who shall have the authority to prescribe by regulation the manner in
which such compensation shall be paid to the said natives or expended or other-
wise used in their behalf and for their benefit.

Sec. 4. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of
the United States and section one hundred and seventy-three of the act of
Mareh third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

‘“No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or other fur-
bearing animal, within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters thereof ;
and every person guilty thereof, shall, for each offense, be fined not less than two
hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than six
months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo found
engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor shall have power to authorize the killing of any such mink,
marten, sable, fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal under such regulations as
he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor to prevent the killing of any fur seal except as authorized by law and to
provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it is otherwise
ro by law.”

Sec. 5. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes
of the United States and section one hundred and seventy-six of the act of
March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“The Pribilof Islands, including the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George,
Walrus and Otter Islands, and Sea Lion Rock, in Alaska, are declared a special
reservation for government purposes; and until otherwise provided by law it
shall be unlawful for any person to land or remain on any of those islands,
except through stress of weather or like unavoidable cause or by the authority
of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and any person found on any of
those islands contrary to the provisions hereof shall be summarily removed and
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine not exceeding five
hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both fine
and imprisonment; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor to carry this section into effect.”

Sec. 6. That section nineteen hundred and sixty of the Revised Statutes of
the United States and section one hundred and seventy-seven of the act of
March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“Tt shall be unlawful to kill any fur seal upon the Pribilof Islands, or in
the waters adjacent thereto, except under the authority of the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, and it shall be unlawful to kill such seals by the use of
firearms or by other means tending to drive the seals away from those islands;
but the natives of the islands shall have the privilege of killing such young seals
as may be necessary for their own food and clothing, and also such old seals
as may be required for their own clothing and for the manufacture of boats
for their own use; and the killing in such cases shall be limited and controlled
by such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor.”

Src. 7. That section nineteen hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes
of the United States and section one hundred and seventy-eight of the act of
March third, eighteen hundred and nintey-nine, be amended to read as follows:

“Tt shall be unlawful to kill any female seal or any seal less than one year
old at any season of the year, except as above provided; and it shall also be
unlawful to kill any seal in the waters adjacent to the Pribilof Islands, or on
the beaches, cliffs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain; and
every person who violates the provisions of this or the preceding section shall
be punished for each offense by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars nor
more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not more than six months,
or by both such fine and imprisonment; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel,
and furniture, whose crews are found engaged in the violation of either this
or the preceding section shall be forfeited to the United States.”

Sec. 8. That section one of the act of December twenty-ninth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-seven, be amended to read as follows:

“No citizen of the United States, nor person owing duty of obedience to
the laws or the treaties of the United States, nor any person belonging to or
on board of a vessel of the United States, shall kill, capture, or hunt, at any

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 27

time or in any manner whatever, any fur seal in the waters of the Pacific
Ocean, including Bering Sea, and the sea of Okhotsk, whether in the terri-
torial waters of the United States or in the open sea.”

Sec. 9. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have authority
to appoint such additional officers, agents, and employees as may be necessary
to carry out the provisions of this act and the laws of the United States relat-
ing to the seal fisheries of Alaska, to prescribe their duties and to fix their
compensation : he shall likewise have authority to purchase from the _ pres-
ent lessee of the right to take seals on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint
George, at a fair valuation to be agreed upon, the warehouses, salt houses,
boats, launches, lighters, horses, mules, wagons, and other property of the said
lessee on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, including the dwell-
ings of the natives of said islands; he shall likewise have authority to estab-
lish and maintain depots for provisions and supplies on the Pribilof Islands and
to provide for the transportation of such provisions and supplies from the
mainland of the United States to the said islands by the charter of private
vessels or by the use of public vessels of the United States which may be
placed at his disposal by the President; and he shall likewise have authority
to furnish food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other necessaries of life to the
native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands and to provide for their comfort,
maintenance, education, and protection.

Sec. 10. That sections nineteen hundred and sixty-two, nineteen hundred
and sixty-three, nineteen hundred and sixty-four, nineteen hundred and sixty-
five, nineteen hundred and sixty-six, nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, nineteen
hundred and sixty-eight, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine, nineteen hundred
and seventy, nineteen hundred and seventy-one, and nineteen hundred and
seventy-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and all acts and parts
of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. The provisions of this
act shall take effect from and after the first day of May, nineteen hundred and
ten; and there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
earrying into effect the provisions of this act.

