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ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION OF NATIONAL
RESOURCES, UNITED STATES SENATE
7) “
ON THE BILL
S. 9959
TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED “AN ACT TO PROTECT
THE SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES,” APPROVED APRIL 21, 1910
No. 1
WASHINGTON
1911
COMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES.
UNITED STATES SENATE.
JOSEPH M. DIXON, of Montana (chairman),
CLARENCE D. CLARK, of Wyoming. WESLEY L. JONES, of Washington.
ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE, of Indiana. FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, of Nevada.
WILLIAM P. DILLINGHAM, of Vermont. LEE 8S. OVERMAN, of North Carolina.
WELDON B. HEYBURN, of Idaho. JOHN H. BANKHEAD, of Alabama.
CHARLES DICK, of Ohio. ELLISON D. SMITH, of South Carolina.
FRANK O. BRIGGS, of New Jersey. CLARENCE WAYLAND WATSON, of West
SIMON GUGGENHEIM, of Colorado. Virginia.
MILES TAYLOR, Clerk.
2
At io
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1911.
The committee met at 10.30 a. m.
Present, Senators Dixon (chairman), Clark of Wyoming, Dilling-
ham, Heyburn, Jones, Smith of South Carolina, and Watson.
Hon. Charles Nagel, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, appeared.
OPENING STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN.
The CHarRMAN (Senator Dixon). Gentlemen, we do not have a
quorum of the committee present. It is almost impossible at this
stage of the session to get a full meeting of a large committee, unless
something of tremendous importance comes up, and on Saturday
morning it is especially hard. I have called the committee together
at the earnest solicitation of some gentlemen for a hearing on the
bill of Senator Nelson, introduced last January, to declare a five-year
absolute closed season. I think there is some difference of opinion
as to what the bill passed a year ago really meant; whether it really
was intended to provide an absolute closed season or not, or whether
discretion was to be given to the department to go ahead with the
kiling. Prof. Elliott and Dr. Hornaday and Mr. Seymour are the
gentlemen who have communicated with me specially regarding this.
As I understand it, you gentlemen have some testimony regarding
conditions on the islands, the killing during the last season, and the
fact, as I understand it, that a large part of the killing was of female
seals, and that the bulls had been killed down to a condition where the
old ones are almost impotent. As J recall it, this is the general line
of the charges. Whom do you wish to have testify, Mr. Seymour?
You are the attorney for the Camp Fire Club.
STATEMENT OF MR. JULIUS H. SEYMOUR, OF NEW YORK, REP-
RESENTING THE CAMP FIRE CLUB OF AMERICA.
Mr. Seymour. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I might say in open-
ing that our purpose is to discuss the merits of this Senate bill No.
9959, as to whether or not now, under the present conditions, no
matter what has gone by in the past, there should be a closed season.
I am sorry that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor did not stay,
as he was in the room; but whatever we do or say, it will be just the
same as if he were here, and he will find that this will be confined
simply to a logical and reasonable discussion of this question.
Senator HeysBurn. Are you in favor of a closed season ?
Mr. Seymour. We are decidedly in favor of a closed season, and
as to that I would like to call on Dr. Hornaday, who is as well versed
3
4 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
in this subject, probably, as anybody living. He will say a few
words in reference to why we believe there should be a closed season.
The CuarrMaAn. We will be glad to hear from Dr. Hornaday.
STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, OF NEW YORK
CITY, CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON GAME-PROTECTION LEGIS-
LATION OF THE CAMP FIRE CLUB OF AMERICA. .
Dr. Hornapay. Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the committee,
I will try to be very brief, because I realize the many necessities of the
situation.
First let me call your attention to the fact that in our original
request to Congress for action in this matter our first specification was
for a cessation of the laws existing; second, a 10-year closed season;
third, the negotiation of treaties for the suppression of pelagic sealing.
We reached these conclusions, gentlemen, after a very long and
careful deliberation and examination of all the facts and all the
records bearing on the case. These decisions were not reached
hastily. We considered the matter from a financial standpoint, from
a political standpoint, and from a zoological standpoint.
I want to speak for a moment on the zoological aspects of this case.
My colleagues will take care of the political side—that is, the treaty
side. I will only add for my part that on the 22d of last March we
addressed to Secretary Knox a specific written request, asking him,
begging him, to renew the propositions contained in what is familiarly
known as the Hay-Durand treaty, and we are credibly informed that
that is the treaty that is now under consideration and has actually
been signed by somebody. That is one feature of what we thought
was very necessary, and which we still think necessary, but that is
only one item of what we regard as a very necessary program. You
gentlemen know quite as well as I do that this situation presents some
extraordinarily difficult aspects. There never has been a conserva-
tion question before this Government which has been so complicated,
so hedged in with difficulties, so fertile of rebuffs and disputes as this.
The whole resources of the United States Government during the 12
years past have not been able to make one iota of progress until your
bill was finally passed by Congress.
Now, we will assume, if you please, that this treaty is about to be
ratified and that it will be ratified. We are praying that it will be
ratified. It is a very important and necessary step, but, even if it
is, there are two other nations to be considered, Japan and Russia,
and it is impossible for anybody to say in advance what they will do.
It is impossible for anybody to say whether they are willing to
negotiate treaties while we go on killing on those islands. We can
not tell what will happen. Let us take no chances on this matter
for the sake of the few paltry dollars that can from year to year be
obtained from this killing. The future stake is too great.
Let us now take up the zoological aspect of the case, which I had
particularly in mind. You see on these is ands the remnant of a
mighty marine life. It is merely a remnant in comparison to the
millions existing years ago, and it is no exaggeration to call it that.
We know the process that has been going on The killing of seals
on land and the killing of seals at sea by the pelagic sealers has gone
on until the fur-seal life has been drained to the very dregs. I don’t
think there is any room for argument on that point.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 5
The CuarrMAn. What is your estimate, Dr. H rnaday, of the
- number of seals left ?
Dr. Hornapay. I can only make a guess at it by the number
available for killing every year, and I think that affords an excellent
index of the condition of that herd. I know that the Bureau of
Fisheries estimates or counts that there are 50,000 breeding females
there. Now, if there are 50,000 breeding females, why is it there are
only 14,000 seals killed each year. It is my opinion that there are
about 30,000 seals left there; 30,000 breeding seals and a small
margin of male life. This opinion is based on the actual killing that
takes place and the absolute knowledge that of that killing a great
deal consists of seal life that formerly was not touched at all. The
limit of size has steadily been lowered; the seals killed are getting
shorter and shorter every year. That means only one thing. I
think if there are 50,000 breeding seals it would be possible to get
30,000 a year, instead of only 14,000.
Senator Hryspurn. You refer to those killed on land; you do not
take into account those killed in the water.
Dr. Hornapay. No; I am not speaking of that at present. Here
is our opportunity to recuperate a desolated species. I want to read
three or four sentences from an article in the last number of the
Popular Science Monthly by a gentleman who is no less a man than
the chairman of the advisory board of the fur-seal service, President
David Starr Jordan, of Stanford University. I think that both sides
can agree that we can afford to bring forward his testimony in regard
to this question. ‘These views are important, gentlemen, in making
a decision on this broad case and it impinges directly on this bill.
The last 30 years have seen the period of greatest activity in the study of biology.
Among other matters, we have seen the rise of definite knowledge of the process of
heredity and its application to the formation and improvement of races of men and
animals. From our
* * * * * * *
With men, as with animals, “ Like the seed is the harvest.’’ In every vicissitude
of race of men or of breed of animals, it is always those who are left who determine
what the future shall be.
All progress in whatever direction is conditioned on selective breeding. There is
no permanent advance not dependent on advance in the type of parenthood. There
: no decline except that arising from breeding from the second-best instead of the
est.
* * * * * * *
We have now to consider only a single factor. In science, this factor is known as
“reversal of selection.’ ‘‘Send forth the best ye breed!”’
* * * * * * *
The decline of a people can have but one cause, the decline in the type from which
it draws its sires. A herd of cattle can degenerate in no other way than this, and a
race of men is under the same laws.
* * * * * * *
The survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence is the primal moving cause of
race progress and of race changes. In the red stress of human history, this natural
process of selection is sometimes reversed. A reversal of selection is the beginning of
degradation. It is degradation itself.
* * *
* * * *
In times of peace there is no slaughter of the strong, no sacrifice of the courageous.
In the peaceful struggle for existence there is a premium placed on these virtues.
The virile and the brave survive. The idle, weak, and dissipated go to the wall.
* * * * * * *
And all laws of probabilities and of averages are subject to a still higher law, the
primal law of biology, which no cross-current of life can overrule or modify. Like
the seed is the harvest.
6 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Here is the situation to-day. Can youorcanany man takea desolated
species that has got down into the slough of despond and go on killing
its males, 95 per cent of them every year, and expect that the fittest
males will survive to do the breeding? I say it can not be done.
The moment man interferes with a wild species, deterioration begins.
The conditions between wild species and domestic species are highly
different. They have always been so and they always will be. There
is not a case on record where man has successfully stepped in to regu-
late the breeding of a wild species with successful results.
Let us take a few cases in point. Take the antelope in the nine
Western States which still contain prong-horned antelope. A little
while ago that species had got down to a very low point. The men
of the West came to see that unless something was done to regulate
it the species was doomed to disappear forever. Did they forbid the
killing of all but 5 per cent of the male antelopes? No, they did not.
They knew it would not do to interfere with those herds in that way.
They passed laws that not a single antelope should be killed, and-to-
day in those nine States which still contain antelope the law is univer-
sally for a long closed season. In most of the States it is five years.
You'can not go out there and kill a male antelope without being fined
in most of the States $500. The males can be picked out by hunters.
The females have no horns, and if they felt it was wise to kill off 95
per cent of the males, it would be easy enough to pick them out and do
it. That is how the States regard it, and the same laws apply to-day
on the Pribilof Islands.
Take the case of the United States Government. Let us see how
the Government regards this question. The caribou on the Alaskan
Peninsula were threatened with extinction—Grant’s caribou. Did
the Government pass a regulation that only males should be killed?
No, indeed; they said all killimg must stop on the Alaskan Peninsula.
They declared a closed season for 10 years, and the same was done in
regard to the caribou on the Kanai Peninsula. That is the way the
Government regards it.
Take the case of the elk in the Yellowstone Park. There are
thousands of elk in the Yellowstone Park and many of them males.
Does the Government permit males to be killed there for the good
of the herd? No, indeed; not a single male may be killed on Goy-
ernment territory. Outside it is different. The big males are culled
off by the hunters during the hunting season; they are culled out
each year. The fittest to survive are the ones first killed. What is
the result ?
Senator Heysurn. Didn’t you state in your former hearing before
us that the seals paired off and mated ?
Dr. Hornapay. The seal is a highly polygamous animal.
Senator HeyBurn. Some one made that statement.
Dr. Hornapay. Yes, I remember it; but each male has his own
harem.
In the case of the elk in the Yellowstone Park the males that are
fittest to survive are killed by the hunters, and if you visit these
herds to-day you can see the result in the deterioration of the stock.
It is a difficult matter for a hunter to go out there now and find a
male with a pair of antlers such as they found 25 years ago. The
antlers are steadily growing smaller.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 7
Take the red deer of Europe, for illustration. Two hundred years
ago the red deer of Germany and Hungary were magnificent animals.
They had antlers verging close onto the size of our best elk to-day.
Go into the old castles of Germany and Hungary where the owners
had a taste for hunting and saving antlers and you will find scores
of pairs of antlers such as can not be found to-day anywhere in the
world on the living animal. The animal, physically, has steadily
gone down. Why? Because the best males have been picked out
and killed. That is the reason—nothing else in the world. I tell
you, gentlemen, interfere with the laws of nature by killing the
males and down goes the physical character of the species.
The same is true of the moose to-day in Maine.
Take the case of the wood duck in the State of New York, to come
closer home. The wood duck had reached a very low point. Sports-
men very grudgingly conceded that fact, and very grudgingly agreed
to a law for its preservation. Did they except 95 per cent of the
males? By no means. They put on an absolute closed-season law
in the State of New York, and yet the males are as easily distinguished
from females as male deer are from female deer.
Coming down to fur seals, take the Russian example. We must
treat things from history. We, certainly, as an enlightened people,
do not need to experience everything ourselves before we act. The
Russians were very greedy in the matter of killing seals. They were
asked, long before they did it, to inaugurate a closed season. They
refused, admitting it would be a good thing, but refused, just by
main strength as it were. You know what happened. The seals
went down to such a point that they were obliged to put on a closed
season for 10 years. It will be said in answer to that that the Rus-
sians killed both females and males. So they did.
Mr. Exxiotr. You are mistaken, Dr. Hornaday; the Russians never
drove from the breeding grounds—never, since 1802—they respected
those breeding grounds better even than we have done.
Dr. Hornapay. I am glad to hear that; I did not so understand it.
Now, gentlemen, this is the conclusion of my point. We claim as
a zoological proposition that the way to bring up the seals of the
Pribilof Islands to a point where the industry of seal killing: will
amount to something, will be worthy of serious consideration, will
bring into our Treasury something worth having, is to give the herds
an absolute rest for five years! If you, as business men, owned those
seals, I will guarantee that that is what you would do. That is what
I certainly would do. I would not any more go on with killing 95
per cent of those males than I would dig up seed potatoes in my fields
and eat them because I thought it was a long time until the harvest.
That is the only way to bring up a species.
The law of nature which requires that man shall keep his hands off
a decimated species is perfectly plain. There is no getting around it;
it is a fixed fact, and I have been'profoundly surprised that certain
distinguished men, otherwise good zoologists, have taken the ground
and stated again and again that 95 per cent of the male seals on these
islands need to be killed for the good of the herd. They do not.
The reason why they do not need to be killed is this: Let those seals
alone and the strongest and the ablest bulls will do the breeding.
That is all there is to it. If you kill 95 per cent of the males, you are
pretty certain to kill 95 per cent of the best bulls. You can not tell
8 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
when you kill 3-year-olds how those animals are going-to develop
when 6 years old. It is impossible, and the result is that just so sure
as we go on killing 95 per cent of these male seals to-day, we will
have left to do the breeding a lot of second and third rate males.
If you let nature alone the biggest and strongest bulls will drive
the weaker ones to one side, and they will do the breeding, and that
is what brings up a species and keeps it up to the highest standard.
It seems to me that that is such a plain business proposition that
there is no possible gainsaying it. No one needs to be a scientific
man to judge of that. It is just as plain as print, and, moreover, we
don’t know what is going to happen to these seals. Now is the time
to stop killing for five years, and Canada has expressed her willing-
ness to abide by that decision if we do it. That will give us time to
ascertain what can be done with Japan and with Russia.
Senator HreyBpurn. You refer to the killing in the water ?
Dr. Hornavay. I refer to the killing on land.
Senator HEYBuRN. We can control the killing on land ourselves.
Dr. Hornapay. That is what I am asking you to do. I am speak-
ing wholly of killing on land, because we all agree that killing in the
water means the killing of a great many females and must be stopped
or the whole industry will be ruined and the fur seal lost. We all
agree upon that, and when this committee reported favorably on the
bill passed last year we thought the matter was settled and that we
were to have a closed season. I am sure some of the members of
this committee thought so too.
Senator HeyBurn. | thought so.
The Cuarrman. I thought so, too, and I believe many of the
Senators thought so.
Senator Heysurn. I never believed in permitting the killing upon
land at all.
Dr. Hornapay. And it came to us of the Camp Fire Club as a
mighty shock when we learned on the 1st of last May that killing was
to go on.
The CuarrMan. I think the universal feeling was that it was going
to be a closed season.
Senator CLark of Wyoming. I don’t think anybody thought
otherwise.
Dr. Hornapay. The whole people of the United States thought
that was settled and that there was to be no further killing. The
President signed that bill on the 21st of April, and on the Ist of May
the Commissioner of Fisheries, Mr. Bowers, announced, and it was
printed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, that they were going on with
the killing again this season, but he qualified it by saying: ‘‘There
will be no wholesale killing, but we think they should be killed for
the good of the herd.”
And what did they do? They killed 12,920 seals, in spite of our
protest. We protested to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in
the strongest terms, that he might be given notice in time of what he
was doing. What was the result? He paid not the shghtest atten-
tion to it so far as refraining from his intended policy was concerned.
The CuarrMAN. Now I want to suggst to the committee, inasmuch
as the department officials are here, including Mr. Lembkey, who was
in charge of the Pribilof killing last year, that we hear from him.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 9
STATEMENT OF MR. WALTER I. LEMBKEY, AGENT IN CHARGE
OF SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, IN THE DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE AND LABOR.
The CHarrman. Mr. Lembkey, what is your official status and
title ?
Mr. Lempxey. My official title, Mr. Chairman, is agent in charge
of seal fisheries of Alaska, in the Department of Commerce and Labor.
The CHarRMAN. You were in charge of the Pribilof Islands and
the killing there during the past season ?
Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir; I have general supervision over that work.
The CuHarrman. And you had been there prior to that time?
Mr. Lempxey. I have been there for 12 years now.
The CHarrman. Now, Mr. Lembkey, go ahead and tell the com-
mittee what the Department of Commerce and Labor did during the
past year in the matter of killing seals; the number you killed, and
the general conditions. Just tell the whole story and why.
Senator Heypurn. And the disposition made of the seals.
The CuairmMan. Yes, and the disposition made of the seals.
Mr. Lempxey. As a matter of fact, the killing on the islands was
carried on during last summer in the same manner, practically, as
it had been carried on during the period of the lessee of the sealing
right. That is to say, before any killing was allowed in the spring
a certain number of the finest of the young males were reserved for
breeding purposes, and were marked so as to be readily discernible
during the season.
Senator HeyBurN. How do you mark them?
Mr. Lempxey. We mark them by clipping the fur off the heads
with sheep shears.
Senator CLark of Wyoming. How long does that last ?
Mr. Lempxey. That lasts during the entire season.
Q. You can not recognize that seal the next season?—A. You can
not recognize the seal the next season, but after this so-called breed
reserve has been secured killing for skins takes place. No skins were
to be killed under 5 pounds in weight; no seals were to be killed that
had skins weighing over 84 pounds. All between those weights, with
the exception of those marked for the breed reserve, were killed.
Drives were made over the killing grounds as often as in the judg-
ment of the native foreman in charge of the seal gang the drive would
be justified. There they were carefully gone over; this reserve for
breeding was carefully guarded from slaughter.
The CuarrMan. What percentage did you reserve from killing of
the males ?
Mr. Lempxey. It is almost impossible to state what percentage of
the whole number we did reserve, because we do not know, for
instance, with any degree of accuracy how many 3-year-olds are in
existence. We can not drive these animals into a corral and count
them over and from this take a certain percentage. As a matter of
fact, some of these animals are always in the water or they haul out
in inaccessible places where they can not be counted.
Q. Approximately what percentage ?—A. Approximately we ob-
served, I should say, 20 per cent of the Beane in existence; from
15 to 20 percent. Not all the killable seals haul out during the sum-
mer at any one time so they can be driven. That you may under-
stand what I mean by “‘haul,’’ I will say that they come on land, so
10 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
that they may gather into drives and be brought to the village; but
of those that did haul out during the summer in 1909, 66 per cent
were killed and 33 per cent were released.
Senator CLark, of Wyoming. Those were all yearlings ?
Mr. Lempxey. All the killable seals of those driven.
Q. But they were all yearlings?—A. They were all yearlings; no
full-grown bulls. Those driven were immature seals.
The CHarrMAN. You mean male seals ?
Mr. Lempxkny. I mean male seals; yes, sir; and of those driven
66 per cent were killed for skins and 33 per cent, or one-third, were
released.
Q. That was under the old contract system?—A. Yes, sir. Now
under this new system we kill about 68 instead of 66 per cent,
the condition being that in our opinion the seals did not for some
climatic reason haul out on land in the same proportions as they did
during the preceding year. Now we have a large number of imma-
ture young males past the age of clubbing growing up to supplant
those old bulls now on the rookeries, which of course are dying off.
We are releasing the number each year to keep up that breeding
reserve, and we do feel that the conditions are demonstrated which
will indefinitely perpetuate this seal species.
The CHairMAN. How many did you kill last year?
Mr. Lempxkey. We killed 12,920.
Q. How many had the old fur company killed the year before ?—
A. They killed 14,000 and something. : .
Q. What was the youngest seal you killed; what age?—A. Two
years old.
Q. The statement has been made that it is hardly possible to dis-
tinguish the male and the female at that age’—A. At 2 years old?
Q. Yes; what is your opinion ?—A. There is considerable difficulty
in distinguishing the young males and females. There is considerable
difficulty in distinguishing the male and the female yearling. They
are both of the same size and general formation. It is almost impos-
sible for anybody not an expert to pick them out and distinguish
between them, and it is rather difficult, even for an expert; but of the
2-year-olds the females are not on the hauling grounds; they are on
the breeding rookeries for their initial impregnation. ‘The 2-year-old
males, on the other hand, are on the hauling out grounds.
Q. In the killing last year, did you kill any female seals ?—A. Not
to my knowledge, sir. I had general supervision, as I-say, over the
work on both islands, but, being back and forth from day to day, I
was not present at every killing and could not, of course, be; but I
carefully interrogated this morning Mr. Judge, who had charge of the
killing on St. Paul, and Maj. Clark, who had charge on St. George, as
to whether any female seals had been killed during the past season, to
their knowledge, and they stated that none had been killed.
Senator CLark of Wyoming. May I ask a question ?
The CuHarrMan. Certainly. I want everybody to ask such ques-
tions as they desire, which will throw light on this subject.
Senator CLarK of Wyoming. Were you present at the hearing on
this bill last year—the bill that was passed by Congress ?
Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir; I was present at one hearing.
Senator Crark of Wyoming. I understand that that bill was
passed at the solicitation of the Department of Commerce and Labor
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, Kt
on the theory that if relief was not granted immediately it would be
necessary to reenter into the contract with the company which had the
privilege of killing at that time, and the complaint made, or I have
understood that to be one of the reasons why that company should
not be given the contract again, was because their method of opera-
tion was such that the herds were rapidly becoming extinct, and it
was necessary to make some general change, which I understood at
that time was to be a closed season. Now, it seems from your state-
ment, notwithstanding the fact that the bill was passed. for the sole
urpose of changing that method of handling these seals, they have
een handled in exactly the same way they were before.
Mr. Lempxey. I of course do not know what communication the
honorable Secretary of Commerce and Labor had with the committee.
I do know this, however, that the question of the renewal of the lease
was a legal point more than anything else; that the law was such that
if it were not amended within a certain time—that is to say, before the
Ist of April, 1910—it would be mandatory upon the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor to renew that lease for a further period of 20 years.
Senator Crark of Wyoming. Perhaps it would be proper for me to
ask this question, which occurs to me at this time: So far as the seal
herd itself is concerned we have not made a bit of advance by the bill
which we took up at the earnest solicitation of the Secretary of Com-
merce and Labor last year and passed; things have been going on in
the same way ?
The CuarrMan. I want to ask Mr. Lembkey if there was danger of
exterminating the seal herd under the contract system, why does not
the same condition obtain when the Government does the killing ?
Mr. Lempxey. I do not believe, Mr. Chairman, that any statement
has ever been made by any person in the Department of Commerce
and Labor or in the Government that the methods practiced on land
have resulted in the diminution of a single life from the herd.
Q. Does it result in deterioration of the species from the standpoint
of Dr. Hornaday—that the indiscriminate killing of the male, or the
killing of the strong, virile male, as well as the weakling, deteriorates
the species ?—A. No, sir; I don’t think so. In the first place, the res-
ervation of males for breeding which we now make is made from the
best of the species, the youngest, the largest, the ablest, and the
strongest examples of their kind coming to the islands at the first: of
the season. They are the stronger swimmers, and therefore get there
first; they are beautiful animals, perfect in every respect. Of these
this reservation for breeding is made, and it can not be said under
those circumstances that we kill the best and reserve only the poorest,
because exactly the opposite is the case.
Senator Hryspurn. Let me ask you there, Mr. Lembkey, how
many seals were born on the island last year, as compared with the
same period under the leasing system ?
Mr. Lempxey. I have estimated that a decrease of 5 per cent
occurred during the past’ year. The exact number of females is
about 14,000, I think, something like that; but, as a matter of
fact, the decrease did not occur that is believed by some.
Now, then, if all the males were allowed to come upon the breeding
grounds and none were killed, it is my belief, based upon actual obser-
vation, that the strongest males obtain positions among the ‘cows
and they are combatted by other males which desire to get stations
12 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
or to oust them from their preemptions and drive them off and take
their harems, and that, as a matter of fact, from the incessant fighting
among these males that have succeeded in obtaining a place on the
rookery, their vigor and vitality is so worn out through excessive
fighting that sooner or later their places are taken by second-grade
males that theretofore have not been able to obtain a foothold. That
is my actual observation.
The CuarkRMAN. What did it cost the Government to do the killing
and selling and the superintending of the killing, during the past
season $
Mr. Lempxkey. Outside of the buying of the plant it cost about
$23,000 in round numbers.
Q. What did you pay for the plant under the appropriation ?—A.
In the neighborhood of $63,000, including merchandise and every-
thing.
Q. How much of that was merchandise, do you remember ?—A. If
I remember correctly, about $12,000; about $51,000 was paid for the
old plant of the fur company.
Mr. MarsHaLyt McLean, of New York City. Mr. Chairman, may I
ask a question ?
The CuarrMaAn. Certainly.
Mr. McLean. If, as you say, there was a reduction of 5 per cent in
the births on the island this year, is it fair to assume that only about —
5 per cent of the females were killed by the pelagic sealers ? ’
Mr. Lempxey. No; no conclusion of that kind can be arrived at.
It would simply mean that the loss might be due to pelagic sealing.
In other words, the increment equaled 95 per cent of the loss. That
is the way to put it.
Q. I was just going to ask what percentage of the females do you
figure were lost or killed through the operations of the pelagic seal-
ers.—A. Oh, various estimates are made. I believe that killing in
Bering Sea consists of at least 75 per cent of the females; on the
west coast probably below that; but that is a conservative estimate.
Q. Can you give us any figures as to the pelagic sealing catch of
last season t—A. I can not; no, sir.
Prof. ELiiorr. Sixteen thousand skins; 13,000 by our people on
the islands and 16,000 by the other agents or pelagic hunters.
Mr. McLean. Assuming those figures are correct, about 75 per
cent would be females, as I understand it ?
Mr. Lempxey. Yes, of course; I could assume from that hypothe-
sis that 75 per cent of the pelagic catch is from that, but, as a matter
of fact, it does not seem to work out.
Prof. ELtiorr. Some of your reserve males are killed there, too,
I suppose ¢
Mr. Lemsxey. Prof. Elliott, I am addressing the committee at
the present time; but I suppose some of them are killed, too.
Mr. SErMour. May I me a question ?
The CHaiRMAN. You are a member of the Camp Fire Club ?
Mr. Srymour. I am a member of the legislative committee of the
Camp Fire Club of America.
Q. I ask Mr. Lembkey whether, under the present circumstances,
he would be in favor of this bill for a closed season of five years? .
Mr. LemBxey. Under the present circumstances, and disregard-
ing the information which I have just received here to the effect that
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 13
a treaty is being concluded, I should say that there was absolutely
no merit in the bill whatever. ;
Q. For what reason, Mr. Lembkey ?—A. The reason is simply this:
That the cause of the loss in seal life is the killing of females at sea.
There is no one who can successfully maintain the proposition that
the killing on land has ever caused the loss of a single life, except those
among the surplus males, which are not necessary for breeding pur-
poses, and for that reason I do not see that the stopping of killing on
land would in any way go to the merits of the situation or to the root
of the matter. If you were to stop killing on land, you would leave
nearly that many more seals forthe huntersintheseato kill. You would
encourage sea killmg by stopping land killing, because you would
give the sea killers so many more seals with which to augment their
catch. That seems perfectly apparent, and unless it can be proven
that the killing on land is of suchanature as to prevent the birth of seals
that otherwise would have been born, you can not prove that the
stoppage of land killing will in any way relieve this situation.
The CuarrMAN. Then it is your contention that if you did not kill
this excess number of malesthat that larger number would be a greater
attraction to the pelagic sealers ?
Mr. Lemspxey. Undoubtedly. Now, then, it seems to me that it is
necessary—since this matter has been gone into, I presume I may
discuss this feature of it—it will be necessary to obtain at least
Japanese concurrence in any proposition of this character, for she
operates possibly 35 pelagic sealers, as against last year 5, I believe,
Canadian vessels.
Q. Were those the cnly vessels engaged last year in pelagic sealing,
5 Canadian and 35 Japanese ?—A. To my knowledge, yes, sir; and
to the knowledge of any one that has been in that portion of the |
country.
Senator Jones. How does that compare with the preceding year ?
Mr. Lempxey. I think there were more Japanese.
The CHarrMAN. What about the allegation that a good many of
the Japanese sealers are really owned by Americans and merely fly
the Japanese flag and have Japanese crews in order to get a status
under international law ?
Mr. Lempxey. The charge was made some years ago, or the rumor
was investigated, you might say, to the effect that a United States
consul in Japan by the name of Kane, who was married to a Japanese
woman, by the way, had stock in companies which owned quite a
number of the Japanese pelagic ships. A request: was made to the
State Department to investigate this rumor, and a reply was received
from the State Department to the effect that they could obtain no
information whatever which would lead them to believe that Mr.
Kane was in any way connected with the pelagic sealing business.
Outside of that one instance I have never heard of an American own-
ing stock in the Japanese fleet. I have heard persistent rumors to
the effect that Americans had stock in the Canadian fleet—the Vic-
toria Sealing Co. (Ltd.)—but outside of those rumors I was never
able to get any further.
Q. What did you get for the sealskins sold by the Government last
year ’—A. If I remember correctly, they netted $403,000, and the net
revenue to the Government was $183,000 more than the year previous
under the old leasing system.
14 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
The CuarrMaNn. What was the amount?—A. $403,000 was the
amount of the gross returns, as I remember.
The CuairMAN. The gross charges for killing amounted to $83,000 ?
A. Dr. Evermann states to me that the $403,000 was net returns,
and not gross.
Q. Then against that you charge up $83,000 for the balance of the
killing by the Government ’—A. Yes, sir; we do that; subtract
$153,000, we will say, and according to that hasty estimate we would
get $167,000 more this year in revenue than we did last year.
Q. What is the total net revenue, deducting the cost of operation ?—
A. It would be $403,000 less $83,000—$320,000.
Q. Then, what did it cost the Government last year to police the
islands with revenue cutters ’—A. There were three cutters on patrol.
The estimated cost of maintaining this cutter patrol is figured—and
a very liberal estimate is made, at that—of, say, $10,000 a vessel
during the summer. That would make, therefore, we will say,
$30,000 as the cost of the patrol. Of course, this does not include
the paying of the officers and men, because they are always under
pay by the Government, and the Government is not put to any addi-
tional expense in maintaining this patrol, except perhaps the extra
coal and water they would consume.
Senator CLark, of Wyoming. It takes three extra vessels, does
it not; the fact of their having to be there requires us to have three
additional vessels ?
Mr. Lempxey. No, sir; I don’t think so.
Q. Then as a matter of fact, the Government is extravagant in
supporting three cutters not necessary for the service, except as they
are used up there /—A. I don’t think you could draw that conclusion,
sir, for the reason that a cutter is needed in emergencies. She might
le in port waiting for some situation to arise which would require her
service; she might lie there for months and then perhaps she would
have to render assistance to wrecks almost continuously for a short
period. These vessels have regular stations on the Pacific coast.
They abandon these stations during the summer and go to the
Siberian Sea. After the season is ended, they return to their stations.
One vessel, I believe, is kept on the Pacific coast of the United States
during the summer and the remainder of the fleet is sent to the
Siberian Sea.
Dr. Hornapay. How many ‘‘short 2-year-olds’’ were killed last
year ?
’ Mr. Lempxey. I do not understand your term. No seals under 2
years old, to my knowledge, were killed.
Dr. Hornapay. What would be the age of the smallest yearlings
taken ?
Mr. LemBxey. Two-year-olds rarely, if any. I may state here,
Dr. Hornaday, that a great difference of opinoin exists between Mr.
Elliott and the remaining people who understand this situation.
There is a great gulf between their opinions, and it can never be
reconciled on the question of the weights of skins of 2-year-olds.
Prof. Exxrorr. I will present my information in a moment.
Dr. Hornapay. The minimum weight is what ?
Mr. Lempxey. Five pounds. During food drives made by the
natives, when the seals killed are limited to 63 pounds, in order to
exclude all these 3-year-olds branded during the summer, you under-
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 15
stand the natives do kill down a little more closely than our regula-
tions allow, for the reason that they need the meat, and since they
have to exclude all these fine, fat seals over 64 pounds they go for
the little fellows a little more closely.
The CHarrman. How many seals were killed last year for food by
the natives ?
Mr. Lempxey. The limit was 2,500. Speaking offhand, I think
about 2,300 were killed.
Q. Were any females killed ?—A. No, sir; not to my knowledge,
and, as I stated, I carefully interrogated these two gentlemen who
had charge of this killing, and they stated that to their knowledge
no female was killed.
Q. What class of males were killed by the natives for food ?—A.
Under 64 pounds, which we adopt to exclude all the 3-year-olds.
There may be a few small yearlings in that, but we believe that is the
limit of yearlings that were killed for food. There may have been
some very small yearlings in that; I don’t know.
Senator Heyspurn. I would like to ask this witness while on the
stand this question: In what market were the skins sold by the
Government and to whom?
Mr. Lempxey. They were sold in London; the factor that super-
intended the sale was Lampson & Co., the same concern that acted
in that capacity for the lessee, and they were sold at auction by that
company in London.
Q. Were they sold in large batches?—A. They were divided into
lots of about 83 or 90 and sold in those lots.
The Cuarrgman. Did one concern buy all the skins?
Mr. Lempxey. I have no idea as to that, but I fancy that bidders
were numerous.
Senator HeypurN. Were the purchasers as numerous as_ the
bidders ?
Mr. Lempxey. I have no idea as to that, Senator.
The Cuarrman. Naturally not; they wouldn’t do that.
Senator Hreysurn. I wanted to get at the combination.
Mr. McLean. After the skins are removed, can you distinguish
between a male and female 2-year-old ?
Mr. Lempxey. Yes, sir; at once. Oh, I beg pardon—2-year-olds ?
Q. After the skin is removed from the animal?—A. If you would
look at the carcass of a 2-year old you could not distinguish it readily,
but the man skinning the seal recognizes it the monemt he takes it
into his hand to skin it. Of course he examines the organs and mat-
ters of that kind.
Q. But the animal is then dead?—A. The animal is then dead.
Q. What I asked you was this—after the skin is removed from the
animal, by the inspection of the skin itself could you distinguish
between a male or a female 2-year old—A. You could by looking at
the teats of the animal.
Q. And are they developed on a 2-year-old female ?—A. I don't
know that they are. You could find them there possibly. I don’t
know whether they are developed or not; I never examined a skin to
find out.
The Cuarrman. How positive can you be, then, Mr. Lembkey, that
no females are killed ?
16 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES,
Mr. Lempxkey. The reason upon which I base that positive state-
ment that no females are killed is this: Stringent orders are given
to all the skinners to report at once any female knocked down in the
drives. They are ordered to report it to the agent in charge of the
killmg and in charge of the men.
Mr. McLean. Is there a penalty then inflicted upon the killer for
killing the female and when he reports it ?
Mr. Lempxey. No; because the killing gang consists of six per-
sons, we will say, and it is impossible to tell which one of those six
knocked down the seal; but if a female should be knocked down by
accident an admonition is given to the clubbers. ¢
Q. So that it is quite possible ?—A. They are jacked up.
Q. It is quite possible if a female was killed through inadvertence
that the native might not report it?—A. No; because the man who
reports the presence of the female would not in the least be culpable,
because he is a skinner, having nothing to do with the killing.
Q. He is probably a relative ?—A. I should not say that. There
is no great penalty attached to the killing of a female, such as to
lead the men to suppress the fact of its presence.
QQ. You said a few moments ago that of course you could not be
present at every killing. When you are not there, who is in charge
of the selection of the seals for the killing gang ’—A. There is an assist-
ant agent in charge on every island. As a matter of fact, there are
two agents on every island, and one of these is always in charge.
Q. And is he present at the time of the kiling ?—A. He is actively
present; always right on the line among the killers, and so forth and
so on.
Q. How often did you drive there this season, Mr. Lembkey ?—A.
There were thirty-odd drives made on St. Paul and about 15, I
should take it, on St. George. I have these statistics. Of course I
did not hear of this hearing until last night and could not get together
all the information I have.
Q. How many a week; how many drives a week?—A. Well, on
St. Paul there are three hauling-out grounds, and they are driven
once a week, you might say.
Q. Do you find through the marking of these various bulls that
the same bulls are repeatedly driven or driven several times ?—A.
Well, that is a fact that is beyond dispute, really. The same seal is
driven several times, there is no doubt of that; but we have percentages
of hauling in the case of 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. We do know
that not all of the 3-year-olds that are marked for breeding come
back. Only a certain percentage of them return, whereas, in the
case of the 2-year-olds, more return than were marked, so that the
rejections of the 2-year-old class are greater than the number actu-
ally in existence, whereas in the 3-year-old class the rejections are
smaller than the number actually in existence.
Senator Heysurn. I would like to ask you there if it is true that
some seals take to the water and some on the islands never take to
the water at all?
Mr. Lempxey. There is a period from November until May during
which there are no seals present at all.
Q. You have to depend upon the number marked for estimates as
to the number that return from the water to the land?—A. Our
estimates are based upon the herd when it is present at its greatest
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 17
umbers during the summer. Any estimate we make is made while
the seals are on land. I do not just exactly gather what you mean.
Q. When they-take to the water, do they return again to the
land ?—A. Well, they leave, perhaps, the middle of November, and
the first bull does not return until the following May. Then the
females come along about the middle of June.
Mr. McLean. Mr. Lembkey, in your opinion, does this frequent
driving of the bulls which are rejected have any effect upon their
health or virility ?
Mr. Lempxey. Not in the least. The age of puberty occurs
between two and three years. As a matter of fact, it is almost a
subject of microscopic examination to tell whether such a thing
occurs, but it would be demonstrated in the breeding herd itself—
that is to say, if cows were found fertilized, you would know that
the bulls had properly performed their functions. If, on the other
hand, you would find on the breeding grounds a number of cows
without pups, then the question would at once present itself whether
the bulls were fertile or not. As a matter of fact, we have never
found a barren cow, except in several instances where a post-mortem
examination disclosed that she had some defect in her organs which
precluded her from becoming pregnant.
Q. I want to read just a short excerpt from your report concern-
ing the Alaska seal fisheries, as follows:
The rookeries of this island were driven twice a week during the past season, with
the exception of Zapadni. It is a question if this is not too often, especially with the
fast driving which the natives are likely to make in rainy weather or when the seals
from any cause are lively. On our last drive, which was made in a rainstorm, sev-
eral of the seals were observed with abraded flippers and testes. This condition
was observed by both Mr. Chechester and myself, and he ascribed it at the time to.
frequent driving. I mention it here to suggest inquiry and the remedy. I will add
that the condition named was not noticed until our very last sealing.
That was in your report, signed by Maj. Clark, and is dated August:
8, 1904. Have you changed your views since the time of making
that report?—A. I did not make that report, as the gentleman
has just pointed out. That report was made by Maj. Clark. The
matter that he complains of is abraded flippers and testes. He
doesn’t mean testes; he means the scrotum. I do not believe an
abrasion of the scrotum will affect the virility of any animal.
Q. Just one other point, in respect to the feeding of the seals;
the feeding of these bulls. Do you consider that to be wise?—A. I
do not, sir; I consider it a disadvantage. Nature provides an
eliminative process for the seal. The seal before it has learned
to feed and before it has learned to swim beyond the borders of
its rookeries and before it has learned to seek food for itself, is driven
by the climate off the land and forced to make its first winter migra-
tion in the waters of the northern ocean. That seal has to with-
stand such hardships as eliminate all but the strongest and the
most vigorous. Those that come back to the islands the following
spring have no physical defect.
The Cuarrman. We only have a few more minutes. Mr. Elliott
has been in the city for two or three weeks and is recognized as the
early authority on seal life, and we would like to hear from him
as to the purpose.of this closed-season proposition, as to whether
or not it is the wise or necessary thing to do.
95100—No. 1—11——2
18 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
STATEMENT OF PROF. HENRY W. ELLIOTT.
Mr. Exxrorr. Gentlemen, and members of the committee, I want to
say that so much has been well covered here by the chairman and by
Dr. Hornaday, and by the other gentlemen, that I shall not say a good
deal that I intended to say. I shall confine myself to the question of
the preservation of seal life, which Mr. Lembkey has just declared to
the committee that he is saving.
Let me picture to you the arrival of a seal and the way it is ‘‘saved”’
-on the islands, and then this committee will be able to understand
that in spite of ‘“‘saving’’ and ‘‘protecting’”’ this life the operation of
this work on the islands is absolutely null and void. The seals arrive
in June; they are welcomed by Mr. Lembkey and the natives, as he
says. They are the ‘fine fellows,” the ‘‘early swimmers’’ to the
islands. He welcomes them. He has his natives down there at the
surf margin, and they drive them up to the village where they bring
on a forked stick and pin them down one by one by the necks and
heads. Then they shear off a httle tuft or patch of hair from the neck
or the skull caps. Very well. They pass. They come back from the
drives once or twice, perhaps three times during the season. They are
“‘spared,’’ are they? Let us see.
Where have they gone after Mr. Lembkey ‘‘spared”’ them and
sheared themasimmune? They have gone to the hauling-out grounds
and then they have gone out to sea to return again. They have run
out through a gantlet of Japanese hunters, 35 vessels [Lembkey tells
us], which equals 2,500 men, watching for them. Then as they go out
that gantlet—out to the “‘old mill pond”’ where they feed, some 80
‘or 100 miles away, there they meet our pelagic Canadian hunter
friends. ‘They escape, perhaps, and then in the same way run back
to the islands. After two or three weeks passed there then they are
off again to feed and return; thus, they run this gantlet again and
again, do these ‘‘spared”’ seals, still with this mark on their heads, and
we assume they are not killed up to date.
The season goes on. Mr. Lembkey and his men have ‘“‘spared”’
these seals all mght; perhaps the Canadians and the Japanese hunters
have spared them. Granted they have. September comes. They
have come back to the islands. They have shed their hair by the end
of September and they haul out in October with not a mark upon
them and not a sign of the mark that Mr. Lembkey has put upon
them last June and July.
Then what happens, gentlemen? ‘‘Those are nice seals,” says
Mr. Lembkey. ‘‘We need some food for the natives. Kill them.”
They are rounded up and they are killed wherever they are found.
Give me that Senate document No. 98 and I will read the official
record of their killing, after they are “‘branded”’ or ‘‘spared,’’ in July.
I want Mr. Lembkey tto face this.
Mr. Lempxey. I will admit the statement in the document.
Prof. Evuiorr. That report is true. It is by Mr. Judge, who is here,
introduced to me.as your associate and your equal and your brother
official.
Mr. Lempxery. And superior, perhaps.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 19
_ Prof. Exrrorr. Don’t sneer at your associate; he is your peer; one
is as good as the other. [Reading:]
Report of Agent James Judge
Senator HeyBurRN. State the document and the page from which
you read.
Prof. Exiiorr. Senate Document No. 98, Fifty-ninth Congress,
first session, page86. Here is the official report of Mr. W. I. Lembkey,
in which the preservation and protection and conservation of this seal
life, which he so graphically described to you a moment ago, is blown
clear out of water by its own force of official denial.
REPORT OF AGENT JAMES JUDGE.
Sr. GrorGe IsLtanp, June 5, 1905.
Dear §rr: I have the honor to submit the following report of affairs on St. George
Island, covering the interval from August 14, 1904, to date:
SEALS,
On October 7 Little East Rookery was carefully gone over for the purpose of counting
dead pups, but none were found.
At that season foxes in greater or less numbers are always present on the rookeries
and quickly eat the pups or older animals that may happen to die. Pup skulls were
frequently found during September in the rear of the rookeries, where they had
undoubtedly been left by the foxes, the bodies having been devoured.
Further counting of dead pups was therefore not attempted, as it seemed a disturb-
ance of the seals to no good purpose.
The first food drive was made October 19; killed, 59; dismissed, 6 large; 197 small
and 6 brands. Two of the latter were from St. Paul. While all brands were very
faint, those made with shears were less discernible than those made with hot irons.
Just the slightest trace of a brand on one of the dead informed us that the wrong
animal had been knocked down. The skin weighed 8 pounds. That other 3-year-
olds branded in the spring, on which the fur had grown out so that the brand had
become obliterated, were also killed is more than probable, as 69 per cent of the
dead skins weighed 7 pounds and over, the heaviest weighing 9 pounds.
Mr. Lempxey. May I interrupt the gentleman just a second to ask
whether the report does not state that Mr. Judge at once took meas-
ures to prevent the killing of any more of these branded seals by
limiting the weights of skins to 64 pounds, a practice which has been
followed ever since ?
Prof. Exxrorr. Six and a half pounds also carries big skins. You
saved no seals last spring that weighed 8 pounds. They never haul
out there now, and oy are not there, and you know it.
The average of this class of animals killed from the 20th to the 30th of last July
was 43 per cent, while that on St. Paul during the entire sealing season was only 34
per cent. The paucity of branded seals in the drive as compared with drives made
in July lead to the same conclusion. (See statistics regular killing for quota 1904. )
At all subsequent killings I endeavored to restrict the slaughter to 2-year-olds,
with considerable success.
October 24 a food drive was made from East rookery and 30 killed. Among this
lot 2 skins were found that had been branded, but the brands were too faint for detec-
tion while the animal was alive. These skins weighed 6} pounds each.
That other branded 2-year-olds on which the brands had entirely disappeared
were killed during the autumn is more than probable, but for this there was no appar-
ent remedy without a radical revision of the rules governing sizes.
To remove all possibility of killing branded seals in the fall on which the brands
have become indistinct it will be necessary to prohibit the slaughter of any animal
the skin of which weighs over 6 pounds. This will confine the killmg to animals
with skins weighing not less than 54 nor more than 6 pounds. Such a rule is hardly
practicable.
20 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
And so they killed these fine seals, 69 per cent above the average.
Why did they killthem? For food? Do the natives want these big
seals for food? No.
In my opinion, however, a relaxation of the minimum rule as regards weights of
skins should be permitted at food killings on St. George.
That is his opinion; that is what he alludes to; but the returns
from the London sales show that killing the big seals is a common
sequence.
Senator CLark of Wyoming. Prof. Elliott, what percentage of the
entire killing is included in the kill for food ?
Prof. Exxiorr. That is a difficult thing to get, because they will
carry these food skins over into the quota for the next year, and
they are sold in London, and I can not prove it.
Q. I am not asking you what you can prove: but you are very
familiar with affairs up there. Haven’t you some sort of an idea of
how many of these animals are killed there every year?—A. They
killed 614, for instance
Q. Six hundred and fourteen out of how many thousand? They
killed 12,000 last year.
The CuarrMan. Two thousand three hundred, Mr. Lembkey stated,
were killed for food. What becomes of the skins of the 2,300 killed
for food, Mr. Lembkey ?
Mr. Lempxey. They were delivered to the lessee, just the same as
those skins which the lessee took himself.
Q. But since the Government took charge ?—A. They are shipped
to London. Skins were not taken that were not eligible.
Q. But the 2,300 skins that the natives kill for food are turned
over to your London factor for sale?—A. Yes, sir.
Prof. Eiuiorr. Mr. Lembkey says there is a great gulf between the
official knowledge to-day on the seal islands and the officia) knowledge
which existed when I was a member of the Government staif up there.
There is a great gulf. In 1872, 1873, and 1874, as an officer of the
Government, I cooperated with four official assistants and seven
agents of the lessees in preparing a table of weights and ages for skins
of seals. That tabulation and agreement, made official and officially
ublished by the Government in this official monograph and repub-
ished by the Department of Fisheries as Special Thiltetit No. -176,
1882, page 81, has been the standard, unquestioned and undoubted
by any living man, until Mr. Lembkey put a table forward two years
ago to cover these short weights which he was taking and sending
over to London as ‘‘2-year-old males.’’ This official publication,
ee through the hands of dozens of men officially before Mr.
embkey came there, and agreed to and officially submitted and pub-
lished by the Government 30 years ago, is changed by him to-day.
Why? Have the seals changed in their annual order of growing and
weights? No. The seal that is born on the islands to-day is born
exactly as it was 30 years ago. After he is reared, he goes to sea and
comes back, lives and dies, exactly as I studied it 30 years ago and
described it.
Where is the gulf? The gulf is in the recent assertion of these
gentlemen; not in the official fact, which was agreed to for years and
vears before Mr. Lembkey came there, and never was disputed, even
by my bitterest enemies, until two years ago, when this question was
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. pa
furtively raised and a table put out to shield this work in this Senate
document No. 98.