Approved, April 21, 1910.

[Senate Report No. 441, Sixty-first Congress, second session. ]

The Committee on Conservation of National Resources having had under
consideration the bill (S. 7242) to protect the seal fisheries of Alaska, and for
other purposes, beg leave to report the same with the recommendation that it
pass with certain slight amendments.

After extensive hearings, covering every phase of the fur-seal question, your
committee is of the unanimous opinion that unless legislation is had im-
mediately the final extermination of the fur seal in American waters will be an
accomplished fact within the next two or three years. The present lease to the
North American Commercial Company will expire April 30, 1910. The com-
mittee believes that the provisions of the present leasing law are mandatory,
and unless remedial legislation is had before April 30 of this year the United
States Government will be compelled, under the law, to execute a new lease,
either to the present lessees or to some other company, and that with the
execution of such lease the final chapter in the history of the fur seal will have
been written. The committee feels that the present situation is a critical one
and can not too strongly urge the necessity for immediate action. The climatic
conditions existing in these Alaskan waters make the Pribilof Islands the
natural home of the fur seal. They are situated about 2,000 miles from Seattle
by the most direct route, and are isolated from other land, the nearest point
to the south being Unalaska Island, at a distance of 214 miles. The islands con-
stituting the Pribilof group, which are of volcanic origin, are five in number.

St. Paul and St. George islands are the only ones of importance, the others
being small islets and uninhabited. Following the discovery of these islands,
settlements were at once made thereon by the Russians. The killing of the
fur seal by the Russians from the year 1786 until 1885 reduced the fur-seal
herd to a little in excess of 4,000. In 1835 a closed season of ten years was
established. This resulted in a gradual rehabilitation of the Pribilof seal
herd. From 1850 until these islands were acquired by the United States the
killing of the male seals only was permitted under strict regulations of the

28 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Russian Government, with the result that at the time of our acquisition of these
islands in 1867 it was estimated that there were about 4,000,000 fur seals on
the Pribilof Islands. In 1870 the United States adopted the leasing system
in regard to the fur seal. During the twenty-year period of the first ‘lease, in
1870, 100,000 young male seals were killed annually. It was estimated that
so late as 1885 the fur-seal herd approximated about 2,000,000 animals. In
1905 the number had been reduced to about 200,000. The estimate of the pres-
ent number of seals on these islands varies from 80,000 to 140,000. Last season
the catch of male seals on these islands under the lease expiring April 30 was
a little in excess of 14,000 male seals.

THE FUR SEAL AS A REVENUE PRODUCER,

It is estimated by the government officials that the revenue to the United
States Government from 1870 to 1890 from the fur-seal industry turned into
the Treasury an income of $5,981,086.50. Since 1890, under the present leasing
system and the rapid diminution of the seal herd, owing to the catch on land
and to pelagic sealing, the Government has probably paid out for patrolling
the waters, in the pay of its agents and in the maintenance of the natives who
live on these islands, more than $1,000,000 in excess of the revenue formerly
derived from this industry. Your committee is of the opinion that if a closed
season could be established for the islands themselves and pelagic sealing could
be prohibited for a period of ten years that the Pribilof Isiands and the Ameri-
can seal herd on the Pribilof Islands could be so rehabilitated that, under proper
regulations, not less than 100,000 seal skins annually could be taken that would
yield the Government not less than $1,000,000 in revenue yearly.

The President of the United States being impressed with the urgent necessity
of legislation along the lines set forth in the bill under discussion saw fit on
the 15th of this month to transmit to the Congress a special message regarding
the critical condition of the fur-seal industry, which is made a part of this
report and marked “ Exhibit A.”

The purpose of the present bill is to radically and completely change the policy
heretofore pursued with regard to the fur seal. Under the policy now in exist-
ence this herd has diminished from 4,500,000 in 1867 to probably about 60,000
at the present time. Instead of the leasing system heretofore provided for, the
present bill proposes to put the control of the seals wholly within the jurisdic-
tion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, giving him the right to establish
closed seasons if he sees fit to do so, and giving him the right to kill such of
the male seals as the experience of the past thirty years seems to justify. The
bill prohibits pelagic sealing by American citizens absolutely north of the thirty-
fifth parallel of latitude. The North American Commercial Company, whose
lease expires April 30, has certain equipment on these islands that the Goyern-
ment may find it convenient to purchase, and provision is made in the bill to
give the Secretary of Commerce and Labor the right at his discretion to pur-
chase such of the equipment as, in his judgment, he may find it convenient and
necessary for the use of the Government in the future.