I brought this question of weights and sizes up before Mr. Hitchcock
in 1904, who had charge of the seal business. Mr. Lembkey was in
his office. He remembers well the sessions I had with Mr. Hitchcock
over this business—over the preparation of regulations which would
forbid them from killing down too close. Mr. Hitchcock called his
advisers together—Dr. Jordan and the rest of the ‘‘scientific”’
officials. They said: ‘‘No; there isn’t any need to make this
reserve which Mr. Lembkey is so proud of talking about to-day.
Don’t need it. Elliott is a crank and a tiresome fellow.” But, Mr.
Hitchcock said, after weighing the evidence and facing the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means (for I had to bring them up there to get a
settlement), that the Department of Commerce and Labor would put
this check on their work; that they would make this reservation, in
accordance with my recommendations, as to the need of it. What
followed? The regulations were prepared and issued May 1, 1904,
so that ‘‘nothing under 2 years of age”’ should be taken, and under
the skin weight of 54 pounds—as the minimum weight to be taken.
That just saved them, because a well-grown “‘yearling’s” skin will
weigh 44 pounds, and a “‘short”’ 2-year-old will weigh 5 pounds—
a ‘“‘runty,” a “short” 2-year-old will weigh 5 pounds, a good 2-year-
old skin weighs 6, with its half pound of blubber attached.
Mr. Hitchcock put a minimum of 54 pounds. What followed?
They came to him, the lessees, and urged him to reduce it to a 5-pound
minimum. He refused. Two years later it was changed by order of
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to a minimum of 5 pounds, and
every ‘“‘short’’ 2-year-old and every ‘‘long”’ yearling seal that comes
out on those islands is raked in and killed. After this ‘‘reservation”’
in June has been made this check on the destruction of that life is thus
nullified at the expense of our people in the name of “official science.”
I am tired of it. There is a gulf between fact and fiction as to this
business, and there is imperative need that these herds on those islands
shall be turned back to the solitude and peace which God Almighty
created there in the beginning, which alone can restore that life to
what it was. Wecannot doit. This vanity and frilling about in the
name of “‘science’’ by these men, this “selection’’ and this impotent
“Improvement” on the laws of the Creator is absolutely grotesque
and futile. That life is ebbing out day by day as we sit here. Noth-
ing has been done since 1890 to stop it. It is along story. I have
documents, figures, and facts which cover the whole thing from start
to finish, which show that nothing since 1890, when I then came down
here and started this very same bill now before you, has been done.
I wanted the lessees taken from the islands then and some provision
made for their property, and I wanted these seals sent back to their
Creator for a rest and a chance to regain their strength.
I knew very well we could not do anything unless we stopped killing
on the islands. The British would not submerge their private inter-
ests—‘ Not until you put your butchers down,” they said. They
were right in 1890; they are right to-day. They waited all last sum-
mer to see what we were going todo. Did we do anything? Oh, no;
just butchered seals as usual. I will tell you, gentlemen, what we
did. These “official science’? advisers of Secretary Nagel, headed
by Dr. David Starr Jordan, the ‘prince of peace,’’ who don’t believe
yy ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
any of it—this “prince of peace”’ asks our State Department to do
what? To invite Japan, Russia, Canada, and ourselves to attend a
jomt international conference, wherein we will “protect’’ the seals,
the blue foxes, and the walrus, and the sealions, and the whales, and
all other things mostly marine life, or in the water. That is all that
has been done since this bill was passed. Now, we know what is
bemg done; but, of course, it was adverted to this morning, and I
am glad it was. Things are coming our way. If they were not, I
would open a box to-day. But I will say nothing, because I think
the end is close at hand, and just as we want it, gentlemen.
But, gentlemen, let fiction pass for a moment. The hides of the
seals are taken as mercilessly on the Pribilof Islands to-day, and as
greedily, as those butchers have ever taken them in the water.
There is not the slightest difference between the spirit which has
animated the one or the other, and the influence here in Washington
has been so strong that nothing could be done to dislodge them on
the islands; until they were dislodged on the islands, you could not
do anything at Ottawa. But let it be said to the infinite credit of
the British ambassador and the infinite credit of Sir Wilfred Laurier,
that there has not been an hour since 1905, when John Hay, and Sir
Mortimer Durand and certain United States senators united im an
agreement that we could not have closed in forty-eight hours—this
whole business, and have sent this question of saving the seals back
to the Creator, who alone can restore it.
Don’t talk about trouble with Japan or with Russia. The trouble
is with ourselves. I have nothing more to say; it is not necessary.
I have documents, figures, books, and reports here, and if anybody
wants to question my statements, I am ready to meet them.
The CHAIRMAN (Senator DittryeHAm). Are there others to be
reard ?
Dr. Hornapay. That is all we have to offer, Mr. Chairman.
The CHarrMan. The committee will then rise.
(Thereupon, at 12 o’clock and 10 minutes p-. m., the committee
adjourned.)
In re Fur Seal Herd of Alaska.
Hon. Joun H. ROTHERMEL,
Chawman Committee on Expenditures in the
Department of Commerce and Labor,
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
Sir: It is my imperative duty as a good citizen, and possessed of
abundant knowledge, authentic and indisputable and of official and
current record, to submit the following charges and proof of them for
the consideration of your honorable committee.
CuarcEe I.—I charge that the conduct of the officialism of the
Department of Commerce and Labor, having the specific control of
all details of administration of the public business on the seal islands
of Alaska since January 1, 1905, has been guilty of violating the law
and regulations which it is and was the sworn duty of that officialism
aforesaid to properly and strictly obey.
Cuarce Il.—I charge that this malfeasance of that officialism,
above cited, has caused an immense loss of public property on the seal
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERI ES. 23
islands of Alaska, and that unless your honorable committee take
prompt action to check and abolish it this same officialism will in a
short period of continuance of its methods be able to and will sueceed
in completely destroying the commercial value forever of the fur-seal
herd of Alaska.
These charges, gentlemen, are serious; they are made with a full
sense oi their gravity; they will be submitted now in detail to you as
fact succeeds fact of oftieral record in the premises; no assertion, no
opimion of mine or anyone else will be even hinted at, much less men-
tioned by me, in the followimg exposé of this improper and illegal work
ef those agents of our Government in charge of the care and conser-
vation of the public mterests on the seal islands of Alaska.
As to Charge I—On the 3d of May, 1900, I entered into an engage-
ment with the late John Hay to furnish him with the expert fur-seal
knowledge, which he desired to possess, with which to enable him to
set aside the erroneous findings of the Jordan-Thompson Commission,
as written into an official joint agreement November 16, 1897, at the
State Department. These findings prevented any revision of the
rules and regulations of the Bering Sea tribunal, as ordered August,
16, 1893, and enforced April 24, 1894. These rules and regulations
actually facilitated and still facilitate the destruction of our fur-seal
herd instead of protecting and conserving it.
On the 26th of November, 1903, Mr. Hay and I learned that no
change in these Bering Sea rules would be agreed to by Canada unless
we suspended the work of our lessees on the seal islands of Alaska.
On the 8th of January, 1904, I addressed a detailed letter to the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, setting forth in detail those reasons
why the work of the lessees should be discontinued on the seal islands
and why they were injurious, and why, if not checked up, would
compass the complete extinction of the commercial value of the
fur-seal herd.
On the 12th of January, 1904, Senator Dillingham, as chairman of
the subcommittee of the Senate charged with Alaskan affairs (by
Senate Resolution 16, of March 19, 1903), introduced Senate bill 3355
and a report of that committee (S. Rept. No. 282, 58th Cong., 2d
sess). This bill and report was for the complete suspension of this
work of the lessees on the seal islands of Alaska and in exact accord
with the views of Secretary Hay and myself on that issue.
Not being able to get any response from the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor to my request that this work of the Seal Island lessees be
suspended, with the cooperation of Secretary Hay, I carried this
issue to the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representa-
tives early in March, 1904; on March 9-10, 1904, the committee heard
me and Mr. F. Hitchcock, chief clerk of the Department of Com-
merce and Labor. Mr. Hitchcock said that while all of the officialism
in charge of the seal herd was opposed to any interference which the
work of the lessees, yet he was of opinion that some check such as I
desired ought to be made. He therefore said to the committee that
he was delegated by the Secretary to pledge the department’s action
in that direction. This pledge was to put an immediate partial
check on the killing by the lessees and a complete suspension of that
work whenever Great Britain would suspend her work at sea.
The Secretary of Commerce and Labor, on May 1, 1904, ordered
this check upon the work of the lessees, as pledged to the Ways and
24 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Means Committee, March 10, 1904, as above cited. This check is
known as the ‘‘ Hitchcock rules,” of May 1, 1904. (See S. Doc. No.
114, 58th Cong., 3d sess., p. 3.)
During this hearing, on March 20, 1904, before the Ways and
Means Committee, as above cited, Mr. Hitchcock submitted to the
committee as his idea a table of the weights of those green sealskins,
as to their ages when taken by the lessees. (This is published in the
hearing, and made an appendix to his remarks.) Mr. Hitchcock
made a great blunder in compiling it; he frankly admitted the same
to me when I took the printed copy of this hearing to him, March 31,
1904. He promised to correct this blunder and make the Hitchcock
rules in accordance. He did so (see p. 9, S. Doc. No. 114), and fixed
a minimum of 54 pounds for the smallest skins, and further ordered
that no seals ‘‘under 2 years of age’’ should be taken. Thus, clearly
and positively, after this order of May 1, 1904, all killing or any killing
of yearling seals by the lessees was in violation of law and is to-day.
The following letter explains fully this blunder of Mr. Hitchcock
and why the Hitchcock rules made 54 pounds the minimum, instead
of 5 pounds, as the erroneous table ordered.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 31, 1904.
Hon. SERENO E. Payne,
Chairman Committee Ways and Means.
My Dear Sir: On page 59 of the hearing over the Alaskan fur seal herd, before the
Ways and Means Committee, March 9-10, 1904, is a table of Alaskan seal skin weights
submitted in evidence by the representative of the Department of Commerce and
Labor. .
I respectiuily desire to call your attention to a grave and fundamental error in the
table aioresaid, because Mr. Hitchcock makes an extended statement to you on page
56, based upon this error, which he innocently assumes to be an authentic record of
the London sale covered by this table.
In this table you will observe that the class of ‘‘middlings and smalls” is omitted
from the order of weight averages, and in its place the class of ‘‘smalls” has been
erroneously inserted.
' This erroneous insertion moves all of the lower classes, including the ‘‘smalls,”
up, wrongfully, one yearinage. Thus the 2-year-old seals or ‘‘large pups” (‘‘6-pound ”’
skins), are made to take the place of the 3-year-olds or ‘‘smalls” (‘‘7to 8 pounds”’ skins),
and so on to the end of the list. :
In this way Mr. Hitchcock has been imposed upon, and a fictitious showing of only
2,272 yearling skins is made, when, in truth, 13,000 of this catch classified in that
table are yearlings or ‘‘5-pound” skins. ‘
I have called Mr. Hitchcock’s attention to this error, and he now understands it.
He will not, therefore, make the blunder of allowing the lessees to take ‘‘5-pound”
skins, or ‘‘yearlings” next summer, and thus violate his pledge to your committee.
He will fix the minimum skin weight at ‘‘6 pounds,” and thus insure the killing of
nothing under 2-year-olds. ~
Iam, very respectfully, yours, etc., Henry W. E.iorr.
In this distinct and explicit order of May 1, 1904, published by
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, any killing of yearling seals on
the seal islands by the lessees was made illegal, if so done; was it
done? It was—it was immediately resumed in 1904, just as it had
been done on those islands since 1896. Observe the following proof
of it which has thus far never been met or denied over the signa-
ture of any Secretary of Commerce and Labor. As you read this
evidence, gentlemen, please bear in mind that this check ordered
on that killing, by the lessees, known as the ‘‘ Hitchcock rules”’ of
May 1, 1904, was literally foreed on the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor by myself and the senatorial committee (Gov. Dillingham,
chairman). We did this between the 8th of January, 1904, and
”
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 25
March 20, 1904. Lt wish you to bear this fact in. mind, also, that this
officialism which violated that order and pledge to Congress in 1904
is the same subordinate officialism which is to-day still in charge of
that life, and it was engaged in this same violation of the ‘‘ Hitch-
cock rules’’ up to date of August 1, 1910, when the sealing slaughter
work ended for that season.
The following open, clear exposé of it which I made in the kind-
liest and most charitable manner was silently and brazenly ignored
by Mr. Metcalf and these same subordinates who to-day have led
Mr. Nagel into the mire of that illegal slaughter by his orders last
summer.
[Senate Document No. 149, Fifty-eighth Congress, third session.]
WasuHineton, D. C., February 6, 1905.
~ My Dear Sir: I havea copy of the letter from the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
transmitting to the United States Senate a transcript of the regulations and instruc-
tions which were made and ordered by the department for the conduct of affairs on
the seal islands of Alaska, dated May 1, 1904, and also the report of the agent in charge
of the seal islands, dated August 12, 1904 (S. Doc. No. 114, 58th Cong., 3d sess.).
These regulations and instructions are an immense improvement over the Treasury
regulations of 1903, which they supplant; they are admirable, in so far as they safe-
guard the public interests, as they should be in almost every respect. They also dis-
tinctly instruct the agents of the department as to specific lines of duty, and distinctly
assert the complete control of the business of taking fur seals, as it is vested in the
Government, even though it is leased.
_ The reservation made by these regulations of 1,000 2-year-old male seals and 1,000
3-year-olds during the season of 1904, by which these young bulls shall be permitted
to grow up and go over to the breeding grounds in 1907 and 1908, and so prevent at
that time the complete extermination of the virile male life on the rookeries which
otherwise would take place, seems to have been faithfully carried out by the agents
of the department.
But in this connection that order of reservation must be extended to 4-year-old
males next season (1905) or the 3-year-olds saved as such in 1904 will be taken by the
lessees. Unless this extension to the 4-year-old class is made for 1905 the reservation
of the 3-year-olds in 1904 will be nullified by the lessees in 1905. Beyond this point
I can see no flaw in the text of these “‘ Hitchcock rules and regulations” aforesaid.
With regard to the report of the agent in charge of the seal islands, several significant
disclosures are made in it as to the condition of the herd up to August 1, 1904.
First. Only 10,232 fur seals were secured in the season of 1904—i. e., from June 1
to August 1—nearly all yearlings and 2-year-olds, nine-tenths of this catch being 44
to 53 pound skins.
Second. So close were these seals driven and taken in that time that nothing
escaped the club on the killing grounds except the ‘‘runty” yearlings (34 to 4 pound
skins), and the old and vagrant bulls which were scraped up by the drivers in their
effort to get every killable male seal—i. e., every 44 to 7 pound skin—that was in
sight at any time during the season.
The agent says that in all this driving there were ‘‘641 large rejections ”—i. e., bulls
of any age from 6 years to 18—but this count of ‘‘641 large rejections” does not mean
that 641 individual bulls were so rejected, not at all. Some of these individual bulls
have been counted six, eight, or ten times into this total of 641, as they came up in the
semiweekly and weekly drives to be released and then redriven over and over again
until the end of the season, therefore the ‘‘641 large rejections” mean no more than
ane or 250 vagrant, worthless bulls, which are useless as breeders and valueless for
skins.
The ‘4,794 small rejections” mean soz.e 1,000 to 1,500 undergrown yearlings or
“runts,”’ which the “‘ Hitchcock minimum limit”’ of a 54-pound skin excluded. These
“runts” could not be ‘‘loaded” with blubber so as to weigh into 54 pounds, and pass
the Government agent’s limit; but all of the average yearlings or 44-pound skins were
easily loaded with a pound of blubber in skinning, and so passed up to the minimum
limit of 54 pounds.
Third. The agent tells us that ‘‘no yearlings were included in the catch and but
few were seen in the drives.” Then he unwittingly denies this statement by telling
us that he ‘‘killed one yearling during the summer to determine the weight of that
class of skins. The entire animal, a female, weighed 33 pounds and its pelt weighed
34 pounds.”’
26 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Unfortunately for Mr. Lembky, the records of 4,832 fur-seal pups when 6 months old
and then killed and weighed in bunches of 25 and 50 on St. Pauls Island November 5
to 10, 1872, declared the average weight of each pup to be 39 pounds; the skin weight
of each pup was 33 pounds.
The weight of 150 yearlings killed on St. Pauls Island May 21, 1872, for natives’ food
averaged 40 to 42 pounds each; their pelts averaged 44 pounds each. Some of these
yearlings were exceptionally well grown and weighed up to a 5-pound pelt; others,
a few only, were “runts,”’ and did not weigh up above a 33-pound or pup-skin weight.
Fourth. So, instead of seeing no yearlings i in the drives, this agent has taken them
just. the same, and has called them '“2- -year-olds,’’ and the record of the London sale
of all of these skins a few months later declares his blunder. The skin which he calls
a yearling and which “ weithed 34 pounds’ wasa “runt;’’ it is classifiedas an “ Ex. ex.
small pup”’ in the London sale; a 4-pound skin is an “ Ex. sm. pup;’’ a 44-pound skin
isa “Small pup”’ or average yearling; a 5-pound skin to 54-pound skin is a “ Middling
pup,’’ which is a “lJong’” yearling or a “short’’ 2-year-old; and a “ Large pup”’ is a
6-pound skin toa 64-pound skin, or an average well-grown 2-year-old male seal pelt.
with the usual one-half pound of blubber adherent as cut from the carcass in skinning.
Fifth. This admission of the Government agent that he has taken every young seal
that hauled out on the seal islands of Alaska during this season of 1904, save a few
“runts’’ which the Hitchcock restrictions could not be stretched down low enough to
admit of his taking, points out the exact and positive truth of what I assured you last
winter with regard to the condition of this herd on the Pribilof Islands.
I told you then that the records of the London sales of the Pribilof catches from 1900
to 1903, inclusive, declared that the lessees were actually draining the very dregs of the
young male life, and permitting nothing to escape for service on the breeding grounds.
Now we have the explicit admission of the agent in charge of the islands, who, at
the close of the season’s work of 1904, reports this fact to his chief. He does not mean
to tell all he knows, but he can not help it. The records of the London sales, Decem-
ber 16, 1904, show exactly the size and weight of every one of 5,000 skins which the
lessees took during June and July, 1904, and up to the end of the season. Then he
tells us that he has not taken any yearlings this year, and ‘‘few were seen in the drives”
(1904), and does not. know what has become of them..
But the agent of the lessees who sold these skins, taken under Mr. Lembkey’s eyes
on St. Paul Island last summer, tells us on December 16, 1904, that nearly nine-tenths
of the catch are yearling skins. He does so, because the bidders at this sale can not
be deceived by the appearance of these skins, which are always exposed to their
inspection four weeks annually prior to this public sale.
The following is an epitomized record of that regular annual London sale above
cited: Twenty thousand Pribilof skins were offered and sold; 5,000 of this total being
the catch of 1904, and 15,000 being the balance of the catch of 1903, which were carried
over to this sale, this leaves 8, 000 of the 1904 catch to be carried in turn over to the
sale of December 16, 1905.
London classification of 5,000 skins, taken on the Pribilof Islands, June and July, 1904,
sold December 16, 1904.
Weight of
skins,
each, av-| Number
Class, Age. erage, as of
ta skins
. from the
eareass.
Pounds
RASA CLIN OS 31ers oe yao eee Cage tight) (6 kj ee he i ea a ee Wh 12-14 0
Middlings SHO smalls 05. eet “Short’’ 4-year olds and “long ’’3-year olds. . 9-11 198
Smale : Gives. easasainpente Bn Bay GapOES 2c 45. ieee). baegdceseaaae te 7-8 46
9 er SEE! PPAR I SE PPE Bele ZEB BIS OUI SS cad ce ac eeaatomncion eae ed ee eas 6 838
Middling pups. ...-....... “Short’’ 2-year olds and “long”’’ yearlings. . 54 1,703
Small pups s..--..:..-.-.- Wearlings: (254i... ett sl.. eee. A 43 1,779
Extra small pups “(\ Saxte’ peelings. 1s. 25555 <.2h9hs . 4 bisenes 34-4 257
Extra.extra small pups....-...-..... 3) RUNG)? OBIT a tin Bah 8 AE ope nos waamp ete a Bi) 1
Cateb of 1904; classified: Tatalosinl ese 25. eee Ses See enn Seas eee eee ee ee 4, 882
With 118 skins not rated, but offered as “faulty,’’ ‘‘cut,’’ etc.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. yu
London classification of 15,000 skins taken on the Pribilof Islands, June and July, 1903,
sold Dec. 16, 1904.
:
Weight of
skin, av-
erage =| Numb
Classes: Ages. each, as. |) Umber
eS of skins.
from the
carcass.
} Pounds
Middlings SIGE S| a Oe ee SE eee eee ree 12-14 13
Middlings “Short” 4-year-olds and ‘‘long” 3-year-olds..| 9 -11 90
Ramee, Fh 255) Fok Ory PRR Say eae his O55 US kbd. wane Phos ate J 7-8§ 495.
Maree puss): 3495) Jus 2h g- sss EVER OlMSe), sish3 b j= desea: es arses ote te 6 1,177
MQ OME DNS. ot pclesdoeeces abss 2 ‘“‘Short”’ 2-year-olds and “long” yearlings... 5} 3, 969
(Since dirt ah Spe ea tl gal od aaa, aaa NY CHU RTOS oneness Tae Smee meee eA 43 5, 439
Extra small pups... 2.26. 020... 2---- Jas) cor etuOuns yy CompLiMOSES. S25 SY Ae $55.22 525 SUseL. 3h- 4 3, 273
Extra extra small pups............... SSSUM br YEARNS: 2526 dbo iek 2 st bperas 3 106
OM Loa Case ICU ADL iLe ye eierwct cclsemenm tee c oes cose es Dea ceeee oe accede tees 14, 579
+
With 421 skins not rated, but offered as “faulty,” “‘cut,’’ etc.
Here is the evidence presented in these records of the London sale above cited,
which declares the fact that the lessees have taken at least 12,000 yearlings, which
appear as 3 to 5-pound skins in. the above itemized classification in a total of 19,461
skins. I say ‘‘at least” 12,000 skins of yearlings. I may say that it is within the line
of fair statement to claim that this record of the London sale warrants the assertion
on my part that the lessees have taken 15,000 yearlings out of this sum total sold on
the 16th of December, 1904, nine-tenths of the balance being ‘‘short 2-year-olds” and
“Jong yearlings,’’ or 54 to 5? pound skins.
In order that you may the better understand the full significance of this rapid dis-
appearance of this young male life on the seal islands of Alaska, due to excessive
killing by man, by land and sea butchers, I submit the following table, compiled from
the records of the annual London sales, where all of the catch of the Pribilof Islands
has been sold sinee 1870:
Season | Season | Season
Class. of 1872. | of 1890. | of 1904.
Skins. Skins. Skins
WEnmpMen settee thy Sobek. ds. see iets. Dadoso: aeedanee -LUSl Jes 53.043 2d) 34, 000 1
Middlings ani small 40, 000. 500 288
ce) as ae = 26,000 2,939 541
Large pups..-...----- None 5, 144 2,015
Middling pups... -.-. = None 7,684 5, 672
PummeRBUNRIEES Pelee ik eer ee Leo kt host a ets i8e) ~~ salen sin. None. 3,752 7, 218
SRNR EAA RONEN od hich pa eet arn paola bles eis wedi ged spina ees = None. 71 3,530
Looe FER cites SURLY 0 10 je RR laa aa i a ee dl None. None. 107
Le CID eaey 6 Bee ot Ee a are ge ee, SO A ee a a ee ee Se fe 100, 000 20, 249 19, 284
These indisputable figures eloquently declare the fact that the very dregs of the
young male life on the Pribilof seal islands were drained by the lessees in 1903 and:
1904. They declare the fact that there is nothing left alive on the islands up to
August 1, 1904, of the male life above the ‘‘runty”’ yearlings, or any male life under
the old bulls, except the young 2-year-old and 3-year-old bulls which were spared
by the new Hitchcock orders of May 1, 1904.
They also declare the fact that if the new Hitchcock restrictions are extended so
as to save in 1905 the 3-year-olds which were spared in 1904, that there is nothing
left alive on these islands which the lessees can lawfully secure during the season of
1905, except as they stretch these restrictions, as they did last season, and scrape up
a few thousand ‘‘long”’ and average yearlings, as ‘middling pups”’ and ‘‘small pups,’’
of these small seals; they may possibly secure some 6,000 or 7,000; no more, that is
certain.
Having compelled the saving of a few thousand young males to live and grow to
the physical standard necessary in fur seals for service on the breeding grounds—
having done this by the Hitchcock restrictions of 1904—we have prevented that
complete extermination of the breeding male life on the rookeries by 1907 which
otherwise would have taken place.
28 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
This understood and agreed upon, we come now to face another question, equally
interesting and equally important, to wit, What effect upon the increase or the dimi-
nution of the nucleus of that fur-seal herd will this preservation of those young male
seals have in the future?