There is now on the Pribilof Islands a colony of Aleuts, transported to these
islands from the mainland and the adjoining islands, who have heretofore and
are now utilized in’ connection with the taking of the fur seal. They are
wholly dependent, temporarily, at least, on this Government for their support
and maintenance. It is estimated that they number about 800 persons.

PELAGIC SEALING.

The greatest evil at this time arises from what is called pelagic sealing. The
fur seals being migratory in their habits, they spend about four months of each
year—July, August, September, and October—on the Pribilof Islands, during
which time the females give birth to their young. During the remaining eight
months of the year the seals take their annual migration, the route in general
leading southwesterly from the Pribilof Islands and extending southward as far
as San Francisco, the farthest point south being reached about the month of
January, when the course of their migration turns again northward along the
western coast of Alaska, ending at the Pribilof Islands some time in the month
of July. It is estimated at the present time that the pelagic sealing fleet
contains about 30 vessels, manned by about 1,200 men and using about 3800
boats. The pelagic sealing fleet follows the route of the seals during their
migration, killing them at sea in great numbers. The greatest killing, however,

~

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 29

is done around the islands and close along the Pacific coast, from San Francisco
up to Prince William Sound. During the breeding season, from July to Octo-
ber, the mother seals are obliged to leave the islands to go off shore from 60
to 100 miles in search of food. As soon as the mother seals leave the islands
and get beyond the international jurisdictional limit the pelagic sealers kill
them indiscriminately.. The mother seal is obliged to run the gantlet of this
sealing fleet. The destruction of the mother seal means the starvation of the
offspring on shore. During one season not less than 80,000 dead seal pups were
counted on the Pribilof Islands whose mothers had been killed at sea by the
pelagic sealers.

PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT LEGISLATION TO PROTECT FUR SEALS.

The committee feels that it would not be amiss to call attention to the fact
that heretofore efforts have been made to enact new legislation that would in
some way prevent the total extermination of the fur seal. In 1896, the Hon.
Nelson Dingley introduced H. R. 8206 looking to the protection of the fur seal.
After full debate it passed the House of Representatives unanimously on Feb-
ruary 25. It was favorably reported by Senator Frye on March 4 and made a
special order for March 11, but under urgent representation that “ treaty negotia-
tions had been reopened,” the bill did not pass the Senate.

On February 2, 1903, the House of Representatives passed H. R. 18887, but
on February 12 of that year the bill failed of passage in the Senate, owing to
representations made that the bill would not be needed as the fur-seal question
was about to be settled by treaty negotiations.

In 1903, a special subcommitee of Senators, consisting of Senators Dilling-
ham, Nelson, Burnham, and Patterson, visited the Pribilof Islands and made
an exhaustive report regarding the need of immediate legislation on the part
of Congress. At the following session of Congress Senator Dillingham intro-
duced a bill providing for a closed season, but the bill never received the
favorable consideration of Congress.

In conclusion, the committee would say that the present bill receives the com-
plete approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of Commerce and Labor having appeared before the com-
mittee and urging the necessity for immediate legislation. The bill was also
referred to the Secretary of State, and has his approval.

In order that a full comparison may be had of the provisions of the present
proposed law with the laws now in existence relative to the fur seal, we have
appended hereto, marked “ Exhibit B,’ the sections of the present law as
amended by the present bill; also the sections proposed to be repealed relative
to the leasing of fur-seal privileges.

The committee recommends the following amendments to the bill:

On page 2, line 12, strike out all after the word “ States,’ in said section.

On page 7, line 2, strike out all of said line after the word “islands; ” also
all of line 3, and the words “ thereof and their heirs,” in line 4.

At the end of the bill, section 10, strike out the period in line 25 and insert in
lieu thereof a semicolon, and add the following: ‘*‘ and there is hereby appro-
priated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for carrying into effect the provi-
sions of this act.”

EXHIBIT A.

[Senate Document No. 430, Sixty-first Congress, second session. ]

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

By the terms of section 1963, United States Revised Statutes, the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor is directed, at the expiration of the lease which gives the
North American Commercial Company the right to engage in taking fur seals
on the islands of St. Paul and St. George, to enter into a new lease covering
the same purpose for a period of twenty years. The present lease will expire
on the 30th of April, 1910, and it is important to determine whether or not
changed conditions call for a modification of the policy which has so far been
followed. :

80 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor unite in
recommending a radical change of this policy. It appears that the seal herds
on the islands named have been reduced to such an extent that their early
extinction must be looked for unless measures for their preservation be
adopted. <A herd numbering 875,000 twelve years ago is now reduced to 184,000,
and it is estimated that the breeding seals have been reduced in the same
period of time from 130,000 to 56,000. The rapid depletion of these herds is
undoubtedly to be ascribed to the practice of pelagic sealing, which prevails
in spite of the constant and earnest efforts on the part of this Government to
have it discontinued.

The policy which the United States has adopted with respect to the killing
of seals on the islands is not believed to have had a substantial effect upon the
reduction of the herd. But the discontinuance of this policy is recommended
in order that the United States may be free to deal with the general question
in its negotiations with foreign countries. To that end it is recommended
that the leasing system be abandoned for the present, and that the Government
take over entire control of the islands, including the inhabitants and the seal
herds. The objection which has heretofore been made to this policy, upon the
ground that the Government would engage in private business, has been de-
prived of practical force. The herds have been reduced to such an extent
that the question of profit has become a mere incident, and the controlling ques-
tion has become one of conservation.

It is recommended, therefore, that the provision for a renewal of the lease be
repealed, and that instead a law be enacted to authorize the Department of Com-
merce and Labor to take charge of the islands, with authority to protect the
inhabitants substantially as has been done in the past, and to control the seal
herds as far as present conditions admit of, pending negotiations with foreign
countries looking to the discontinuance of pelagic sealing. If this result can be
obtained, as is confidently believed, there is every prospect that the seal herds
will not only be preserved but will increase, so as to make them a source of
permanent income.

A draft of a bill covering this matter has been prepared by the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, and upon request will be submitted to the appropriate
committees.

WM. H. Tart.

THE WHITE House, March 15, 1910.

EXHIBIT B.
SECTIONS AMENDED.

No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or other fur-
bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in the waters thereof;
and every person guilty thereof shall for each offense be fined not less than
two hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than
six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo
found engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary
of Commerce and Labor shall have power to authorize the killing of any such
mink, marten, sable, fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal under such regula-
tion as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor to prevent the killing of any fur seal except as authorized by
law, and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until
it is otherwise provided by law.

The Pribilof Islands, including the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George,
Walrus and Otter islands, and Sea Lion Rock, in Alaska, are declared a special
reservation for government purposes; and until otherwise provided by law it
shall be unlawful for any person to land or remain on any of those islands,
except through stress of weather or like unavoidable cause or by the authority
of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and any person found on any of those
islands contrary to the provisions hereof shall be summarily removed, and shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding five
hundred dolalrs or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both fine
and imprisonment; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor to carry this section into effect.

FUR-SEAL FISHERIES. 31

It shall be unlawful to kill any fur seal upon the Pribilof Islands or in the
waters adjacent thereto, except under the authority of the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor, and it shall be unlawful to kill such seals at any time by
the use of firearms, or by other means tending to drive the seals away from
those islands; but the natives of the islands shall have the privilege of killing
such young seals as may be necessary for their own food and clothing, and also
such old seals as may be required for their own clothing and for the manu-
facture of boats for their own use; and the killing in such cases shall be
limited and controlled by such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secre-
tary of Commerce and Labor.

It shall be unlawful to kill any female seal, or any seal less than one year
old, at any season of the year, except as above provided; and it shall also be
unlawful to kill any seal in the waters adjacent to the Pribilof Islands, or on
the beaches, cliffs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain; and
every person who violates the provisions of this or the preceding section shall
be punished for each offense by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars
nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not more than six
months, or by both such fine and imprisonment; and all vessels, their tackle,
apparel, and furniture, whose crews are found engaged in the violation of
either this or the preceding section, shall be forfeited to the United States.