To this question I make answer that while this saving of the choice young bulls
began in 1904, and annually enforced hereafter, will prevent the complete exter-
mination of this fur-seal life, yet it can not and will not prevent its annual diminution
by 1908 down to a number of 25,000 or 30,000 seals of all classes; to-day there are
about 128,000 seals of all classes, $, 9, and ©.
It can not be otherwise; it is so because a fleet of 20 or 22 pelagic hunting schooners,
manned by trained hunters of long experience, are hanging upon the flanks cf this
remnant of our herd to-day. Last season, 1904, these men took 31,000 seals from the
sum total of the Pribilof herd and sold them all in London—29,000 on December 16,
1904, and 2,382 on January 23, 1905—at an advance of 10 per cent over the high prices
of 1903, making an enormous profit to the owners of these skins of not less than 120
per cent. Therefore, these hunters will not quit as a body until the bottom to their
business suddenly falls out, as it will by 1907 and 1908 under the regulations and con-
ditions that now prevail.
Therefore, in answer to this query as to increase or loss of this life, I submit the
following statement as to the present condition of the Pribilof fur-seal herd, with
reference to the immediate future:
ANNUAL Ratio or DIMINUTION WHICH WILL ENSUE FROM 1904 To 1915 AND INDEF-
INITELY THEREAFTER UNDER EXISTING CONDITIONS.
When the agents of the Government finished their census of the fur-seal herd as it
existed on the Pribilof Islands during the season of 1904, up to August 1 they reported
that there were about—
‘‘Cows” or female seals, adult (2 years old down to 12 years old).....-- anee 85, 000
‘*Bulls,’’ most of them very old (12 years old down to 18 years old).. .....- 2, 000
““Pups,”’ born June and July (20,000 die from starvation in September and
October; mothers dalled atsea)Js3 boasted. ED Ba odoae Reweus chels Sao 80, 000
Three-year-old or 4-year-old males. (None to mention.)
Two-year-old males (2,000 of them saved from the club by the Hitchcock
PARES OE LOOM) oo sae states Alan spa ae AE BORO SEI, RARE cos RE 5, 000
Yearlings (3,000 of them killed November 10, 1904, for natives’ food):
Mal epi hits cha es oh. eae ete eee a LO AND eT ile pe CL men) eR 10, 000°
POMBO oe oc. is hag eb 2 Ak Ees OO ee SS RE a ee 10, 000
Sealsof all elasses; {4 iO. cscs ie Tee oe ae eek ce 190, 000
But from this total must be subtracted 31,000 seals taken by the pelagic hunters
and 13,000 yearlings and 2-year-olds, 4} to 5 pound skins, taken by the lessees dur-
ing the season of 1904, and 20,000 starved pups, their mothers killed at sea during
August, September, and October—62,000 seals. This leaves the sum total of fur
seals alive at 128,000 of all classes. But this is not the real significance of that dimi-
nution in number; its significance is due to the fact that three-fourths of the pelagic
catch of 31,000 seals are adult females, which must be subtracted from the 85,000
cows, so that less than 63,000 cows were left alive by October 15, 1904.
Under existing rules and regulations which now govern the business, unless changed,
the pelagic hunters will secure in the season of 1905 some 25,000 skins and the lessees
some 8,000 skins. Three-fourths of the pelagic catch will be adult females. That
requires a subtraction of some 20,000 seals from the 63,000 cows which come over
from 1904, and about 15,000 pups from the 60,000 born during July, and 8,000 year-
lings from the 16,000 which come over from the pups of 1904. This would make the
census for 1905, by October 15, about as follows:
Cows, from 2. years’ to 11: years Old) tts. oon eet opiate Ta oan Oe 45, 000
Bulls trom 13 yvears.to L8ayeats Olds cnc. acc shi pielece eicteie ciate anit aerate cto 1, 500
U0) ESE he oe eee ee Aap Speman PONT HUME ae Me eae Tg 27 (Gk Be Ui re Beatie ite er Tee. F. 40, 000
Two-year-olds (2,000 of them saved by the new Hitchcock rules of May 1,
EET NE Pa OY SAR MNDOEAa © Te SER ita 2745 a a reek Sear R, Side Sy yeaa 2, 500
Yearlings:
Males (of these, 2,500 will be killed November 10, 1905, for natives’
IQOD) s- aLbie yee mk: pn ope areas ede eae ee 7,000
email es 34.1521 46 (4 basse eee EU et Sep iat "os 7 Ce RRR Nik SS yor 15, 000
Fur seals of all classes alive in the Pribilof Islands, October 15, 1905.. 111, 000
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 29
With no change in existing rules and regulations, the pelagic hunters will secure
in the season of 1906 some 15,000 seals; the land catch will not exceed 5,000 small
male seals, of which 2,000 will be spared. This would make the census for 1906, by
October 15, about’as follows:
Cimpetiene gears toll, years Old 2 east ese ok. sale. Poo. Sen ose e se 28, 000
peeciroumia years no Ue yeats MiG et. eet ee. 2 eee eee see oe 500
Rpmprnetteacn) . befaed — Sh 1OSRh Seis Ase Be AA ES sa ES. oh 25, 000
wie. yieer-Old ‘males (all: spared ) 3442 082.2 Jee thes gos a Je needed. 1, 000
Yearlings:
Males (4,000 killed for natives’ food, November 10, 1906).............. 6, 600
ers infil pe yale gerle Wee SE oh oh bei cn, al Ra et lap ee i ae aie aa gi 9, 000
Fur seals of all classes alive on the Pribilof Islands October 15, 1906.. 69, 500
With no change in rules, and this same order of work repeated in 1907, the pelagic
hunters will secure some 12,000 seals and the land catch will not be more than 3,500
to 4,000 yearling males—just enough for the meat needed for natives’ food. This
would make the census for 1907, by October 15, about as follows:
Peep years 10.1) syeard Old ot oof. we oben ace a sega eels os pee 18, 000
Bulls from 6 years to 18 years old (new bulls saved in 1904 now come in). . . 400
UENO eS 21) AGS ech ee Ae in Berea AN mer ae mE aaa, Speedie ae peer ai 16, 000
Two-year-old males (all spared on land by Hitchcock rule). ............... 1, 000
Yearlings:
Males (2,500 of them killed November 10, 1907, for natives’ food)....... 5, 000:
Le 2 FSAI RRP bc Re IE de RS 8, 000
Fur seals of all classes alive in the Pribilof Islands, October 15, 1907.. 48, 400
With no change in rules and this same order of work repeated in 1908, the pelagic
hunters will secure about 8,000 seals and the land catch will not be more than some
2,500 to 3,000 yearling males, which will all be killed for natives’ food. This will
make the census for 1908, about October 15, as follows:
Powe om years te Miivears O1G. 2065. ab seas e meses oud aida ee apis 10, 000
Bulls from 6 years to 18 years old (new bulls saved in 1905 come in).......... 400
ee ans ld Shiciei= cu sim te't ante Mnj= =< ma co-Sla= = 9, 000
2 ERTS GSS SETS 7s ISSO I ge nee An a a a 500
Yearlings:
Males (3,000 of them killed for natives’ food)......................-.--- 4, 000
NS SE Sony RTS ee ee ee (oe 6, 000
Fur seals of all classes alive on the Pribilof Islands October 15, 1908... 29, 900
From 1908 on, if we save all the choice young male seals for breeders and kill nothing
on the islands practically, then during 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1915
there will possibly be a variation of as much as 2,500 to 3,000 fewer, and then more
cows and pups; between 1908 and 1915 there will never be less than 6,000 to 7,000
cows and 200 to 300 bulls; yet, with the steady following of 5 or 6 pelagic vessels, out
of the 22 now engaged (in 1904), this life can not be increased, even though it can not
be much more diminished.
In conclusion I desire to say that these facts and figures which I have cited above
can not be successfully questioned by any evidence to the contrary; the deductions
which I have drawn from these facts and figures I believe to be conservative and
reasonable.
When I study those figures purporting to be a complete census of the Pribilof herd
during the season of 1904, and sent into the Senate of the United States by the custodian
of that he d, on the 25th ultimo, I am not surprised at them. I believe that they are
very near right.
But, Mr. Senator, what a pitiful driblet of life it is when contrasted with what it was
when I surveyed it in 1872-1874. Then you saw an immense aggregation of over
4,500,000 fur seals on those Pribilof rookeries and hauling grounds, where the agent
of our Government last summer saw less than 200,000.
Is there good reason why this remnant of our herd, as it exists to-day, can not be
be restored to that fine form and number recorded of it in 1872? Most emphatically
I say there is none.
If we will set aside and ignore the greed of our butchers of this life, and insist that
the Government of Great Britain do the same to its butchers, and have this herd
wholly within the keeping of both Governments hereafter, to the exclusion of all
30 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
private gain from the killing of that life on the land and in the sea, then its restoration
can be easily and surely brought about; otherwise it can never be.
Very sincerely, vours,
Henry W. Exuiorr.
Hon. Knute Ne.son,
United States Senate.
At this point permit me to call the attention of your committee
to the following significant fact: The first and only official publica-
tion of the weights of fur sealskins, as taken on the Pribilof Islands,
from the bodies of seals which are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of age, was
made in 1881-1884 by the United States Government in Special Bulle-
tin No. 176, United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, page 81.
(See detailed figures in Exhibit —.)
No man or no official has ever disputed the accuracy of that table
until in 1907, under date of December 1, an ‘‘estimate” table is
submitted to the department by Special Agent Lembkey, in which
he attempts to certify a yearling skin into the class and weight of a
2-year-old. (See p. 84, S. Doc. No. 376, 60th Cong., Ist sess.)
This Lembkey table is a falsification of the facts. The official
table, published in 1881-1884, as above cited, was the joint and careful
work of four United States Treasury agents, viz, Messrs. Bryant,
Falconer, Lessen, and Elliott; and six of the lessee’s agents, viz,
Messrs. H. H. and H. W. McIntyre, William Wapus, Daniel Webster,
G. R. Adams, and T. I’. Morgan; and United States Commissioner
Washburn Maynard, United States Navy. :
This work of establishing that official table of record weights of
sealskins, as taken by those officials, was made by them and in full
agreement, on the sealing grounds, during the seasons of 1872-1874.
It has never been disputed until that attempt made by Lembkey, as
above noted, in 1907.
To make this important and vital truth as to what is the real
weight of a “‘yearling,” a ‘‘2-year-old,”’ and all older fur sealskins,
I submit the following original detailed copy of the table which I
made on the killing grounds of St. George Island, at the close of our
official work, July 24, 1873 (on p. 168 of Special Bulletin No. 176,
above cited, will be found a table showing the body growth of a fur
seal from a pup up to old age, annually):
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. BG
dtems of the weight and length which follow the growth of a male fur seal (Callorhinus
ursinus).
art 2S re : =
| bacehiai jLength:
. feight | tip of
Age. iocerag Flesh. |Viscera.| Skin. | Bones. Flip- of whole | nose to Remarks.
| 5 pers. | carcass. | root of
tail.
Lbs. Oz.| Lbs. |Lbs. 02.| Lbs. Oz.|Lbs. Oz.|Lbs. Oz.) Lbs. | Inches.
(months...| 14 0 10 NE 8H) 2 en 2 OA 0 40-42 24) An average of 50 exam-
ples, taken on St.
Paul, November,
1872.
Yearling....| 4 0 14440 Of 42° 33s DY BO 40-42 38 | A mean of 6 examples,
taken on St. George,
July 14, 1873.
2-year-old.../43-5 0 247 13, 104 5.478 lt 4240 58-59 46 | A mean of 30 examples,
taken on St. George,
July 24, 1873.
3-year-old.... 6 0 Ao FlOl al Ay we Dien oe 8 1 SO 88-90 52 | A mean of 32 examples,
taken on St. George,
July 24, 1873.
128-135 | 58 | A mean of 10 examples,
taken on St. George,
July 24, 1873.
65 | A mean of 5 examples,
taken on St. George,
July 24, 1873.
“I
oO
loo}
é4year-old... 14 10 60 | 24 .0;12 0} 9 12; 8
5-year-old... 60 0 65 | 30 0) 16° 0/12 -0) 9 0 ')°195-200
VILLAGE OF St. GEORGE, St. GEORGE IsLAND, July 24, 1873.
With the aid of Samuel Falconer, United States Treasury agent, I have been able
to prepare this table of weights of the several lines of growth and proportions of the
organs which make up the body of a fur seal; it is the result of careful assortment and
observation, with this omission: While the carcasses were cut up and weighed ‘‘cold,”’
yet a certain amount of blood was lost in getting at the viscera; how much, of course,
lam unable tosay. In some of the specimens it was considerable, say a quart, others
less than a pint.
The skeleton weights I ascertained on St. Paul Island, July, 1872 (the sea fleas
cleaned the bones for me), and the pups I ascertained also on St. Paul in November,
1872, while the natives were killing them for food.
Henry W. Exuiorr.
In the foregoing clear and indisputable showing of the officially
published weights of ‘‘green”’ 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 year old seal skins,
when fresh taken on the Seal Islands of Alaska, your committee
observes that any skin that weighs less than 53 pounds when so taken
is a skin that must be taken from a seal ‘‘under two years of age,”’
and when so taken is in violation of the rules of the Department of
Commerce and Labor.
I propose, for brevity and effect, to waive all mention at this point
of the illegal killing of tens of thousands of yearling seals on the
Pribilof Islands, by and with the sanction of the Government agents
stationed thereon, sworn to prevent it, as it has been done from May
1, 1904, down to the expiration of this fur-seal lease, May 1, 1910.
To quickly and surely fasten the charge of malfeasance on that official-
ism for that offense during the period just named, I wil] take the
record of Mr. Nagel’s men, as made by them last summer, when they
killed 12,920 seals on the Pribilof Islands, and then falsely certified
that killing to the Government, as made in strict obedience to the
order of the Hitchcock rules of May 1, 1904.
On the 4th of February, 1911, Special Agent Lembkey, mtroduced
by Charles Nagel, appeared before the United States Senate Com-
mittee on Conservation of National Resources (Senator Joseph M.
Dixon, chairman). In answer to the direct question of how many seal-
skins he had taken on the islands during the season of 1910 and under
32 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
the rules of the department, he said he had killed 12,920 seals. He
then was asked if he had killed any under 2 years of age in that
killing aforesaid. He replied that he had not. He then informed the
committee that they had been sold in London, on December 17 last,
and that they had sold at public auction, under the eyes of the agents
of the department, etc. (See testimony before U. S. Senate Com-
mittee on Conservation of National Resources, Feb. 4, 1911.)
Now, gentlemen, what do the official records of that sale of 12,920
skins, as classified for sizes and values, declare? They actually
declare the fact that Special Agent Lembkey killed at least 8,000
yearling seals and certified them as seals ‘‘not under 2 years of
age,’ to the committee, as above cited.
On pages 61-62 of the New York Fur Trade Review of February
1, 1911, is a detailed transcript of the expert classification (officially
returned to the Department of Commerce and Labor) made of this
catch of 12,920 skins taken on the Pribilof Islands in June and July,
1910, by order of Charles Nagel, Secretary of Commerce and Labor,
and sold in London December 17, 1910, under the personal charge
of George M. Bowers, United States Fish Commissioner, ete.
This classification was made by the same experts that have assorted
and classified all of the sealskins taken on the Pribilof Islands and
sold in London annually since 1872-1874. It is absolutely authentic
and indisputable. It is summed up as follows, for brevity (the full
details have appeared and are in the printed sales catalogue of Messrs.
©. M. Lampson’s Sons for December 17, 1910), to wit:
78 ‘“‘smalls,’’ or 3-year-old seals, 74 to 8 pound skins.
793 “large pups,’’ or “short’’ 3-year-olds, and “long”’ 4-year-olds, 64 to 7 pound
skins.
3,775 “middling pups,”’ or “short’’ 2-year-olds, and “long’’ yearlings, 5} to 6 pound
skins.
6, 195 “small pups’’ or yearlings, 44 to 5 pound skins.
1, 809 “‘ex. sm. pups,”’ or “short yearlings, 3} to 4 pound skins,
270 (not well classified).
12, 920 skins.
Out of which, 8,000 are indisputably the skins of seals taken
“under 2 years of age,” and so taken in flagrant violation of the
law and rules of the department as pledged to the Ways and Means
Committee March 10, 1904, and ordered by the department May 1,
1904.
In this proof of that malfeasance, I submit that the committee on
the conduct of affairs in the Department of Commerce and Labor,
has a plain duty to perform.
I also submit a series of further and important detailed proof in
‘the form of exhibits.
As to charge II.—I beg to submit the following:
The causes which have resulted in the loss of more than 4,500,000
fur seals, the property of the Government on the seal islands of
Alaska, since 1882-1884, are due to the following agencies, to wit:
First. The greed and power in official circles of our Government of
private interests—the lessees of the seal islands. (See Exhibits —.)
Second. The ignorance, or worse, of our officialism in charge of that
herd on the seal islands of Alaska. (See Exhibits —.)
On the 19th of November, 1874, there were 4,700,000 fur seals alive
on the seal islands of Alaska. (See the official record of it, published
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 33
by the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Special Bulletin 176,
1883.)
On the 4th of February, 1911, Special Agent Lembkey, in charge of
the seal islands of Alaska, in answer to the direct question put to him
of, ‘Do you know how many seals are now alive on the seal islands ?”
said, “I do not.” “Are there 50,000?” he was then asked; he again
said that he did not know.
(See testimony taken before U. S. Senate Committee on Conserva-
tion of National Resources, at hearing held in Senate Office Building,
Washington, D. C., Saturday, Feb. 4, 1911.)
Here is, as above cited, the indisputable and official proof of the
fact that our fur seal herd has been depleted since 1883, down to date,
of more than 4,500,000 seals. That to-day a pitiful remnant of some
50,000 is all that survives of that vast herd of 1872-83.
Think, also, gentlemen, for a moment, of the property loss to the
Public Treasury of 4,500,000 fur seals—at the least, a loss of more than
$100,000,000, for which we have nothing to show on the credit side
of our books; we have received since 1870, up to date, some $10,000,000
gross revenue, but our expenses in that period have been nearly as
much to defend and protect this private interest which has given us
that revenue, and which has prevented any settlement of this question
of suppressing the pelagic seal hunter’s ruinous and cruel industry
ever since 1890 up to date of May 1, 1910.
In submitting these detailed exhibits as above noted, in proof of
this malfeasance on the part of the officialism concerned, I have to say
in conclusion that abundant and overwhelming additional proof is
in my possession and at your command for your information and use.
I am, very truly, yours,
Wasuineton, D.C., May 15, 1911.
95100—No. 1—11—_3
Henry H. Ewwiorr.
Exuisits SHOWING THE VIOLATION OF THE LAW AND REGULATIONS ORDERED BY THE
GOVERNMENT FOR THE KILLING OF FUR SEALS ON THE SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA.
Exuipit A.—The ‘‘ Hitchcock Rules,’’ ordered by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, May 1, 1904: ‘‘No seals under 2 years of age” can be lawfully
killed for their skins.
B.—The official tables, showing the weights of skins of fur seals when taken
from the bodies of fur seals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old on the Seal
Islands; these tables published officially, 1881-1884, by the United
States Fish Commission, and the Tenth Census United States of
America.
C.—The official record of the sale of 5,000 skins in London, December 16,
1904, which were taken on the Pribilof Islands during ‘June and J uly,
1904, and of which 2,037 are the skins of yearlings and taken in open
violation of the Hitchcock rules of May 1, 1904, and falsely certified
by the department agents in charge as skins of 2- -year-old seals.”’
dD. _The official record of the sale of 14,674 skins in London, December 15,
1905, which were taken on the Pribilof Islands during June and J uly,
1905, and of which 6,918 are the skins of yearlings, and taken in open
violation of the Hitchcock rules of May 1, 1904, and again falsely
certified to the department as ‘‘not under 2 2 years of age” skins by
its own sworn agents.in charge of this work.
E.—The official record of the sale of 14,446 skins in London December 14,
1906, which were taken on the Pribilof Islands, during June and J uly,
1906, and of which 6,837 are the skins of yearling fur seals, and
taken in open violation of the Hitchcock rules of May 1, 1904; and
again falsely certified to the department, as the skins of seals ‘‘not
under 2 years of age,’’ by the sworn agents of the department in charge
of the seal islands.
F.—The official record of the sale of 12,920 fur-seal skins in London Decem-
ber 17, 1910, which were taken on the Pribilof Islands during June
and J uly, 1910, out of which 8,000 skins are the skins of yearling fur
seals, and all taken in deliberate and gross violation of the Hitchcock
rules of May 1, 1904; and again are falsely certified to the depart-
ment as skins ‘“‘not under 2 years of age,’’ by United States Fish
Commissioner Bowers and his subordinate agents on the seal islands.
G.—Letters fully advising the Secretary of Commerce and Labor of the fraud-
ulent killing of seals on the Pribilof Islands done by his agents in
violation of law, and to all of which no response has ever been made,
viz: From December 19, 1906, up to date of May 27, 1910, inclusive.
H.—Letter advising the President of the United States of fraudulent killing
of fur seals on the Pribilof Islands, and inclosing a review of the salient
errors of the Sims report, dated December 9, 1906.
I.—Proof of fraud and perjury uttered by lessees of ‘seal islands to gain their
lease, as submitted to the President, July 12, 1909, and referred by him
to Department of Commerce and Labor, July 29,1909.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 18, 1911.
These exhibits, as noted above, are respectfully submitted to Hon. Jacob Rothermel,
chairman Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor,
for the information and use of said committee by
34
Henry W. EL.iort.
EXHIBIT A.
[Senate Document No. 114, Fifty-eighth Congress, Third session.]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, January 24, 19085.
Srr: In compliance with the terms of a resolution adopted in the Senate of the
United States, under date of January 23, 1905, directing the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor ‘‘to furnish, for the information of the Senate, copies of all regulations and
- instructions given by him to the agents of the department in charge of affairs on the
seal islands of Alasks, and copies of all the reports to the said department which said
agents have made during the season of 1904, relative to the condition and management
of the fur-seal herd of Alaska,’’ I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of the
letters of instructions issued by the department on May 1, 1904, for the guidance of
the agent in charge of the seal islands of Alaska, and also a copy of a preliminary
report that was addressed to the department on August 12, 1904, by the agent in
charge, relative to the conduct of affairs on the islands during the year 1904.
Up to the present time the final detailed report of the agent for the year mentioned
has not been received.
Respectfully,
W. H. Mercatr, Secretary.
The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK,
Washington, May 12, 1904.
Dear Sir: I inclose herewith department letter of May 1, 1904, embodying your
instructions for the coming season as agent in charge of the seal islands.
Three copies of the letter of instructions are also inclosed, one of which you will
please deliver to each of the assistant agents at the islands.
By to-day’s mail I shall forward a copy of the letter of instructions to the North
American Commercial Co., Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal.
Very truly, yours,
Mr. W. I. Lemsxey,
Agent in Charge of Seal Islands,
Department of Commerce and Labor.
F. H. Hrrescock, Chief Clerk.
May 1, 1904.
Str: You are directed to proceed, as soon as practicable, to the seal islands, Alaska,
and resume charge of the interests of the Government thereon. Assistant Agent James
Judge, who is now at his home in Columbus, Ohio, will be instructed to accompany
you, and both of you should take passage to the islands on the steamer of the North
American Commercial Co. leaving San Francisco on or about the 21st instant.
You will make such assignment of the assistant agents during the coming sealing
season as in your opinion will subserve the best interests of the service and the wel-
fare of the native inhabitants, notifying the department of your action in this regard.
At the close of the sealing season, Assistant Agents Ezra W. Clark and H. D. Chi-
chester are to return to their respective homes, unless in your opinion the exigencies
of the service require either or both of them to remain on the islands during the coming
winter, in which event you will instruct them accordingly.
Inclosed herewith are copies of the contract between the United States and the
North American Commercial Co., and it will be your duty and that of your assistants
35
36 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
to see that its provisions are enforced and that the rights of the Government and
those of the lessees are duly protected.
Should a difference of opinion arise at any time between yourself and the repre-
sentatives of the company in respect to a matter of administration on the islands,
your decision must govern, but in all such cases you should request the superintendent
of the company to furnish a written statement of his views on the question involved,
and this statement should be transmitted to the department, with an expression of
your own views, at the earliest practicable moment.
Quota.—lf the conditions of the herd will permit, the lessees may be allowed to
take during the season of 1904 as many as 13,000 male seals of the proper age on the
island of St. Paul, and as many as 2,000 on the island of St. George, but not more
than the number specified in either case. The numbers to which the quotas of the
two islands are thus limited shall be inclusive of any skins accepted by the company
from food drives made prior to the present sealing season. No seals shall be taken
that are over 4 years of age, nor shall any seals be taken that are under 2 years of age."
In order to remove all doubt as to the reservation of a sufficient number of male
seals for the perpetuation of the herd, you are instructed to release from the best
seals appearing in the first drives of the season not less than 1,000 3-year-old males
and not less than 1,000 2-year-old males, Of the 3-year-olds and the 2-year-olds to
be reserved, 800 of each shall be released on the island of St. Paul and 200 of each on
the island of St. George. The seals thus released are to be marked in such a manner
as will make them readily recognizable throughout the season, and under no circum-
stances are they to be taken by the lessees.'
Killing season.—The killing season should begin as soon after the Ist of June as the
rookeries are in condition for driving. Seals shall not be killed by the lessees later
than July 31. Noseals whatever shall be taken during the stagey season. The killing
of pups for food for the natives, or for any other purpose, is not to be permitted.
Seals for food.—The number of seals to be killed by the natives for food during the
fiscal year beginning July 1, 1904, shall not exceed 1,700 on the island of St. Paul and
300 on the island of St. George, and no seals shall be taken for this purpose that are
over 4 years of age or under 2 years of age, nor any of the 3-year-olds or 2-year-olds
reserved during the lessees’ killing season under the instructions given above.
Driving.—The representatives of the company on the islands shall be required to
give notice on the day preceding that on which they desire to make a drive of the seals,
stating the name of the rookery selected, such notice to be subject to your approval.
A representative of the Government should be present on the killing grounds 1n each
instance to superintend the killing. If at any time the methods employed in driving
or killing appear in your judgment to be faulty or detrimental to the seal herd, you
should see that such methods are immediately corrected, indicating to the represen-
tatives of the company what changes are to be made.
Killing grownds.—As heretofore, you should establish on each of the islands killing
grounds that can be reached by the shortest possible driver; provided, however,
that such killing grounds must be at places sufficiently distant from the rookeries
to prevent annoyance from the decaying carcasses.
Acceptance of skins.—In an opinion dated March 8, 1902, it was held by the Solicitor
of the Treasury that the lessees have no right to reject any of the skins taken from the
seals they have selected for killing. You will therefore see that all such skins, regard-
less of condition, are accepted.
Counting skins.—All the sealskins should be carefully counted in the salt houses
in the presence of the department agent and of the representative of the company, and
a receipt, in duplicate, in the following form should be prepared and signed by said
agent and by the representative of the company:
St. - ISLAND, —., —, 190—.
We certify that there have been placed in the salt house in our presence
sealskins.
Agent, United States Department of Commerce and Labor.
Agent, North American Commercial Co.
The original of the above receipt should be retained by the department agent,
and the duplicate given to the representative of the North American Commercial Co.
At the close of the season, when the sealskins are again counted and shipped on
board the company’s steamer, the usual annual receipts should be signed by the
captain of the steamer and the representative of the department.
1 That order has been violated from start to finish—tens of thousands of times. The London sales
clinch the proof of that guilt.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, aT
Trading in skins —The North American Commercial Co. has the exclusive privi-
lege under its contracts of taking sealskins and fox skins on the islands of St. Paul
and St. George, and you should see that no other company or person is allowed to
trade with the natives for such skins.
Measures to prevent shipment of skins by natives.—To avoid the possibility of seal-
skins or fox skins being surreptitiously shipped from the islands, you are directed to
continue the practice of examining all goods to be shipped by the natives, including
baggage and personal effects, and where barrels, casks, boxes, or other receptacles
are used they should be closed under your supervision, after an examination of their
contents, before being placed in the warehouse. No person shall be admitted to the
space reserved for such merchandise in the warehouse without your consent. Any
skins found concealed in packages to be shipped by the natives should be seized
and held, subject to instructions from the department.
Census of seal herd.—You are expected to make a thorough examination into the
condition of the seal herd during the coming season, and to make a careful count of
the number of breeding seals, male and female, on the islands, and also a computation,
as accurate as possible, of the number of seals not breeding, including idle bulls, half
bulls, bachelors, and virgin females. A careful enumeration should also be made of
the pups found dead at the close of the season, and such information as can be had
regarding the causes of death reported.
Sealskins to be weighed.—Y ou are instructed to have the skins of the seals taken by
the lessees during the coming season carefully weighed, and to keep a record of the
weights for the information of the department. You should also weigh the skins of
seals that are killed to supply food for the natives and record the weights. The
natives may be required to assist as far as practicable in the work of weighing.
Taking of foxes to be restricted —Proper restrictions should be placed upon the taking
of foxes during the coming season. You are directed to see that the number killed is
not in excess of the yearly increase in these animals. If there seems to be danger of
extermination on either of the islands, all killing on that island should be stopped.
Killing of sea lions to be limited —The preservation of the sea lion rookeries on the
islands is highly important. The killing of these animals should be limited to such
number as is absolutely necessary in providing for the construction of ‘‘bidaras,’’ or
skin boats. Sea lion pups should not be killed for any purpose.
Care of the natives.—The care and welfare of the natives should receive your close
attention, and you are directed to see that the lessees perform all of the obligations of
their contract toward such natives. You should ascertain the prices charged at the
company’s stores, compare them with the prices at San Francisco, and report any
instances where the natives are compelled to pay unfair prices. You should also
inspect the articles supplied as to quality and quantity, and if they are in any manner
deficient you should report the fact to the department.
Compensation to natives for taking sealskins —The compensation to be paid by the
company for killing, salting, curing, bundling, and loading the sealskins on the com-
pany’s steamer will be 50 cents for each skin. The money thus earned is to consti-
tute a community fund for distribution among the natives, according to their respec-
tive classes. At the close of the sealing season, after a conference with the native
chiefs, you will make such division of the fund among the natives, according to their
classification, as is deemed fair and just, and submit a report of such division, showing
the amount apportioned to each native participating in the fund, which report should
be accompanied by an indorsement from the native chiefs and the company’s agent
certifying that such funds have been credited -to such natives on the books of the
company.
Returns to natives under fox contract.—Under the contract executed between the
Secretary of the Treasury and the North American Commercial Co. on May 2, 1900,
this company named was granted the right to propagate the fur-bearing animal known
as the blue fox, on the islands of St. Paul-and St. George, for a term of five years, the
company to pay $5 for every blue fox skin and $1 for every white fox skin obtained,
these payments to be entered as a credit on the books of the company in favor of the
natives, and to be available for their support, on orders drawn in their favor by the
Government agents.
The amounts accruing to the natives under this contract are to be added to and form
a part of the community fund, and are in the same manner to be credited to the natives
on the books of the company. :
Payment of natives’ earnings.—The amounts that are earned from the company by the
natives for labor, other than sealing and foxing, are to be paid to them in cash, and you
will instruct the representatives of the company accordingly. The funds earned from
sealing and foxing, however, are to be disbursed upon order as heretofore.
The payment to the natives of money from the appropriation for their maintenance,
upon the orders of the Government agent, is strictly prohibited.
38 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Articles that do not properly come within the term ‘‘necessaries” should not be
puneed for sale in the company’s stores nor sold to the natives for the money they earn
y labor.
Support of natives.—Congress has appropriated the sum of $19,500 ‘‘to enable the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor to furnish food, fuel, and clothing to the native
inhabitants on the islands of St. Paul and St. George, Alaska,’’ during the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1905, and the greatest care and economy should be exercised in the
expenditure of this appropriation. Articles of strict necessity only should be issued.
No expensive dress goods, boots, or other articles are to be provided. The natives
should be restricted to one pair of dress shoes each year and the women to one good
dress. Ginghams, calicoes, muslins, and similar inexpensive dress goods may be
issued in reasonable quantities.
The supply of fuel for the use of the natives is paid for from this appropriation, and
the cost of such fuel should not be overlooked in determining how much of the appro-
priation is available for other purposes.
In the distribution of these supplies no distinction is to be made between persons
without means and those having small savings from previous years, but the earnings
for the current year should be expended for necessaries, other than “food, fuel, and
clothing,’’ before any allowance is granted from the appropriation.
You will continue the plan, adopted under previous instruction, of issuing orders
upon the company for such supplies as are required by the native inhabitants after
they have expended their current yearly earnings. At the end of the season, as
heretofore, you will submit to the department the stubs of the orders given for use in
verifying the accounts of the company.
Coal supply.—In a letter to the department, dated April 16, 1904, the North Ameri-
can Commercial Co. has agreed to furnish during the coming season 175 tons of coal
for use on the islands at $20 per ton, including delivery on the beach, 90 tons to be
delivered on St. Paul Island and 85 tons on St. George Island. .This coal, with the
80 tons additional the company is required to furnish under the terms of its contract,
will make available for all purposes a supply of 255 tons, and in its distribution the
widows and orphans and aged and infirm inhabitants of the islands of St. Paul and |
St. George are to be included.
: Of the 175 tons purchased from the company, you may make the following distri-
ution:
St. Paul Island: Tons.
‘Bor: the Government mouse... bee Sere ee oe er ee ee 10
‘Por the. use of the nativess-.: 2-0 oe Pos tee ee ee ee ee ee eee eee 80
St. George Island:
For the Govermiieitermadcet ee eee ne eraee eae eee -10
For the asejamibierirativess 2 noe ee eee ee Ne ee 75
fs: sea ln eG eer a Re trl met SPE A WE SMCs Ree og hoe aa cA Ene, 175
Of the 80 tons furnished by the company without charge under its contract, 50 tons
may be distributed to the natives of St. Paul and 30 tons to the natives of St. George.
Dwellings for natives.—The agreement of the company in its contract to furnish the
native inhabitants of the islands a sufficient number of comfortable dwellings and to
keep such dwellings in proper repair should be strictly enforced. You are instructed
to obtain from the representatives of the company, as soon after the close of the current
fiscal year as practicable, a statement of the amount expended during the year in
carrying out this requirement of the contract.
Schools for the natives.—You will require the schools for the native children to be
maintained from September 1 to May 1 and to be opened five days in each week,
the school hours to be from 9 o’clock a. m. to 3 o’clock p. m., with 1 hour recess at
noon and 15 minutes’ recess in the forenoon.
It will be your duty to see that the teachersappointed by the company are competent
to teach the English language and that they faithfully perform this duty. None
but the English language shall be taught in these schools.
If the parents of the children on the islands desire to send them to the Jessie Lee
School at Unalaska, the department has no objection, provided no expenditure of
public money is involved in their transportation to Unalaska or their maintenance
and schooling while there. This course will also be permitted, under the same condi-
tions, in the case of orphan children for whom provision is now made by the company
under its contract.
The amount expended by the company during the fiscal year for the maintenance
of schools, in accordance with the requirements of its contract, should be ascertained
and reported to the department.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 39
House of worship and medical attendance-—You will also ascertain the company’s
expenditures during the year in maintaining a suitable house for religious worship
and in providing competent physicians and necessary medicines and medical supplies.
Widows, orphans, aged, and infirm.—The company is required by its contract to
provide the necessaries of life for the widows and orphans and aged and infirm inhabi-
tants of the islands who are unable to provide for themselves, and you will see that this
obligation is fully discharged. As soon as practicable after the close of the current
fiscal year you will procure from the representatives of the company a statement
showing the number of such inhabitants provided for during the year, and also the
amount expended in making such provision.
Widows and orphans having small sums of money to their credit should not be
compelled to spend them and become wholly dependent before they are allowed to
draw supplies under this provision in the company’s contract. Such sums, as well as
similar accounts held by other natives, may be drawn upon from time to time, however,
with the consent and under the direction of the Government agent, for such reasonable
articles as will contribute to the comfort of the persons supplying the funds.
Natives to render service.—In consideration of the support gratuitously afforded the
natives by the Government, you are directed to utilize their services, when not re-
quired by the company, in repairing roads, guarding their rookeries, and performing
such other duties as seem desirable. This instruction is not to be regarded, however,
as relieving the company from its obligation to employ the natives, at a fair and just
compensation, for all such work as they are fitted to perform.
. Election of native chiefs.—No interference should be permitted in the selection of
their chiefs by the native inhabitants of the islands. If it should transpire, however,
that persons manifestly unsuitable for the position are chosen, it will be your duty to
interpose in the interest of good government, and require the selection of proper per-
sons, but such action should be taken only in extreme cases.
Sale of intoxicants prohibited —The company agrees in its contract that it will not
permit any of its agents to keep, sell, give, or dispose of any distilled spirits or spirit-
uous liquors or opium on either of the islands or the waters adjacent thereto to any of
the native inhabitants, such person not being a physician and furnishing the same for
use asa medicine. This obligation is to be rigidly enforced.
Manufacture of intoxicants prohibited—The brewing or distilling of intoxicating
beverages on the island is prohibited. In the enforcement of this provision you are
authorized to discontinue the sale, from the company’s stores, of sugar, or of other
articles entering into the manufacture of intoxicants, to any person who violates this
_ order, or who is found to be intoxicated. Should intoxication become so general among
the people as to interfere with good government and jeopardize the peace, you are
authorized to discontinue altogether the sale of sugar, and of other articles entering into
the manufacture of intoxicants, for such length of time as may appear wise.
Removal for cause.—Should natives or other persons become so unruly or immoral
in conduct as to endanger the peace and good government of the people, they should
be removed from the islands, and the Revenue-Cutter Service will be instructed to
render such assistance as may be necessary for that purpose.
Landing on the islands restricted.—No persons other than Government officers, repre-
sentatives and employees of the North American Commercial Co., and duly accredited
representatives of the Russian Church shall be allowed to land on the islands except
by written authority from the department. The permission granted representatives
of the Russian Church to visit the islands may be suspended, however, where its
exercise is attempted by an improper person. Visitors to the islands should not be
permitted to inspect the rookeries, except under your supervision.
Information regarding affairs on the islands.—No information regarding the seals or as
to any other matter pertaining to the seal islands is to be given out by you or by any of
the assistant agents. All applications for such information should be referrd to the
department.
-Conclusion.—Should questions arise involving matters not covered by these instruc-
tions, it. will be your duty to report the facts to the department and to await instructions
except in cases requiring immediate decision, when you will take such action as sound
judgment directs.
A. copy of these instructions should be furnished by you to each of the assistant agents
on the seal islands for their information and guidance.
Respectfully, Geo. B. CorTELYOU,
; Secretary.
Mr. W. I. LemsBxey,
Agent in Charge of Seal Islands, Department of Commerce and Labor.
40 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK,
Washington, May 12, 1904.
Dear Srr: With reference to the provision in your instructions prohibiting the
lessees from killing any seals during the coming season that are under 2 years of age,
you are directed in the enforcement of this requirement to fix upen 5} pounds as a
minimum limit of weight for the skins to be taken.
It will be your duty to see that every possible precaution is éxercised to prevent
the killing of seals that yield skins under the weight mentioned.
Very truly, yours,
F. H. Hircxcock, Chief Clerk.
Mr. W. I. LemBxKey,
Agent in charge of Seal Islands,
Department of Commerce and Labor.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK,
Washington, May 14, 1904.
Dear Sir: I desire to remind you of the wish of the department to have a record
kept for the coming season of the number of sealskins taken on the islands, as distinct
from the number of skins shipped. You may please have separate records made for
each island of the number of skins taken from seals killed by the lessees during the
season and also of the skins taken from seals killed in food drives.
The importance of securing fuller statistics regarding the.seals on the island of St.
George has been already impressed upon you. The assistant agents on that island
should be required to exert every possible effort during the coming season to make
their counts of the seals as accurate and complete as the conditions will permit. The
number of idle bulls on the islands should be counted, as well as the bulls having
harems, and as accurate returns as possible should be made as to the number of breed-
ing cows, and also as to the number of immature seals, including half-bulls, bachelors,
and virgin cows. ;
For the proper enforcement of the regulation prohibiting the killing of seals during
the coming season that are under 2 years of age it is desirable that the work of weighing
skins called for by your instructions be done with great thoroughness and care, one
of the objects of such weighing being to see that no skins are taken that weigh less than
54 pounds, which is the minimum limit to be fixed upon in the enforcement of the
regulations. Your assistants on St. George should be advised as to the importance
of this work and directed to comply strictly with the instructions. You will please
see that at least two of the six weighing instruments with which you have been
provided are placed in the hands of your assistants on St. George.
Very truly, yours,
F, H. Hircucock, Chief Clerk.
Mr. W. I. LemBxey,
Agent in Charge of Seal Islands,
‘ Department of Commerce and Labor.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK,
Washington, May 14, 1904.
Dear Sir: Pending the arrival on the islands of the clipping apparatus that is to
be provided for experiment in marking the 2-year-old and_3-year-old seals to be
reserved from the killing, it is expected that you will employ the method agreed upon
of singeing out aspot in the fur on the top of the seal’s head with the branding irons.
In marking the fur by this method care should be taken not to burn into the skin of
the animal. ;
Upon the receipt of the clipping apparatus you will please give it a sufficient test
to determine its practicability, and if it proves to be successful it should be substi-
tuted for the branding irons.
Very truly, yours,
Mr. W. I. LEMBKEY,
Agent in Charge of Seal Islands,
Department of Commerce and Labor.
F. H. Hirescocs, Chief Clerk. .
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 41
OFFICE OF AGENT IN CHARGE SEAL FISHERIES,
St. Paul Island, Alaska, August 12, 1904.
Dear Sir: I have to make the following summarized report of the condition of
affairs on the seal islands of Alaska during the sealing season ended July 31, 1904:
The following number of seals was killed during the season by the lessee on its
quota:
Sih, sPUN Ilan. GAS RS Ne Ns fo a, ee a 8, 732
SN eer CM ies iceh a wu ie Se ee ES Se Sealy nici oe se see coe ets nes 1, 500
AMG TE Leitebene ebece oe Cee Mee cine O'S etree ae a ae Eee 10, 232
The following number of seals was killed for food before and after the regular seal-
ing season or left on hand from previous seasons:,
See seta 2 Chee eS eee 2, 545
On EE ese Oa ee ee a 496
ALGYITM a 2d ws Bm aie eh a 3 es re a ae 3, 041
The figures for St. Paul include 140 skins taken for food on August 9, 1904.
The following shipment of skins will be made by the company this fall:
CRMIREE ed Cerne a cia BL Nn ch ne mate Wwe a vivid Shi des ee 1132
SiGeorge. 25 2-).-.- 2 a OS SNS Ree Sie ye 8 aes Eee ee ee ty Ny He 1, 996
tilt. hoc eos ee tes Be = aah cecwene CAPL NRAIESA a e ea 13, 128
~The lessee’s quota of 15,000 skins was not filled for the reason that a sufficient
number of seals of proper size was not present.
The following number of bachelors was branded this spring:
Islands. olds. | olds. | olds.
2 TSG: 2A SE See a be eb yn i Bg oles CO te =o 800 800 50
PIPRERDOTHO 82 05k the ance Jom. odctlsobhte oe ST bth the obs Soke tease. Se tL AU: 200 ZOO eens 2
UNoTE AL 2-3) Se eS peN hee COE ecm aS aes aT nF 2a A ee 1,000 1,000 50
Branding was completed on St. Paul on June 25, and on St. George July 2.
The number of breeding bulls, with harems and idle bulls, found this summer
on both islands was as follows:
Islands. Harems. Idle. Total.
Lh TESTS ene a. Se Se os Bene Oe ee Se ge a ae oie eee es 1,790 232 2,022
SRR Clee ee (oak Reema es ict sesh ek esac tac tiel QBediecguesceeease ns “312 62 374 -
AD SEL-5. 3 S24 sas SASS Boe Beer ee eae NS ea err a ger 2,102 294 2,396
The counts of pups on both islands at the end of the season of 1904, with a com-
parison of the counts for the season of 1903, follow:
Islands. 1904 1903 Decrease.
OU URE. 1. casi Seagate oe eae ee eee 21,309 24, 801 3,492
Dir GeOrpesccc.. =: <2 Sec 7S cab cc PBB SEUeD Denne RECS aeeee? . ConcaeneSeae 13, 583 14, 647 1, 064
|
42 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
The census of breeding cows and of bulls breeding and idle on the two islands for
the seasons of 1903 and 1904, follows:
Bulls. - Cows.
Islands.
1903 1904 Decrease. 1903 1904 Decrease.
Sti Pat tee sianccse nee hack eee 2,402 2,022 382 82, 649 74, 002 8, 647
St. George......--- ee Ae Nee se 1415 374 41 14, 647 13, 583 1, 064
DOH. <3 oc js Ah eae Soepis ae lehe tee 2,396 423 97, 296 87, 585 9,711
1 Estimated.
The average harem during the past season (1904) was 39.83, as compared with
40.29 during the season of 1903. The lessening of the average harem is caused by
the fact that the decrease in breeding cows during the interval between the seasons
of 1903 and 1904 was greater than the decrease in bulls. On the area on which pups
were counted on St. Paul Island the decrease in harems was found to be 13.99 per
cent, while the decrease in pups or breeding cows was 14.90 per cent.
During the season of 1904 there occurred in the various drives of the season, and
including the food drive on the 9th of August, 641 large rejections, 4,794 small rejec-
tions, and 1,888 rejections of branded seals. During the same period in 1903 the
rejections were as follows: 912 large and 1,185 small. The increase in rejections
from drives in 1904 was the result of the regulations restricting the killing to a mini-
mum of 54 pounds. :
All skins taken on St. George during the sealing season, as reported by Agent Clark,
were weighed. On St. Paul all but 145 skins taken during the sealing season were
weighed, the latter number being overlooked by the natives who gathered up the-
skins on the field for weighing. The bulk of the company’s catch is skins of 2-year-
olds, but a fair number of 3-year-olds also were taken. No yearlings were included
in the catch, and but few were seen in the drives. .
One yearling was killed by me during the summer to determine the weight of
that class of skins. The entire animal—a female—weighed 33 pounds, and its pelt
weighed 34 pounds.
A detailed report of the season’s work will be made as soon as practicable after the
departure of the company’s vessel. ;
Very truly, yours, W. I. LempBxey,
Agent in Charge Seal Fisheries.
Mr. F. H. Hircucocx,
Chief Clerk Department of Commerce and Labor.
EXHIBIT B.
Being the official tables fixing the record weights of skins of fur-seals as they are taken
from the bodies of 1, 2, 38, 4, and 5 year old fur seals on the Seal Islands of Alaska,
officially prepared and adopted and published by the United States Government
in 1881-82.
These official tables have never been disputed by any competent officialism since
they were published by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, in 1881-82, up to date.
ANNUAL GROWTH OF .AN AVERAGE FUR SEAL (CALLORHINUS URSINUS) SKIN—AS BORN
AND BRED ON THE SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA.
The ‘‘pups” are all born annually, between June 6 and July 25; an immense
majority of them being born between July 10 and 20.
Newborn and still “‘womb moist” pups weigh 74 to 9 pounds then. When they
are weaned, in November, and about to leave the islands for their winter migration
in Lai North Pacific, and are 44 to 5 months old, they weigh from 39 to 40 pounds
each.
Between the 20th and 26th November, 1872, 10,550 pups were driven and
“handled” for ‘natives’ food” on the village killing grounds at St. Paul’s Island.
Out of this number so ‘‘handled” for sex selection, 5,976 were males, and were killed.
Five hundred carcasses, taken ‘‘as they ran,’’ were weighed on this slaughter field,
and declared an average of 39 to 40 pounds per carcass; some ‘‘runt” pups ran as low
as 32 pounds; some well-grown ones went up to 46 pounds. One hundred pups’
skins taken from this killing, ‘‘as they ran,’’ piled on a platform scale weighed 316
pounds, ‘‘clean skinned,”’ thus showing an average weight of little more than 3
pounds; with the usual amount of blubber adherents left on them for salt curing
they would weigh one-half to three-fourths of a pound each more per skin.
The following table of skin weights was the agreement made in 1874 by the Govern-
ment agents and the lessees’ agents as their standard for official and business reports.
It was officially published by the United States Fish Commission as Special Bulletin
No. 176, and by the Tenth Census, United States of America, in 1881, under the
direction of Prof. S. F. Baird, United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and
on page 81 it appears as follows:
‘“GRADATION OF THE FUR OF CALLORHINUS URSINUS.—The gradation of the fur of
Callorhinus may, perhaps, be best presented in the following manner:
“One year old ¢, well grown, at July 1 of every season: Fur fully developed as to
uniform length and thickness and evenness of distribution; it is lighter in color and
softer in texture than hereafter during the life of the animal; average weight of skin as
removed by the sealers from the carcass, 44 pounds.
“Two year old ¢, well grown, at June | of every season: Fur fully developed ‘as to
even length and thickness and uniformity of distribution; it has now attained the
darker buff and fawn color, sometimes almost brown, which it retains throughout the
rest of the life of the animal; it is slightly and perceptibly firmer and stiffer than it was
last year, not being at all ‘fluffy,’ as in the yearling dress now; average weight of skin
as taken from the body, 54 pounds.