No citizen of the United States, nor person owing duty of obedience te
the laws or the treaties of the United States, nor any person belonging to or on
board of a vessel of the United States, shall kill, capture, or hunt, at any time
or in any manner whatever, any fur seal in the waters of the Pacific Ocean,
including Bering Sea and the sea of Okhotsk, whether in the territorial waters
of the United States or in the open sea.

SECTIONS REPEALED.

When the lease heretofore made by the Secretary of the Treasury to ‘‘ The
Alaska Commercial Company,’ of the right to engage in taking fur-seals on
the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, pursuant to the act of July one,
one thousand eight hundred and seventy, chapter one hundred and eighty-nine
IR. S. 1957, 1960-1971, 5293], or when any future similar lease expires, or is
surrendered, forfeited, or terminated, the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
shall lease to proper and responsible parties, for the best advantage of the
United States, having due regard to the interests of the Government, the native
inhabitants, their comfort, maintenance, and education, as well as to the
interests of the parties heretofore engaged in trade and the protection of the
fisheries, the right of taking fur-seals on the islands herein named, and of
sending a vessel or vessels to the islands for the skins of such seals, for the
term of twenty years, at an annual rental of not less than fifty thousand dollars,
to be reserved in such lease and secured by a deposit of United States bonds
to that amount; and every such lease shall be duly executed in duplicate, and
shall not be transferable.

The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall take from the lessees of such
islands in all cases a bond, with securities, in a sum not less than five hundred
thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful observance of all the laws and
requirements of Congress, and the regulations of the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, touching the taking of fur-seals and the disposing of the same, and for
the payment of all taxes and dues accruing to the United States connected there-
with.

No persons other than American citizens shall be permitted, by lease or other-
wise, to occupy the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, or either of them,
for the purpose of taking the skins of fur-seals therefrom, nor shall any foreign
vessels be engaged in taking such skins; and the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor shall vacate and declare any lease forfeited if the same be held or oper-
ated for the use, benefit, or advantage, directly or indirectly, of any persons
other than American citizens.

Every lease shall contain a covenant on the part of the lessee that he will not
keep, sell, furnish, give, or dispose of any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors
on either of those islands to any of the natives thereof, such person not being
a physician and furnishing the same for use as medicine; and every revenue
officer, officially acting as such, on either of the islands, shall seize and destroy
any distilled or spirituous liquors found thereon; but such officer shall make
detailed reports of his doings in that matter to the collector of the port.

32 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES.

Every person who kills any fur-seal on either of those islands, or in the waters
adjacent thereto, without authority of the lessees thereof, and every person who
molests, disturbs, or interferes with the lessees, or either of them, or their agents
or employés, in the lawful prosecution of their business, under the provisions
of this chapter, shall for each offense be punished as prescribed in section nine-
teen hundred and sixty-one; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, appurtenances,
and cargo, whose crews are found engaged in any violation of the provisions of
sections nineteen hundred and sixty-five to nineteen hundred and sixty-eight,
inclusive, shall be forfeited to the United States.

If any person or company, under any lease herein authorized, knowingly kills
or permits to be killed, any number of seals exceeding the number for each
island in this chapter prescribed, such person or company shall, in addition to
the penalties and forfeitures herein provided, forfeit the whole number of the
skins of seals killed in that year, or, in case the same have been disposed of,
then such person or company shall forfeit the value of the same.

In addition to the annual rental required to be reserved in every lease, as
provided in section nineteen hundred and sixty-three, a revenue tax or duty of
two dollars is laid upon each fur-seal skin taken and shipped from the islands
of Saint Paul and Saint George, during the continuance of any lease, to be paid
into the Treasury of the United States; and the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor is empowered to make all needful regulations for the collection and pay-
ment of the same, and to secure the comfort, maintenance, education, and pro-
tection of the natives of those islands, and also to carry into full effect all the
provisions of this chapter except as otherwise prescribed.

The Secretary of Commerce and Labor may terminate any lease given to any
person, company, or corporation on full and satisfactory proof of the violation
of any of the provisions of this chapter or the regulations established by him.

The lessees shall furnish to the several masters of vessels employed by them
certified copies of the lease held by them respectively, which shall be presented
to the government revenue-officer for the time being who may be in charge at
the islands as the authority of the party for landing and taking skins.

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