“‘Three year old ¢, well grown, at June 1 of every season: Fur fully developed as to
even length, but a shade longer over the shoulders, where the incipient ‘wig’ is forming;
otherwise perfectly uniform in thickness and even distribution; this is the very best
grade of pelt which the seal affords during its life; average weight of skin as taken from
the body, 7 pounds.
‘Four year old ¢, well grown, at June 1 of every season: Fur fully developed as to
even length, except a decided advance in length and perceptible stiffness over the
shoulders, in the ‘wig;’ otherwise perfectly uniform in thickness and even distribution;
this grade is almost as safe to take and as good as is the 3-year-old; average weight of
skin as removed, 12 pounds.
‘Five year old ¢, well grown, at May to June 1 of every season: Fur fully devel-
oped, but much longer and decidedly coarser in the ‘wig’ region; otherwise uniform in
ickness and distribution; the coarseness of the fur over the shoulders and dispro-
portionate length thereon destroys that uniformity necessary for rating Al in the
market; in fact, it does not pay to take this skin; average weight, 16 pounds.
43
44 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
“Six-year-old ¢, well grown, from May to June 1 of every season: Fur fully devel-
oped, still longer and stiffer in the ‘wig’ region, with a slightly thinner distribution
over the post-dorsal region, and shorter; this skin is never taken—it is profitless; average
weight, 25 pounds.
“ Seven-year-old and upward ¢ , from May to June 1 of everyseason: Fur fully devel-
oped, but very unevenly distributed, being relatively scant and short over the poste-
rior dorsal region, while it is twice as long and very coarse in the covering to the
shoulders especially and the neck and chest. Skins are valueless to the fur trade;
weights, 45 to 60 pounds.
“The analysis, as above, is a brief epitomé of the entire subject; only, it should
be added that the female skins are as finely furred as are the best grades of the males;
and also, that age does not cause the quality of their pelage to deteriorate, which it
does to go marked an extent in the males. But, taking them into consideration is
entirely out of the question, and ought to be so forever.
‘The fcetal coat of the pup is composed of coarse black hair alone, the underwool
not at all developed, when this is shed and the new coat put on in September and
October, it is furred and haired as a yearling, which I diagnose above; this pelage has,
however, no commercial value.
‘‘All the skins taken by the company for the last eight years have been prime
skins, in the fair sense of the term; but all the sealskin sacques made therefrom have
not been of the first quality, by any means.
“Tn order that the rules and regulations and the law governing and protecting the
interests of the Government on these islands may be fully understood, I embody them
in the appendix.”’
EXHIBIT C.
[See recapitulation on p. 51.]
C. M. Lampson & Co. exposed to sale by auction at the College Hill public sale room
on Friday, December 16, 1904, at 10 o’clock precisely, the following goods, viz,
20,000 skins salted fur seal, ‘‘ Alaska,” 86 skins salted fur seal, ‘“‘Alaska.” (Prompt,
December 30, 1904.) The purchasers are particularly requested to have some one
in attendance to superintend the counting, as no claim for deficiencies can be
allowed after the goods have been counted and delivered from the warehouse.
CONDITIONS OF SALE,
First. The highest bidder to be the purchaser.
Second. The purchasers shall have an allowance of £2 10s. per cent for discount, and
shall pay 2s. 6d. for each lot, together with a brokerage of one-half per cent to the
selling brokers and a deposit of 25 per cent on the amount of their purchase, if required
to do so at the time of purchase.
The deposit must in any case be paid in full on or before the prompt day, and in case
of default C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty to resell any such lot or lots without
further notice, and the buyer is to make good to them the deficiency (if any) of such
resale, together with all expenses, in addition to forfeiting any part of the deposit
which may have been paid; and should the goods sell for more on such resale than
at the present sale the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Third. From the day of sale interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be
allowed on all payments made in anticipation of the prompt.
Fourth. All payments (except the charge for cold storage) to be made to the selling
brokers, who will give orders for the delivery of the goods so paid for.
Fifth. The goods to be taken with all faults and to be paid for on or before the
prompt day; but should any of the purchasers wish to delay clearing any of their
goods they shall have the option of doing so on the following terms:
The amount of the purchase shall be ascertained and a deposit of not less than 25
per cent thereon paid to the selling brokers on or before the prompt day.
Interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be charged on the amount unpaid
from the prompt day to the day of payment.
Payment shall be made in full, with interest, nine months from the day of sale, say,
the 16th day of September, 1905, when the goods shall be cleared and taken away.
C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty, as soon as they may think proper, to resell,
without further notice, any goods which have not been cleared by the buyer on or
before the 16th day of September, 1905, and the said buyer is to: make good to them
the deficiency (if any) of such resale, together with all expenses, in addition to forfeit-
ing the deposit of 25 per cent, and should the goods sell for more on such resale than
at the present sale the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Sixth. The selling brokers will not recognize or act upon any notice from a purchaser
of the transfer of any goods (purchased by him) to another party, unless they are
satisfied as to the responsibility of such other party, and then only on the understand-
ing that such other party accepts the goods subject to the sale conditions.
Seventh. That such of the purchasers as shall leave their goods in OC. M. Lampson &
Co.’s warehouse (whether wholly or partially paid for after the prompt day), shall
pay them on delivery of the goods, for cold storage, 1s. and 6d. per £100 on the amount
of purchase for each week or part of a week from the prompt day until the goods are
taken away from the cold store.
Eighth. That C. M. Lampson & Co., being partners in the firm of C. W. Martin &
Sons, agree to consider any goods placed in the hands of that firm for manufacturing
purposes as being still in their own custody on condition, however, that the skins
shall not be drawn away from the cold store to the Alaska factory until Messrs. C. W.
Martin & Sons are ready to commence manufacturing them.
Ninth. All goods, whether paid for or not, shall be at the risk of the purchasers from
the day of sale, but they will be insured against fire free of charge until delivered
under the conditions of C. M. Lampson & Co.’s policies with fire insurance companies,
45
46 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Tenth. Should any dispute arise respecting the sale of any lot, the same shall be
ut up again and resold; and should any difference arise between any two or more
uyers, the same shall be left to the decision of the selling broker.
Bieventh. No claims for deficiencies will be allowed by C. M. Lampson & Co. after
the goods have been delivered from their warehouse, nor do the sellers hold themselves
responsible for the descriptions in this catalogue.
he selling brokers will deliver to the buyers on the morning following the sale a
contract for the goods purchased, and the selling brokers will consider such contracts
me accepted by the buyers, unless exception is taken to them within 24 hours of delivery
of same.
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 20,000 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska.
[At per skin, to advance Is.]
[Buyers are requested to note that all skins are stamped L A on the right cheek.]
13 Middlings, 4-year-olds, 11 to
12 pound skins.
65 Middlings and smalls, short
LUIS Eco TRESS ese Seb ie ar Ab Lot 1 189/ 4-year-olds and long 3-
year-olds, 9 to 10 pound
skins.
2 190/ 70 Smalls, 3-year-olds, 7 to 8
pound skins.
3 192/ 70
4 192/ 70
5 193/ 76 :
6 204/ 70 Unhaired and dressed (A).
3 Middlings and smalls, i short”
4-year-olds and ‘‘long”
“AU es Fi geben Be chet nies Sere Lot 7 198/ 3-year-olds.
70 Smalls; 3-year-olds.
3
8 199/ 479
9 199 {4
2903 cateh 2: 35. skheceds wdecn Lot 10 179/ 80 Large pups, 2-year-olds, 6-
pound skins.
We ASB/y 480
12 286). 80
139/188)» 80
14. +189/ +80
15. 2eoyi ». 86
16 189/ 80
17 189/ 80
18 189/ 80
19 189/ 80
20 189/ 61
21 200/ 80 Unhaired and dressed (B).
HOAs ieatehiaes .wJece. svesoon. ¢ Lot 22 194/ 80 Large pups, 2-year-olds, 6-
pound skins.
23. 194/ 80
24 194/ 80
25 194/ 80
296 194/ 80
27° 194/ 80
28 194/ 80
29 194/ 80
30 194/ 53
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 47
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 20,000 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
nm9Osrenteh. . .. Seren. IS. Lot 31
POO4 CATCH Soc ccs cc cst as Soe Lot 67
148/
150/
151/
90
Middling pups are the ‘‘short”’
2-year-olds and ‘‘long”’ year-
lings, 5-pound skins.
Unhaired and dressed (D).
Dressed, dyed, and machined
C)
Middling pups are the ‘‘short”
2-year-olds, and ‘‘long’’ year-
lings.
48 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, EB. C.), 20,000 skins
salted fur seals, Alaska—Continued:
1003 catoh.<:: occ; ti oeete @ Lot 85 119/ 100 “Small pups,”’ “ yearlings, ”’
44-pound skins.
86 119/ 100
87 119/ 100
SB ap) 3.00
89 119/ 100
90 119/ 100
91 119/ 100
92 119/ 100
93 119/ 100
94 119/ 100
9 119/ 100
96 119/ 100
97 119/ 100
98 119/ 100
99 119/ 100
100 119/ 100
101 119/ 100
102 119/ 100
103 119/ 100
104 119/ 100
105 118/ 100
106 117/ 100
107 116/ 100
108 116/ 100
109 116/ 100
110 «=«(1116/_~—s (100
111 116/ 100
Ha: «1te) Aga
(a. pike) 3 ee
114 +116/ ~—«-:100
115 116/ 100
1a ¥ié/ 100
tz dish 4. ne
118 117/ 100
27 ge) ee
128 119/ 100
129 119/ 100
130 = 118/ 100 Small pups, yearlings, 44-
pound skins.
131 119) - -400
132 119/ 118
133. 124/ 100 Unhaired and dressed (G).
134 134/ 100 Dressed, dyed, and ma-
chined (E).
ROT rath, 22s cpt of eee eno ee Lot 135 120/ 100 Small pups, yearlings, 43-
pound skins.
136 120/ 100
137 .120/ 300
138 119/ 100
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 49
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 20,000 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
1904 cateh..2i.5. 4: te SRE Lot 146
147
148
149
POOP eabehews1s lo. ol. oe Lot 150
151
152
153
154
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
BOG4 catch Wie Se Lot 176
177
eagereateh: 5. hae: Aw... ..- Lot 178
179
180
apGrrentelbl ie Cuibu oped Ju bp! Lot 181
89@s Catclb. (2 SPL gyidi Pio. Lot 182
TUE Nes V7 ria 2 ee Lot 184
LUTURAISS Ie) 1 calidad a Lot 185
186
Of extends Ost 5 50 9008 taiccsiax Js Lot 190
BI RATT ko yoke sem nes le ai a a Lot 192
LOOS chtelt cscs ers sais tak aiswbies Lot 195
APOS chtch. HDF. 9 -.0ws. veliwes Lot 196
95100—No. 1—11——4
119/
119/
120/
120/
106/
106/
106/
109/
109/
100 Small pups, yearlings, 44-
pound skins.
100
100
122
110 Extra small pups, ‘‘short”
yearlings, 4-pound skins.
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110
110 Ex. small pups.
108
110 Unhaired and dressed (I).
110 Dressed, dyed, and ma-
chined (H).
110 Ex. small pups, ‘‘short”
yearlings, 4-pound skins.
113
102 Ex. ex. small pups, ‘‘runts, ”
yearlings, 3-pound skins.
8 Middlings and smalls, low,
etc.
54 Smalls, low, etc.
8
ete.
29 Smalls, low, etc.
75 Large pups, low, ete.
75
54
8 Middlings and smalls, low,
87 Large pups, low, etc., 2-year=
olds, 6-pound skins.
96 Middling pups, low, etc.
96
96
96
95
96 Middling pups, low, ete. =
96
128 Small pups, low, etc.
128 % r’
127
150 Small pups, low, etc.
188 Ex. small pups, low, etc.
50 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. f
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 20,000 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
22 Ex. small pups, low, etc.,
= “short” ee
1 Ex. ex. small pup, low, etc.,
1004 catch: 222 ceyeeeneeet ae Lot 197 81/ short ‘‘vearling. ” The
“runt” taken by United
States Government agent.
9 Middlings and smalls, cut,
1003 cate . occas senso e OL Lot 198 175/ ete.
31 Smalls, cut, etc. j
2 Middlings and smalls, cut,
etc.
UL Mec ee Lot 199 170/ 17 Smalls, cut, ete.
58 Large pups, cut, etc.
BS0S CAUCDY .. sph ge ewes eos Se Lot 200 179/ 86 Large pups, cut, etc.
201 143/ 91 Middling pups, cut, etc.
202 143/ 91
203 ~=—-:143/ 91
WOOF Catching Bree wie te Roca ee Lot 204 143/ 88 Middling pups, cut, etc.
Lc) LES ce: 6) | ee ta RS | 5 Lot 205 107/ 110 Small pups, cut, ete.
206 107/ 110
207 107/ 109
208 107/ 109
107 Small pups, cut, etc.
1904 catch .......-+--++-++++-- Lot 209 107) { 12 Extra small pups, cut, ete.
114 Extra small pups, cut, ete.
HON Srcat@nees =a hc. c/s as ere Lot 210 91/ 2 Extra extra small pups, cut,
etc.
211 soi ales
212 66/ 42 Faulty.
2 Eighty-six skins, salted fur seal, Alaska.
Lot 213 106/ 86 Skins, 12 smalls, 18 large
pups, 29 middling pups,
23 small pups, 4 extra
_ small pups.
SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THIS SALE.
Fifteen thousand of this sale brought over from catch of 1903, and 5,000 from
the catch of 1904, leaving 8,000 skins of the catch of 1904 to go over to the sale of
December, 1905. The prices have advanced in this sale 23 per cent over the prices
of December, 1903.
Notre.—Since only 5,000 of the catch of 1904 is offered in association with 15,000 of
the catch of 1903, the proportions of the catch of 1904, as contrasted with the sizes of
1903, can only be reached by multiplying the sizes of 1904 three times, so as to make
the total 15,000, or equal to that of 1903. This makes the following contrast:
1904 1903 Remarks.
Mag Glin pe 221325 oe acitec ewcce on Saeecense 0 13 | A loss in 1904 of 13 skins.
WMiddlings and ismaus: 00)... s2 ccc oseeeeeee 594 90 | A gain in 1904 of 504 skins.
BINA ees diastase mete esiomneeee cee 144 495 | A loss in 1904 of 351 skins.
SOTEO PUPS. s sees es as'o a's ee peace eect wee 2,514 1,177 | A gain in 1904 of 1,337 skins.
Middling pups: .2eEk .Sseee eh es ce se 5,109 3,969 | A gain in 1904 of 1,140 skins.
‘SMA PUPS. — ese i asses eases vase Sees cee 5, 337 5,439 | A loss in 1904 of 102 skins.
Extra small UPS en ccinco=sensaecie sme ~~ e 771 3,273 | A loss in 1904 of 2,502 skins,
aixtra extra snail pups. sf tees. coe eee 3 106 | A loss in 1904 of 103 skins.
Or, in other words, this contrast shows that the restrictions imposed upon the killing
and taking of skins in 1904 prevented the lessees from getting some 2,700 small skins
which they would have taken under the regulations of 1903; but at the same time
they have increased their killing of the large skins about 2,500 over their proportion
of such skins in 1903.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 51
- Itmay be that the balance of the catch of 1904, some 8,000 skins, which is held over
for the sales in December, 1905, will not show up in the proportion assumed above;
it may be that the run of small skins will be very much greater in it than appears in
the run of the 5,000 vlassified and sold December 16, 1904.
A. W. E.
JANUARY 5, 1905.
ANALYSIS OF THIS SALE oF Pripitor Fur-Seat Sxins, DecEMBER 16, 1904, In
Lonvon.
Catch of 1904 (5,000 offered). Number
Sizes and ages: of skins.
4-year-old skins, or ‘‘middlings,’’ 12 to 14 pound skins .................-
‘‘Short”” 4-year-olds and ‘‘long” 3-year-olds, or ‘‘middlings and smalls,”’
py Renee OPM ORAM a et cone een Sebastes ons tw co ole wee SA ees 198
eo year-o1s, Gr smalls, 7 to'8 pound slams: 2. ee 46
2-year-olds, or "large pups,” 6-pound skims-..-.-......-.-...5.-00000..- 838
*‘Long” yearlings and ‘‘short” 2-year-olds, or ‘‘middling pups,’’ 54-
Ue SET) Seg IR Bl a 0 lee 1, 703
+) earliness,” or “small pups,’” 44-pound skins. 12...) 02. 02.225. eden 1,779
“Short” yearlings, or ‘‘ex. small pups,’’ 34-pound skins ............... 257
“Runts,”’ or ‘‘ex. ex. small pups,’’ 3-pound skins.............2......-.-- 1
Mee remem RLF ee eee Ste tt i TEE PSL Ne RE UA 14 4, 882
Of which 2,037 are yearlings.
Catch of 1903 (15,000 offered),
Sizes and ages:
et CNR FMLA. Sch oe has Syruzy o\Seinee aurs’a(d = Qs acy aeusrer xbiaeb «eee 13
Per AN AMIA IS ont di dv hiv teve ctor aod? sel acl stawamuiage O4S-dee elt ade 90
re tt beet aes Aas andy rSs FA iow hhc teisle« <ashncaidt 4 pst - 495
PI SAET ERG tt ee ecto she Big i Raechays 2 cd, 4 hago lanteratecpeds bh ties Leh 77,
RIM RN oF fh 4 ted te SA ard ors pil spite. 3.4 gugacieialsmpmieaiad toed 3, 969
SMUT ee st sate a eRe te hte anneal a(5% ad ke Soucrnss's ns Shem Ass 5, 439
NTMI Baap att Ses Sotrocto aly atidas Gikdataad aah sixes eal Ds 3, 273
Dei PM ED Be fh SE Lt eet. inj eg Sys eran anible 3as= y ste dale wages Synth « zmiahs 106
1S SST TPS WE) el SiR a 2 ee Ye ee ae oer ieee 14, 579
SURILR SPOS ea DEEL TOUS, re arnt Sent ttc 28a 5 orny$'e <2 «bspars ofaiuta'woidi 3.ate 4, 882
19, 461
The balance, 539 skins, not covered definitely in the catalogue as to size and season,
EXHIBIT D.
{See recapitulation on p. 58.]
C. M. Lampson & Co. exposed to sale by auction, at the College Hill public sale-
room, on Friday, December 15, 1905, at 10 o’clock precisely, the following goods,
viz: 22,310 skins salted fur seal, Alaska; 100 skins salted fur seal, Alaska. (Prompt,
Dec. 29, 1905.) The purchasers are particularly requested to have some one in
attendance to superintend the counting, as no claim for deficiencies can be allowed
after the goods have been counted and delivered from the warehouse.
CONDITIONS OF SALE.
First. The highest bidder to be the purchaser.
Second: The purchasers shall have an allowance of £2 10s. per cent for discount,
and shall pay 2s. 6d. for each lot, together with a brokerage of 4 per cent to the sell-
ing brokers, and a deposit of 25 per cent on the amount of their purchase, if required
to do so, at the time of purchase. — ‘
The deposit must in any case be paid in full on or before the prompt day, and, in
case of default, C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty to resell any such lot or
lots without further notice, and the buyer is to make good to them the deficiency
(if any) of such resale, together with all expenses, in addition to forfeiting any part
of the deposit which may hhave been paid; and should the goods sell for more on
such resale than at the present: sale the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Third. From the day of sale, interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be
allowed on all- payments made in anticipation of the prompt.
Fourth. All payments(except the charge for cold storage) to be made to the selling
brokers, who will give orders for the delivery of -the goods so paid_for.
Fiith. The goods to-be taken with all faults, and to be paid for on or before the
prompt day; but should any of the purchasers wish to delay clearing any of their
goods, they shall have the option of doing so on the following terms:
The amount of the purchase shall be ascertained and a deposit of not less than
25 per cent thereon paid to the selling brokers on or before the prompt day.
Interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be charged on the amount unpaid
from the prompt day to the day of payment.
Payment shall be made in full, with interest, nine months from the day of sale,
say, the 15th day of September, 1906, when the goods shall be cleared and taken
away.
C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty, as soon as they may think proper, to
resell, without further notice, any goods which have not been cleared by the buyer
on or before the 15th day of September, 1906, and the said buyer is to make good
to them the deficiency (if any) of such resale, together with all expenses, in addition
to forfeiting the deposit of 25 per cent, and should the goods sell for more on such
resale than at the present sale, the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Sixth. The selling brokers will not recognize or act upon any notice from a pur-
chaser of the transfer of any goods (purchased by him) to another party, unless they
are satisfied as to the responsibility of such other party, and then only on the under-
standing that such other party accepts the goods subject to the sale conditions.
Seventh. That such of the purchasers as shall leave their goods in C. M. Lampson
& Co.’s warehouse (whether wholly or partially paid for) after the prompt day shall
pay them on delivery of the goods, for cold storage, ls. 6d. per £100 on the amount
of purchase for each week or part of a week from the prompt day until the goods are
taken away from the cold store.
Eighth. That C. M. Lampson & Co., being partners in the firm of C. W. Martin &
Sons, agree to consider any goods placed in the hands of that firm for manufacturing
purposes as being still in their own custody, on condition, however, that the skins
shall not be drawn away from the cold store to the Alaska factory until Messrs. C. W.
Martin & Sons are ready to commence manufacturing them.
52
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 58
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 22,310 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska.
[At per skin, to advance 1s.]
[Buyers are requested to note that all skins are stamped L A on the right cheek.]
4 Short 4-year-olds, long 3-year-
olds, 11-pound skins, mid-
dlings and smalls.
1904 catch. .--.,---+--2+22---- Lot 1 220/ 70 3-year-olds, 84 to 9 pound
skins, ‘‘ loaded ’’ with 14 to 2
pound blubber, smalls.
2 233) 175
3 233/ ie
235/ 70 Unhaired and dressed (A).
2 Long 3-year-olds, short 4-year-
olds, middlings and smalls,
API CAROL 3 ho i so oct ts w gisjnsiee4 Lot 5 235/ 11-pound skins.
70 3-year-olds, 84 to 9 pound
skins, smalls.
G; 2m {76 ;
ei 7 les
Lo Je res Lot 8 193/ 80 Long 2-year-olds, short 3-year-
olds, large pups, 64 to 7
pound 14-ounce skins,
*loaded”’ with 1 to 14 pound
blubber, cut.
20. 1956 —74
Pat 199/ 80 Unhaired and dressed (B),
54 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 22,310 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
190bteatch:.. -scsaatedeeeeeser Lot 22
E04 caiGhs famosas <adilan < Lot 37
197/
197/
152/
152/
153/
153/
80 Large pups, long 2-year-olds,
short 3-year-olds, 64 to 7
pound 14 ounce skins ay-
erage, ‘“‘loaded” with 1 to
14 pound blubber.
90 Middling pups, average for
2-year-olds, 6 to 64-pound
skins, loaded with 4 to 1
pound blubber cut.
90 Unhaired and dressed (C)..
89 Dressed, dyed and machined
(4).
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 55
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 22,310 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
POs wate 22S. os ..-- Lot 66 147/. +90 Middling pups, average 2-year-
olds, loaded with 4 to 1
pound blubber cut, 6 to
64-pound skins,
67 147/ 90
68 147/ 90
69 147/ 90
70 147/ 90
1 | ee
72 147/ 90
73 147/ 90
74 +147/ 90
75 a7f 99
76 147/ 90
77 147/ 90
78 147) 90
79 147/ 90
80 147/ 90
81 147/ 90
82 147/ 90
83 147/ 90 Middling pups, average
2-year-olds.
84 147/ 90
85 147/ 90
86. 147/ 90
a7. 147/90
88 147/ 90
89 147/ 90
90 147/ 90
Sk ~ 147). 30
92 147/ 90
gf 147/90
94 147/ 90
95 148/ 90
96 147/ 90
oz! 147) — 90
98 148/ 90
99 148/ 90
100 147/ 90
101 147/ 90
102, 147/ 90
103. 147/ +90
104 147/ 90
105 147/ 90
106 147/ 90
107 147/ += 90
108 147/ 90
109 147/90
110 147/ +90
iit wer 90
112 +147/ ~ = 90
13’ 47h 86
56 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, B. C.), 22,810 skins
salted for seal, Alaska—Continued.
194 cateb.ave- cenne anise = Lot 114 117/ 100 Small pups, ‘‘short’’ 2-year-
olds, ‘‘long” yearlings,
“loaded” with 34 to 1
pound blubber ‘‘cut,”
5 to 53 pound skins.
136 123/ 100 Unhaired and dressed (D).
137 130/ 100 Dressed, dyed, and ma-
chined (3).
nO05 ateh : - gery We see tee « Lot 138 117/ 100 Small pups, ‘‘short” 2-year-
olds, ‘‘long” yearlings, 5
to 54 pound skins.
Pa is
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES,
57
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 22,3810 skins
salted for seal, Alaska—Continued.
1905 catelvs.j..% 6% ¥ re pit ie a
OAS CACM a Scares Baie oo eset eS -- Lot 192
194
UO) Sherr ta ne
TCT CIS. RENO sale etal tae ee a A a
USEC ALG Wie. 130k gsere x He aie -
CALC nae aoe ie Acie rs
115.02 SEC) 1s ee ee
1905 catch: .:.: Rt poe kt aye eee
: 216
OT a eer
Pparemtah. 200s..5 .boies oyosh
Se ORC ee ey ce”
P90 by Cart chet ete cs
W904. catcher. aes Bete se
Lot 222
Lot 223
118/
118/
118/
118/
119/
100 Small pups, 5 to Bh pound
skins, yearlings,
Ex. small pups.
Ex. small pups, yearlings,
44 to 5 pound 8 ounce
skins.
Smalls, low, etc.
Middlings and smalls, low,
etc.
Smalls, low, etc.
Large pups, low, etc.
Large pups, low, etc.
Middling pups, low, etc.
Middling pups, low, etc.
Small pups, low, etc.
89 Small pups, low, etc.
89
88
{ 34 Ex. small pups, low, ete.
1 Ex. ex. small pup, low, etc.
47 Ex. small pups, lew, etc.
4 Middlings and smalls, cut,
ete.
28 Smalls, cut, etc.
58 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 22,310 skins
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
6 Middlings and smalls, cut,
NODS catch esisway. Bee 2 Lot 225 192/ etc.
66 Smalls, cut, etc.
100d neabeh «..)'5 25 Sect ee a SS Lot 226 183/ 94 Large pups, cut, etc.
2905 catch... iscsi. reese: oer Lot 227 187/ 87 Large pups, cut, etc.
228 186/ 87
229 186/ 86
1904 cateh is: * cccucccnt. 5: ee Lot 230 144/ 70 Middling pups, cut, ete.
231 144/ 70
HOODS eatiel. joc toes acu 2. See Lot 232 144/ 99 Middling pups, cut, etc.
233 «(144/99
934 145/ —«-99
235 145/ 98
BE 145/ 98
87 Small pups, cut, etc.
iA ccaebe: Sc cn> ls eee Lot 237 —-110/ { fo
mm Gy: oie
POOR eaten. on. aoa pba eC Lot 239 111/ 115 Small pups, cut, etc.
9 86111) = 135
241 112/ 115
242 111/ 115
243 99/ 60 Ex. small pups, cut, etc.
244 83/ 79 Faulty; 5 smalls, 16 large
pups, 36 middling pups,
20 small pups, 2 ex. small
pups.
One hundred skins, salted fur seal, Alaska.
Lot 245, 100 skins, 112/:
Larre pups s2) secs8 abe ee ee Ss = he in ce cp 5
Mitidling pups. 2.4 5oi6 oc bc ch RE ORD oe oad an ean ee 53
Saialllpupeth Fa Ok aa seats ie oe oe es eae 34
Ex: smnall pupa, 23227. cab as A es. ee SO eee EPEAT eee pe tf 8
Recapitulation—1905 catch, Pribilof Islands, tally of catch as annotated.
9 to101b. skins, middlingsand smalls, ‘‘short ” 4-year-olds, ‘‘long” 3-year-olds. . 415
§ pound ‘skins, smell. S-yearrolds.. 07): Goes -- ries oe eee so tape cmos 0
7 to 74 pound skins, large pups, ‘‘short” 3-year-olds, ‘‘long” 2-year-olds. . - - - 2, 535
6 to 6} pound skins, middling pups, 2-year-olds, or ‘‘short” 2-year-olds or
rao ORT IGE : ooo ne on ee Ri cS Se ee Pee Danian en ae ae 4,816
p)to-p4, pound isking small pups... See tae ee ES eee ee eee eee 6, 081
44 to 5 pound skins, extra small pups, ‘‘short” yearlings.................--- 837
MOAN so RS eo ee + ee omit ee a ae eek 14, 674
Wiearlivios ig) en babe see sc <a setae on WO Oe 3s a ee 6, 918
The above shows some 400 skins shipped in from 1904.
RCs —St. Patel Seo. osc 2h e's aga se eee 2 ae Se eee Cm ie 13, 000
St. GeOre a. oe oo sos ea cielo es apes 2 ede > oe eee ae ee 1, 368
14, 368
Nore.—As to the ‘‘short 2-year-olds” of 1905 catch above cited, a ‘‘short” 2-year-old
skin must be either from a well-grown yearling’s body or from a small seal’s body not
of two years’ growth, i. e., from a seal born late in July, 1904, and killed in June, 1905,
or early in July, 1905, so putting it ‘‘under 2 years of age;” and so, contrary to the
Hitchcock rules, it is taken. The benefit of the doubt which belongs to it is improp-
erly denied.
This analysis shows that out of this season’s catch of 14,674 skins 6,918 of them were
taken in violation of the Hitchcock rules.
EXHIBIT E.
[See recapitulation on p. 63.]
C. M. Lampson & Co. exposed for sale by auction at the College Hill Public Sale Room
on Friday, December 14, 1906, at 10 o’clock, the following goods, viz, 14,392 skins,
salted fur seal, Alaska; 86 skins, salted fur seal, Alaska. (Prompt, December 28,
1906.) The purchasers are particularly requested to have some one in attendance
to superintend the counting, as no claim for deficiencies can be allowed after the
goods have been counted and delivered from the warehouse.
CONDITIONS OF SALE,
First. The highest bidder to be the purchaser.
Second. The purchasers shall have an allowance of £2 10s. per cent for discount and
shall pay 2s. 6d. for each lot, together with a brokerage of one-half per cent to the
selling brokers and a deposit of 25 per cent on the amount of their purchase, if required
to do so, at the time of purchase.
The deposit must in any case be paid in full on or before the prompt day, and in
case of default C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty to resell any such lot or lots
without further notice, and the buyer is to make good to them the deficiency (if any)
of such resale, together with all expenses, in addition to forfeiting any part of the
depesit which may have been paid, and should the goods sell for more on such resale
than at the present sale the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Third. From the day of sale, interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be
allowed on all payments made in anticipation of the prompt.
Fourth. All payments (except the charge for cold storage) to be made to the selling
brokers, who will give orders for the delivery of the goods so paid for.
Fifth. The goods to be taken with all faults and to be paid for on or before the
prompt day, but should any of the purchasers wish to delay clearing any of their
goods they shall have the option of doing so on the following terms:
The amount of the purchase shall be ascertained and a deposit of not less than 25
per cent thereon paid to the selling brokers on or before the prompt day.
Interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum will be charged on the amount unpaid
from the prompt day to the day of payment.
Payment shall be made in full, with interest, nine months from the day ofsale,
say the 14th day of September, 1907, when the goods shall be cleared and taken away.
C. M. Lampson & Co. are to be at liberty, as soon as they may think proper, to
resell, without further notice, any goods which have not been cleared by the buyer
on or before the 14th day of September, 1907, and the said buyer is to make good to.
them the deficiency (if any) of such resale, together with all expenses, in addition
to forfeiting the deposit of 25 per cent, and should the goods sell for more on such
resale than at the present sale the surplus shall belong to C. M. Lampson & Co.
Sixth. The selling brokers will not recognize or act upon any notice from a purchaser
of the transfer of any goods (purchased by him) to another party, unless they are
satisfied as to the responsibility of such other party, and then only on the understand-
ing that such other party accepts the goods subject to the sale conditions.
Seventh. That such of the purchasers as shall leave their goods in C. M. Lampson
& Co.’s warehouse (whether wholly or partially paid for) after the prompt day shall
pay them on delivery of the goods for cold storage 1s. 6d. per £100 on the amount
of purchase for each week or part of a week from the prompt day until the goods are
taken away from the cold store.
Eighth. That C. M. Lampson & Co., being partners in the firm of C. W. Martin &
Sons, agree to consider any goods placed in the hands of that firm for manufacturing
purposes as being still in their own custody, on condition, however, that the skins
shall not be drawn away from the cold store to the Alaska factory until Messrs. C. W.
Martin & Sons are ready to commence manufacturing them.
Ninth. All goods, whether paid for or not, shall be at the risk of the purchasers
from the day of sale, but they will be insured against fire, free of charge, until delivered
under the conditions of C. M. Lampson & Co.’s policies with fire insurance companies.
Tenth. Should any dispute arise respecting the sale of any lot, the same shall be
ee up again and resold, and should any difference arise between any two or more
uyers the same shall be left to the decision of the selling broker.
59
60 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Eleventh. No claims for deficiencies will be allowed by C. M. Lampson & Co. after
the goods have been delivered from their warehouse, nor do the sellers hold themselves
responsible for the descriptions in this catalogue.
The selling brokers will deliver to the buyers on the morning following the sale a
contract for the goods purchased, and the selling brokers will consider such contracts
as accepted by the buyers, unless exception is taken to them within 24 hours of
delivery of same.
Incold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, B. C.), 14,892 skins, salted
Jur seal, Alaska.
[At per skin, to advance 1Is,]
[Buyers are requested to note that all skins are stamped L A on the right cheek.]
olds, 11-pound skins.
6 Middlings and smalls, or ‘‘short’’ 4-year-olds and long 4-year-
53 Smalls, or 3-year-olds, 84 to 9 pound skins.
2 202/ ©
3 190/ 80 Large pups, ‘‘long”’ 2-year-olds, and ‘‘short”’ 3-year-olds, 64 to
74 pound skins.
4 190/ 8
5 190/ 80
6 190/ 80
7 190/ 80
8 196/ 80
9 196/ 80
10 196/ 80
16 200/ 80 Dressed, dyed, and machined (A).
Lz. 137/ 90 Middling pups, average 2-year-olds, good, 6 to 64 pound skins,
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 61
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (samples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 14,392 skins,
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
133/
141/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
113/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
112/
113/
112/
113/
113/
113/
113/
113/
113/
113/
113/
113/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
-114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114/
114]
salted fur seal, Alaska—Continued.
90 Middling pups, average 2-year-olds, good, 6 to 64 pound skins.
90
90
90 Middling pups, 2-year-olds, 6 to 64 pound skins.
90
90
53
90/413 Dressed B. ‘
100 Small pups, ‘‘short” 2-year-olds and ‘‘long” yearlings, 5 to 5
pound skins.
62
In cold storage at Southeastern Wharf (sam
Lot 112 114/
113 114/
114 114/
115 114/
116 114/
117 114/
118 113/
119 113/
120 113/
1A 113/
122 128/
123 101/
124 101/
125 101/
126 102/
LAY 102/
128 108/
129 113/
130 112/
131 113/
LBP 2
133 112
134 112/
135 113/
136 113/
137 113/
138 113/
139 97/
140 99/
141 99/
142 88/
143 182/
144 166/
145 166/
146 166/
147 125/
148 125/
149 125/
150 125/
151 125/
152 125/
153 105/
154 105/
155 106/
156 105/
157 95/
158 72/
Lot 159 92/
London catch,
Middlings,
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES,
salted fur seal, loska-Coutinaied.
100 Small pups, ‘‘short’’ 2-year-olds and ‘‘long’’ yearlings, 5
to 54 pound skins.
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
7A
100 Dressed, dyed, and machined (C).
ce Extra small pups, “short’’ yearlings, 4 to 44 pound skins,
44 Smalls, low, etc.
89 Large pups, etc.
9
87 middling pups, low, etc.
116 small pups, low, etc.
6
28 extra small pups, low, etc.
50 smalls, cut, etc.
71 large pups, cut, etc.
97 middling pups, cut, etc.
96
114 small pups, cut, etc.
114
113
113
32 extra small pups, cut, etc.
33 faulty (12 large pups, 16 middling pups, 5 small pups).
86 skins, salted fur seal, Alaska,
86 skins (3 smalls, 12 large pups, 45 middling pups, 22 small pups;
2 extra small pups, 2 faulty).
Island class. ~
or 4-yearwolds. -. cic 2c ack rhe Boek ee ee ee ss eae
Middlings and smalls, or small 4-year and large 3-year-olds..............-...--
Smalls,
Large pups,
Middling pups,
Small pups,
Extra small pups,
Or d=year-Olds 2222 Sees lege emeheec eee ack. sete
or small 3-year-olds and large 2-year-olds..........-..--.- 1, 614
or average 2-year-olds or ‘“‘long” and ‘‘short” 2-year-
0) Fo |: (eee epee N= at ey ae Oe aa 2 ES oon 5, 801
or T-year-Glds. . ..0 225 ccee sc. 2c hp ee ee ee 6, 289
or small-l-year-olds (or “short”’)......2- -Qbscc jute oe 548
ples at 64 Queen Street, E. C.), 14,392 skins,
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 63
Recapitulation, 1906 catch,
9-10-pound skins: Middlings and smalls (‘‘smalls,’’ 3-year-olds, large; ‘‘mid-
CIE Se SOU ee) Re es a 6
8-pound skins: Smalls (3-year-olds, average). ...-...-..-...-..--.---------- 208
7-pound skins: Large pups (‘‘short” 3-year-olds, ‘“‘long” 2-year-olds).....-..- 1, 614
6-63-pound skins: Middling pups (2-year-olds, average, or ‘‘long” yearlings
Bia ROR. Ar YORT-OIUS) 255-9) aes see apes s- slo cle eee ee ea nc ese s 5, 801
5-54-pound skins: Small pups (1-year-olds)>-.22-..--............-.2see0s0- 6, 289
4-41-pound skins: Extra small pups (small 1-year-olds—‘‘runts”’)........... 548
14, 466
RNa oO Rak eee Sees cae enema nis} ar eriaw'sis bes Losi ela ~ 6, 837
1906:
SOs se A PRE AS tinge ith Lie St aed dias See sy a~ delssle = 10, 942
oe ects er re remap oa ha div, Hod breton ~eerereia ck sage > aie em ned win ws 1, 685
12, 627
Total by Secretary Metcalf’s report, 1906, page 33, 14,643—12,627=2,016; so these
skins came over from the 1905 ‘‘food” skin deal.
This analysis and Secretary Metcalf’s version of it on page 33 of his report for 1906
declares that the lessees took everything that herded out, save some 800 to 1,000
small yearlings, during the season of 1906. Nothing has been spared.
Nore.—This analysis shows that out of this season’s catch of 14,466 skins, 6,837
were taken in violation of the Hitchcock rules,
EXHIBIT F.
[See pp. 61, 62 of the Fur Trade Review, New York, issue of Feb., 1911; received at the Congressional
Library Feb. 7, 1911.]
Here is the official return made to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor December
17, 1910, of the sale of 12,920 fur-seal skins taken on the Pribilof Islands during June
and July, 1910, out of which 8,000 skins are the skins of yearling fur seals, all delib-
erately and knowingly taken in gross violation of the Hitchcock rules of May 1, 1904,
and all of which skins are again falsely certified to the department as legally taken
and “not under 2 years of age’’; this done by United States Fish Commissioner Bowers
and his subordinate agents on the seal islands of Alaska.
(Memorandum. ]
FLAYS UNITED STATES SEAL POLICY—ZOOLOGIST TELLS SENATE COMMITTEE METHODS
IN VOGUE PRODUCE ONLY WEAKLINGS.
Wasuineton, February 4, 1910.—An attack upon the Government’s policy in caring
for fur seals upon the Pribilof Islands in Alaska was made to-day by Dr. William T.
Hornaday, of the New York Zoological Gardens, and Prof. H. W. Elliott. They
spoke for the Campfire Club of America before the Senate Committee on Conservation
of National Resources.
The speakers declared that under the act of last year, which canceled the lease
theretofore held by the North American Commercial Co. and gave control of the
killing of fur seals to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, there had been no cessation
of wanton killing.
Dr. Hornaday condemned the policy of weeding out the males when they are babies,
leaving only such number as was needed for breeding purposes. He declared that
the system left weaklings. (Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, Feb. 5, 1911.)
[A memorandum for Senator Heyburn in re illegal and injurious killing of fur seals on the Pribilof Islands,
and falsely certified to the Government as proper and legal by its own sworn agents thereon. ]
Saturday, February 4, before the Committee on Conservation of National Resources,
Secretary Nagel appeared, and his agent in charge of the seal islands, W. I. Lembkey,
made a statement to justify the killing of seals on those islands, as ordered by the
Secretary last season and prior to that.
Mr. Lembkey’s statement, stripped of verbiage, was in effect that—
I. He killed no seals under 2 years of age.
Il. He killed no females.
III. He saved 5 per cent of the male 2 and 3 year olds; killed 95 per cent.
Each and every one of those statements is absolutely untrue, for—
I. He did kill more than 10,000 seals (out of the 12,920 which he took) which were
under 2 years of age, and the London records of the sale, December 16 last, if produced,
will declare it.
II. He did kill females, therefore, since at least one-third, if not quite one-half of
the 10,000 “long yearlings’’ and “short 2-year-olds,’’ which he killed last season, were
females—since the yearlings haul out in equal numbers, males and females together,
and are absolutely alike to all outward form, size, and color. (Lembkey admitted that.
He also admitted that he could not tell the skins apart when removed from the bodies
as tosex. He also admitted that there was no penalty ever inflicted for killing female
seals.
oe Lembkey was confronted with the proof that he did not even spare the 5 per
cent “saved’’ 2and 3 year old male seals, but so managed this job that after “sparing’’
them in June and July he killed them in October and November following, for “‘ the
natives’ food!’’ He did not attempt to deny this proof; he could not; it was officially
made.
Henry W. E..iorr.
64
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 65
THE ILLEGAL AND INJURIOUS KILLING OF FUR SEALS ON THE SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA,
1900-1910.
[A memorandum of fact concerning the same for Senator Heyburn from H. W. Elliott, Feb. 7, 1911.}
January, 1911, sales Cape Horn “‘salted’”’ fur seals, only 350 skins; South Sea, only
22 skins; total, 372 skins. Sold for £83,227 2s. 3d.
London, December 16, 1910, 12,920 Pribilof catch of 1910.
Analysis of the catch on seal islands season of 1910, sold in London December
16, 1910:
Pound
skins.
Citely Sigal SES ial A I Oats ee Gee RA) OP a ee 74 to 8
Pee Pipa tad sae Tea AAAI ae clea eee eee ween eee euie 64 to7
MAE ATG) TION be so SA SR ae eR ea 54 to 6
CUMS SEO Gs COE 2S ANI A Cn ee 44 to 5
Th gD BT ee cs (STS O10 Oe eS Me SM a Sete ts a sie ess rN Ie aa eee 34 to 4
12, 650, or 8,004 under 2 years of age.
270 not well classified.
12, 920
Average price, $34.38 per skin; £83,227 2s. 3d.
Smalls (2,405) are 3-year-old males.
Large pups (2,185) are short 3-year-old males and long (2,180) 2-year-old males.
Middling pups (1,645) are short 2-year-old males and long yearlings males.
~ Small pups (1,265) are yearling males and females.
Ex. sm. pups (1,225) are runty yearling males and females.
(Fur Trade Review, New York, Feb. 1, 1911, pp. 61, 62.)
Exssitt House,
Washington, D. C., February 7, 1911,
Hon. W. B. Heysurn,
United States Senate.
My Dear Si: I inclose, for your information and use, a memorandum based upon
the official returns from the sale of that killing made last summer on the seal islands
by Secretary Nagel’s direction.
That this killing was in violation of the statement made to your Committee on
Conservation last Saturday by Mr. Nagel’s agent is self-confessed by those indis-
putable figures of this London classification.
This is a serious matter for Mr. Nagel. He has been warned repeatedly that his
agents were violating the law and regulations of May 1, 1904; he has ignored these
warnings; so did Secretaries Shaw, Cortelyou, and Gage ignore the warnings given
them in regular order as to sugar weight frauds. The men who warned these high
officials were called ‘‘bores,’’ ‘‘cranks,’’? and ‘‘tiresome fellows,’’ etc., but at last
they prevailed, and the frauds were ended. This false entry of sealskins taken in
open flagrant violation of law will end when Mr. Nagel faces the same before the
Judiciary Committee of the Sixty-second Congress. He will be obliged to admit his
error in not hewing close to the line.
The official table of sealskin weights as the seal grows up from birth is published
by the Government in Bulletin 176, United States Fish Commission, Washington,
D. C., 1882. Noman has even hinted that its figures were not correct until an erro-
neous table was put out by this man Lembkey, in 1906-1908, in which he makes the
yearling skins take the place of the pup skins 5 months old and just before they
leave the islands for their first sea journey and life. These ‘‘gray pups” are seldom
taken to the London sales but when quoted run as follows up to the old bulls, or
“wigs.” The London terms and equivalents are—
Pound skins.
Beemremeor months Old. 622 22.5.2... 22h bese eee este eee ee 3 to 3}
Pees ors months old... .....-2...........2.....--.0.-----.- 3
Pa rereenr sl) months Old 2222222222... 62. 22.2) 22sec. eee ee 4
Sim pupeorita months old. .2.../2...22.-.-.2.2-5.----6.- TRS ey ues See 44 to 5
Middle pansncrie to 24 months old.2..2+2...-..2...-.-.2....------5-- 54 to 6
Barge (epee er au months Old... 52422004) .26.2-2..5.52.2.5..-. 002025 64 to 7
SEER Gr Sc aur bs i 74 to 8
Middlings and smalls, or 40 to 48 months old..........................-. 84 to 10
UNTER 104 to 12
ATE oo 0 AN er ee 25 to 36
OES CAS TT a” a 45 to 65
95100—No. 1—11——5
66 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
This statement as above, of the London classification, and its interpretation to the
age of the seal from birth up to old agé, was carefully studied out in 1872-1876 on the seal
islands by four United States agents, seven agents of the lessees, and myself, and agreed
upon then as the guide to all official record of the work done on the islands. It is
absolutely correct to-day; and it has been the standard used in all selection of skins
since then by the lessees until very lately, when nothing has been left alive up there
that could be lawfully killed.
Very truly, yours, Henry W. E x.iort,
Care of Smithsonian Institution.
[Statement for Hon. W. B. Heyburn, United States Senator, regarding the illegal killing of seals on the
seal islands of Alaska.]
Saturday, February 4, 1911, W. I. Lembkey, agent of Charles Nagel, Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, declared to Senate Committee on Conservation of Natural
Resources, that he had killed 12,920 fur seals for their skins on the Pribilof Islands
during June and July, 1910. He denied the fact that he had killed any seals “‘under
2 years of age” and in violation of that pledge given by the department March 10,
1904, that it would not permit any killing under that age henceforth.
Tuesday, February 7, 1911. On pages 61-62 of the New York Fur Trade Review,
February 1, 1911, and just received at the Congressional Library to-day, is the fol-
lowing official classification of the sale made December 16 last of those skins above
cited in London, viz:
Pound skins.
78 smaiis; or S-year-oldaa.. tu.-6 60 Lesh hs Soko. sehen Gee el ee 74 to 8
793 large pups, or short 3-year-olds or long 2-year-olds.......-..---------- 64 to 7
3,775 middling pups, or short 2-year-olds and long yearlings.....-...--------- 5% to 6
6,195. small. pups, pr yearltigs. 25.22 pot. 24 22. 2k ee eee 44 to 5
1,809 extra Small pups,.or “‘runty” yearlings... 5... -6. 053 S22) eet 34 to 4
270 not well classified.
12,920 total, out of which 8,000 skins are indisputably classified December 16 last
as ‘under 2 years of age” and taken in violation of the rules of the depart-
ment.
Henry W. ELLiorr.
EXHIBIT G.
17 GRACE AVENUE, LAKEWOOD, OHIO,
December 19, 1906.
Hon. Oscar SrraAvs,
Secretary Department Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: In the report of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor recently trans-
mitted by the President to Congress, a discussion of the condition of the fur-seal
herd of Alaska appears, and reference is made to the report of E. W. Sims, who made
an investigation into the status of this herd last summer.
The Secretary repeats the words of Mr. Sims, and says that the fur-seal herd is
rapidly disappearing as the result of pelagic sealing; he also adds that in his judgment
the ‘‘destructive effect of this method of taking seals has not been fully realized ”—
i. e., by any one until this season).
The Secretary is right in saying that this herd is ‘‘rapidly disappearing,’’ but is
entirely wrong in saying that the destructive effect of pelagic sealing has not been
fully realized; he does not seem to know that on the strength of my showing of the
full effect of pelagic sealing under existing law and regulations which I gave to the
Ways and Means Committee of the House, December 21, 1894, that that committee and
the House took action February 22, 1895, to suppress and put the pelagic hunter out
of business; but this wise, sensible, and merciful action of the House was defeated
in the Senate by sworn agents of the Government, who denied this danger and injury
incident to pelagic sealing, claiming that the rules of the Bering Sea tribunal were
sufficient to avert it.
Again I brought this danger of pelagic sealing forward in 1898, after the Jordan-
Thompson agreement of November 16, 1897, had utterly denied it. Again my charges
of this real danger were officially denied by sworn agents of the United States
Government in the service of the Treasury Department and indorsed by the Secretary
of that department in a letter dated February 7, 1902, addressed to the chairman of
the Ways and Means Committee of the House.
I answered this erroneous official statement of Secretary Shaw by making an exhibit
for the committee which declared that by the end of the season of 1907 the male
breeding life on the Pribilof Islands would be extinct. (See Rept. Ways and Means
Com., 2303; 57th Cong., Ist sess., pp. 4, 5.)
The committee overruled the Secretary of the Treasury and agreed with me; it
reported and passed a House bill, February 2, 1903, which would have put an end to
the inhuman and indecent business of the pelagic hunter had it not been again defeated
in the Senate by a false statement made to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
@ by Senator Fairbanks, February 17, 1903, who assured his colleagues that an agree-
ment to a satisfactory settlement had been reached in the Anglo-American Joint High
Commission, and that that commission would publish it soon after it reconvened; that
that reconvention would take place soon after the 4th of March, 1903, hence, the
House bill was not necessary.
I knew that this statement of Senator Fairbanks was without warrant and said so to
his colleagues in the Senate at the time, but the sine die adjovrnment on March 4
prevented action, and so this second attempt to suppress the pelagic hunter failed.
And it failed not from any want of understanding of the destructive effect of pelagic
sealing, as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor says existed until the Sims report
of 1906 had been made. Mr. Metcalf was himself a member of the Ways and Means
Committee in 1902, when I gave that body the full understanding of this work of
pelagic sealing, and he was also a member when I again reinforced my argument of
1902 with figures and facts, March 9-10, 1904.
He also heard my indictment of the excessive land killing by the lessees before this
committee in 1904; he heard it denied by the lessees, and only partly agreed to by
the Department of Commerce and Labor, solely on the strength of my showing March
9-10, 1904, did the department pledge to the committee the annual reservation of
2,000 choice young male seals from slaughter by the lessees on the Pribilof Islands.
On the 26th of October, 1905, the agent of the department in charge of the seal islands
of Alaska, in an official report admits that my charge of injury through excessive
land killing by the lessees is correct. (See p. 81, 5. Doc. No. 98, 59th Cong., Ist sess.)
67
68 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
On page 33 of Secretary Metcalf’s report for 1906 he tells us that the lessees during
the season of 1906 ‘‘took 14,643 fur-seal skins, including 281 skins taken during the
previous season.’’ Then, in this same paragraph, and immediately following, he says
that only 10,942 seals were killed on St. Paul Island and 1,685 seals were killed on
St. George Island during the season of 1906. This analysis which he makes of his
own figures declares the fact that 2,016 skins, and not ‘‘281 skins,’’ came over into
the catch of 1906 from 1905.
The significance of this you will at once observe when you understand that these 2,016
skins were the ‘‘food seals,’’ which were killed in October and November, 1905, and
still more, they were the 2,000 choice young male seals ordered spared and sheared
(not branded) in June and early July, 1905, this sheared mark having entirely dis-
appeared by the middle or end of September, since every fur seal by the end ot Sep-
tember annually completely renews its own hair—sheds and grows it anew in August
and September.
‘That this is not even faintly understood by the Secretary is plain, for in the next
paragraph he proceeds to tell us that ‘‘in addition to the branded seals reserved for
breeding purposes, 4,724 small and 1,944 large seals were dismissed from the drives
as being ineligible for killing under the department’s regulations.”’
More misinformation with regard to the subject can not be put into fewer words.
Witness the following:
I, These seals were not branded; they were sheared instead, in June and early
July. Then by the end of September they completely lose this mark of reservation,
and each and every one of them that hauls out on the Pribilof Islands during October-
November is killed as a ‘‘food” seal, and the lessees get the skins, which are carried
over into the catch for the next season. (See the official proof of this on pp. 8, 64, 65,
and 86 of S. Doc. No. 98, 59th Cong., 1st sess.)
Il. These ‘4,774 small” seals do not represent in fact more than 800 or 1,000
such seals. Most of these seals have been recounted over and over again as they were
redriven and then dismissed during the season. Some of them have reappeared in
this fictitious total six or seven times.
III. These ‘‘1,944 large seals” were the sheared and spared seals of 1906 so marked
in June and early July. Last October and November they were killed as they hauled
out, as ‘‘food” seals, and their skins will appear in the quota or catch of the lessees for
1907, if these men are permitted to kill next season.
With regard to the report of Mr. Sims, I shall not dwell upon the many obvious and
plain errors of statement and conclusion which appear in it. I do not do so because
he admits that his experience in the premises is limited to a short week on the Seal
Islands during the summer of 1906. No man, it matters not how great his inherent
ability, can master this question and intelligently discuss it with so little experience.
With the single exception of correctly speaking of this immediate danger of com-
plete extinction of the fur-seal herd of Alaska, under existing conditions, Mr. Sims is
completely at sea and in profound error over everything that he brings into con-
clusion and recommends in his report of August 31, 1906.
Very sincerely, your friend and servant,
Henry W. ELuorr. —
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, January 2, 1907.
Mr. H. W. Ettiort,
No. 17 Grace Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th ultimo, comment-
ing upon that portion of the Secretary’s last annual report which refers to the Alaskan
fur-seal service, and to thank you for the information therein contained.
Respectfully,
LAWRENCE O. Murray,
Assistant Secretary.
No. 17 Grace AVENUE, LAKEWOOD, OHIO,
May 18, 1908.
Hon. Oscar Straus,
Secretary Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: On the 19th of December, 1906, I addressed to you a letter in whichI
pointed out to you certain pronounced errors of statement made in an official report
to you by one E. W. Sims on the condition of the fur-seal herd of Alaska. That I did
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, 69
so was fairly imperative on my part, since these errors of statement and recommenda-
tion, which this inexperienced and wholly untrained agent made, were entirely
subversive of the truth, and most injurious for those public interests at stake, if acted
favorably upon by you.
On the 2d of January, 1907, I received an official acknowledgment of the receipt of
that letter aforesaid, with the simple ‘‘thank you for the information contained.’’
That acknowledgment was enough; it made no suggestion of an error in any statement
on my part. There was none, and I knew it when I addressed you.
My chief protest in that letter was against the grave misstatement by Mr. Sims, who
said that all of those seals ordered spared by the Hitchcock rules were duly ‘‘branded,”’
and so exempted from slaughter ever afterwards by the lessees; that this ‘‘branding”’
was faithfully done, and those spared seals thus permitted to live, grow up into breed-
ing bulls for the rookeries; all this officially and explicitly reported to you, when in
fact, it was not true.
Therefore I described to you the manner in which these seals were not branded—not
one of them—and how they were sheared instead. How this sheared mark was entirely
lost a few weeks later when this seal went into its natural annual molt and renewed all
of its body hair. So that those sheared seals thus ‘“‘branded” in June and July and
spared then, when they hauled out again in October and November following were
without any mark of exemption and were killed then by the lessees as ‘‘food”’ seals;
that in this manner those land butchers were actually nullifying the regulations of
the department, which Mr. Sims erroneously declared the faithful observance of to
ou.
: What has been the result of this truthful and clear statement on my part to you
made December 19, 1906? What has been done with regard to the conduct of affairs
on the islands during the season following?
I have the official answer of the agents—your agents—now in my hands. It is
printed as Senate Document No. 376, Sixtieth Congress, first session. Since I have
myself officially reported to my Government on this life, and as I have so reported
up to date that no man or official following me or prior to my work has thus far been
able to successfully impeach the entire truth and sense of my published official rec-
ords in 1881 and in 1890 (Monograph Seal Islands of Alaska, Government Printing
Office, 1881), and (House Document No. 175, Fifty-fourth Congress, second session),
I am constrained to review these reports of your agents for the seasons of 1906-7,
inclusive. That review is herewith inclosed for your information and use. If I have
made an error in it and it is publicly presented to me, I will be most happy to acknowl-
edge it; but I desire to say that I do not believe it can be questioned seriously by any
authority. I challenge the correction confidently.
Your agent, Mr. Lembkey, has no warrant or even the shadow of authority to ignore
or dispute that table of skin weights which I officially published on page 81, Mono-
graph Seal Islands of Alaska in 1881. He can not and will not be permitted to set
aside in this idle manner, as he does on page 84, Senate Document No. 376, that
long-established and standard agreement of all the United States Treasury agents,
the agents of the lessees, and myself, upon these skin weights, from 1872 up to 1881;
and, still more, his attempt to deny that record so officially published is in turn flatly
denied by the life and growth of the fur seal itself to-day. That life and growth has
not changed one hair’sbreadth from its order when JI, first of all men, accurately
recorded it in my published work—officially recorded it in 1872-90 inclusive.
I desire to say that it is with great reluctance that I take up this matter; but I can
not let any officialism of to-day reflect ever so little upon my own of yesterday and
which I shall defend against all ignorant or venal criticism, now and in the future,
just as successfully as I have done so in the past. I refer especially to the “‘scientific”’
vagaries of Merriam and Jordan in 1891 and 1896-7 and the venal and calumnious
work of John W. Foster before the Bering Sea Tribunal in 1893.
In the light of this letter, herewith inclosed, and which can not be truthfully
clouded by any man, it must be clear to you that the lessees can not be permitted by
you to safely kill a seal next summer on the Pribilof Islands; but your agents can be
directed to permit the natives to kill some 2,500 or 3,000 small male seals for food
without any risk to mention of doing injury to the public interests concerned.
Iam, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
Henry W. E.uiorr.
On page 84, Senate Document No. 376, Sixtieth Congress, first session, Lembkey
publishes a table of skin weights under date of December 1, 1907. The positive
errors of this tabulation are as follows:
Elliott, 1881: 45 to 60 pound green skins are 7-year-olds and upward. Elliott, 1881:
25 to 30 pound green skins-are 6-year-olds. Elliott, 1881: 16 to 20 pound green skins
70 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
are 5-year-olds. Elliott, 1881: 11 to 14 pound green skins are 4-year-olds (are not
6-year-olds—Lembkey). Elliott, 1881: 7 to 9 pound green skins are 3-year-olds (are
not 4 or 5 year olds.—Lembkey). Elliott, 1881: 54 to 64 pound green skins are 2-year-
olds (are not 3-year-olds.—Lembkey). Elliott, 1881: 4 to 5 pound green skins are
l-year-olds (are not 2-year-olds—Lembkey). Elliott, 1881: 3 to 34 pound green
skins are 5 months old (are not 1-year-olds—Lembkey).
The Elliott table above cited was prepared in 1872-1876 by United States Treasury
agents, Bryant, Lessen, Falconer, and Elliott, with the following agreement in it by
lessee agents, H. W. and H. H. McIntyre, Daniel Webster, T. F. Morgan, Dr. Kramer,
Wm. Kapus and Geo. R. Adams, and is officially published on page 81. (Monograph
Seal Islands of Alaska, 1882. Tenth Census, United States America, Government
Printing Office.)
[From the Cleveland Plain Dealer May 17, 1908.]
DECLARES SEAL REPORTS UNTRUE—PROF. ELLIOTT POINTS OUT INACCURACIES IN
IN STATEMENTS ON PELAGIC INDUSTRY—SCORES OFFICIALISM WHICH PERMITS CON~
DITIONS NOW EXISTING.
Prof. H. W. Elliott, of Lakewood, who is an authority on the pelagic industry, made
the following statement yesterday in regard to certain phases of recent reports on the
conditions of the fur seal herd and the sealing industry. Prof. Elliott says:
‘‘Epiror Pian DEALER.
‘“‘Str: On the 28th of last January you published a letter from me on the ‘loot and
ruin of the fur seal herd of Alaska.’ In that letter I called attention to the fact that
the official report of its custodian (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) did not give a
hint to the President or to Congress of the total collapse of the legitimate business
of killing fur seals by the lessees, which took place on the seal islands of Alaska last
summer. I mentioned the fact that this had taken place, and yet it had been con-
cealed from the public by its official keepers.
‘‘T now write to say that the United States Senate on March 2, last, directed that
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor send to it copies of all reports of the agents
of the Government who are stationed on the seal islands for the seasons of 1906-7,
inclusive; that request has been complied with, and I have a printed copy of them
now in my hands, as Senate Document, No. 376, Sixtieth Congress, first session.
“T find in this document the full and complete proof of the statements made to
you in my letter of January last (cited above); so complete and so indisputable is
gue pred that I desired to submit a brief résumé of it for the readers of the Plain
ealer. ,
‘‘In the first place, as to the whole number of fur seals surviving when this report
of the agent in charge was made, at the close of the season, August 1, 1907, the fol-
lowing remarkable statements are made by him:
“On page 9 (S. Doc. No. 376) Chief Special Agent Lembkey says that after a
careful count and estimate had been made by him and his three official assistants,
there were not more than 185,000 seals of all classes alive on the Pribilof rookeries,
August 1, 1906.’”’
After giving us this census he proceeds to describe the destructive work of the
pelagic sealing fleet, which began its operations immediately after August 1, 1906,
around the seal islands in Bering Sea. He describes the slaughter of this fleet at leng
on pages 30-31 and sums it up finally under date of 1906 as follows:
“In view of the facts just mentioned it may fairlygbe believed that the catch of
27,216 skins by the pelagic fleet in 1906 represents a loss to the herd of upward of
75,000 animals.”’
Here were we officially told that this herd of 185,000 seals has sustained a loss (since
August 1, 1906, up to December 14, 1906) of upward of 75,000 animals; thus he informs
us that it can not number more than 110,000 seals at the opening of the season of 1907;
there is no ambiguity in this statement by him.
But this same agent, with strange disregard for his own words and figures, as above
quoted, in his official report for 1907, dated December 1 last, declares on page 87 that
“*172,512” seals of all classes are in existence on the Pribilof rookeries August 1, 1907.
Does this agent understand the meaning of words and the significance of figures?
If so, how does he subtract 75,000 seals from 185,000 seals in 1906 so as to leave the sum
total of 172,512 seals alive August 1, 1907?
The self-evident nonsense of this enumeration—its self-evident untruth—is too
apparent for further comment. ;
_ In the Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives, at a hearing held on
this subject January 14, 1907, I specifically charged these lessees with the violation
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, ig
of their obligation to the Government; I charged them with the nullification of the
‘Hitchcock rules” on the islands; I charged them with killing in October and Novem-
ber those seals which were spared and ordered exempt from their killing in June and
July preceding; I gave the committee the complete details of that illegal killing (for
certain reasons the chairman of that committee has not made that testimony public
up to date—why?), and now I find this official admission on page 13 (S. Doc. No. 376),
by Chief Special Agent Lembkey, that I was right then, but that now (December 14,
1906) ‘‘measures have been taken by the agents to avoid including in the fall killings
for food the bachelors reserved in the spring as breeders. * * *
‘Furthermore, the 3-year-olds, having passed the age of puberty, are not found
on the hauling grounds during the fall, but are hauled among the cows on the rookeries
when they can not be driven. This is an additional safeguard against their killing,
and of itself would disprove any allegation that these marked seals are subsequently
killed.”’
How unfortunate it is for Chief Special Agent Lembkey to have on page 105, follow-
ing an emphatic and positive denial of the above quoted statement made to him by
his own official assistant on St. George Island, dated June 3, 1907, to wit:
Seals—Four hundred and fifty-eight seals of the quota of 500 allowed the natives
of this island for food were obtained. The first drive was made on October 19,
from Staraya Artel, and 220 seals were killed; 209 small, sixty-five 3-year-olds, five
4-year-olds, six 5-year-olds, two 6-year-olds, and 4 branded were turned away.
Three other drives were made as follows: October 31, Staraya Artel rookery, 148 seals
were killed, twelve 3-year-olds released; November 9, Staraya Artel and north, 44
seals killed; November 16, North rookery, 25 seals killed; October 20 to November 10,
Zapadni Guards, 21 seals killed.
The last three drives were made up entirely of seals pulled out from among the
cows by the natives, and as very careful selection had taken place on the rookery very
few were turned away from the killing field.
Of the 511 seals which composed the drive of October 19 only 4 bore any signs
of having been branded, and these signs were extremely indistinct. No branded seals
were seen after this date. It is quite evident that in the majority of cases the brands
put on in June are by a rapid growth of new fur during the interval from August 1 to
October 19 so entirely obliterated that they can not be depended upon to protect the
seals during the food killings in the fall. To meet this condition I confined the killing
as near as possible to those animals having skins weighing from 5 to 64 pounds, but
despite the most careful and painstaking effort 45 skins weighing over 63 pounds were
taken. (For detailed statement of weights of skins see Exhibit B.)
This St. George official is telling the truth; his superior officer is not telling the
truth—the whole truth to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and this official
evidence of that fact is now before the Senate and the American people. It bears me
out to the letter. I know that this Sr. George agent is telling the truth. I myself
saw this same ‘pulling out” of young male seals from the protection of the cows on
St. Paul Island in 1890. It was done then and there, just as it is done now, by order
of the lessees. I stopped it July 20, 1890, and it would be stopped to-day if the Govern-
ment’s agents did their duty. Will it be, now that this public exposure of their illegal
killing is made? We shall see.
The lessees have been killing fur seals on the Pribilof Islands in open violation of
the law and their lease ever since 1895; they have so prevailed upon the Department of
Commerce and Labor as to get that minimum 54-pound skin allowed them by the
ae rules” of 1904 lowered in 1906 to 5 pounds. (See p. 14, 8. Doc. 376.)
y?
Because it enables them to “‘load” every yearling’s skin with blubber when skinning
it off from the carcass, so as to ‘‘officially ” weigh it in asa ‘‘5-pound skin,’’ and have
an entry (falsely) made against it as a ‘‘2-year-old skin.”’
This evidence of guilt is carried in the catalogues of those London sales ever since
1894. Their catches of 1896 were the beginning of this improper killing to any extent.
It became so bad in 1900 that I then protested it to the Treasury Department. It
was furtively denied. It caused me to bring this abuse to the attention of Congress
in 1904, and I did so with such abundant proof of my charge that the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, on March 9-10, 1904, ordered this check upon the work now
known as the ‘‘ Hitchcock rules” of May 1, 1904. That these rules are being violated
in turn is officially self-confessed, as above cited. (In S. Doc. 376, p. 105.)
I called attention in my letter to vou last January to this fact, that the lessees did
not dare to expose their catch of 1907 to public sale (as advertised) in London Decem-
ber 17 last. They did not dare to expose the record of their work last summer to the
telltale exhibit of a sales catalogue of the skins. Why? Because it was made up of
such a wholesale killing of small yearling ‘‘runt” and ‘‘eyeplaster” skins that even
72 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
the callous officialism in Washington could not conceal this fact. Furthermore, that
1907 catch has not been publicly catalogued yet. (May 8, 1908.) Good reasons, too,
for that delay.
There is another feature about this killing of yearlings on the islands; it is due to
the fact that after the 15th of July annually the female yearlings haul out in even
greater numbers than do the males, and they all haul together; no man living can
tell them apart as to sex unless he handles them first. They are never handled first;
they are always clubbed first.
These small skins (all taken in violation of the ‘‘Hitchcock rules”) last summer
(5-pound skins), when exposed last December in London, aroused the buyers to openly
declare that the very dregs at last had been drawn upon and the end was certainly in
sight; that comment was enough; this sale was then suddenly postponed of that Pribilof
catch, because this talk and that catalogue of those skins would embarrass the butchers
and their friends in Washington; it might prevent them from getting into the islands
again in 1908 to skin up what was left, perhaps.
To shield this illegal killing of yearling seals by the lessees on the islands, the chief
special agent in charge of that work had been unhappily led into publishing a table
ef skin weights, which is entirely erroneous.
What warrant has the author for this official blunder, to say the least? He has none
whatever. Those skin weights which he has attempted to classify improperly have
all been determined and officially published in 1881. (See p. 81, Monograph Seal
Islands of Alaska, Government Printing Office, 1881.)
That official tabulation of 1881 has never been questioned by any authority up to
date; it can not be; it was the consensus of four white United States Treasury agents,
six white agents of the lessees, and myself upon this subject during the seasons of
1872, 1873, 1874, and 1876, upon the killing grounds of St. Paul and St. George Islands;
we weighed thousands of skins and made no mistake in getting the right weights as
to ages of those skins. This attempt to shield the real character of the improper kill-
ing by the lessees since 1895 by officialism of such error will not succeed.
Henry W. ELtiorr.
17 Grace AVENUE, LAKEWOOD, OxnI0, May 9, 1908.
1232 FouRTEENTH STREET, NW., WasuHINGTON, D. C.,
December 7, 1908.
Hon. Oscar StrRAvs,
Secretary Commerce and Labor.
Dear Sir: On the 18th of May last I addressed a letter to you, in which I called
your attention to the salient errors of statement made to you in the 1906-7 reports
of your seal island agent, as printed by order of the Secretary. (S. Doc. No. 376, 60th
Cong., Ist sess.)
In this letter aforesaid I inclosed a published review of that work of your agent.
(Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohic, May 17, 1908.) I charged the lessees in this article
(as inclosed) with the violation of their contract, since in taking their catch for 1907
they had killed yearling seals, and had done so because they were obliged to kill them
or fail to get the 15,000 skins you allowed them to get under the terms of the Hitchcock
rules. To get them they have openly violated those regulations of the department, and
the inclosed evidence of their own sales agent in London convicts them of that charge—
indisputably convicts them.
Even if we were to admit for sake of argument on this score that Special Agent
Lembkey’s classification of skin weights is correct, as published on page 84, Senate
Document No. 376, above cited, even then this London classification declares that at
least 6,000 yearlings were killed in the total catch of last season (1908). They must take
these yearlings or have nothing—there is nothing left. That is the fact, and these
men are draining the very dregs of that life up there to get the quota you allow them to
have.
Very sincerely, yours, Henry W. ELLiorr.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, Te
’ [From the Evening Star, Washington, Friday, Dec. 4, 1908.]
{Inclosed in letter to Secretary Straus, Dec. 8, 1908.]
WHAT DELAYS THE SEAL SETTLEMENT?
To the Evrror or Tue Srar:
The Secretary of Commerce and Labor in his annual report, just submitted to the
President, has the following significant reference to the desperate condition of our
Alaskan fur-seal herd. He says: :
“Thirty-seven Japanese sealing vessels were reported as cruising around in the
waters adjacent to the Seal Islands during the season. * * * Eight vessels only
were sent out as the British Columbian fleet. ”’
In other words, the Secretary tells us that some 45 hunting schooners, carrying at
least 1,500 hunters, eager, greedy, hardy seal hunters, have been busy all during the
season just ended in slaughtering seals at sea around the breeding rookeries on the
Pribilof Islands. Mr. Straus does not tell us how many seals these sea catchers have
taken, but he does tell us how few seals there were in existence up there when his
agents made their reports to him, July 31, 1908. He says:
“From more than 1,000,000 breeding females estimated before pelagic sealing
became of considerable extent this number has become reduced to fewer than 5) ,000.’’
Naturally Secretary Straus closes his report to the President, above cited, with the
following self-evident proposition, to wit:
“Tt is evident that the time is at hand when the negotiations so long pending for an
international arrangement for the settlement of the fur-seal question should be brought
to a conclusion.”’
Certainly they should. But why are they held up? Who is to blame? The
Canadian secretary of state, Rt. Hon. Mr. Scott, in an open session of the Dominion
Senate, February 21, 1908, said:
“These sealers are now acting like a band of pirates. * * * Canada is quite
ready to enter into negotiations with the United States with a view to the adoption of
mutually protective regulations. ¥ * * She is ready to take it up whenever there
isa proposition to do so from the United States. * * * There has been no such
proposition up to the present. * * * My remarks are inspired by the existing con-
dition of the sealeries, which does not reflect favorably on the intelligence of the
nations interested.”’
Few people stop to think of this fact—that in its present condition of complete ruin
the fur-seal herd of Alaska represents a loss to us of more than $50,000,000 in public
property since 1890. It is also a loss made still worse since it has been attended
with the most shameful and cruel license to butcher to that destruction this valuable
and harmless wild animal life.
The Secretary says truly that the number of breeding females up to July 31, 1908,
“‘has become reduced to less than 50,000.’’ But he does not tell us how much more
reduced since July 31, 1908, that number is; he does not tell us that this fleet of 45
British and Japanese sealing schooners has been busy killing these female seals around
the islands in Bering Sea ever since his report closed, as above cited, up to the end of
this season in those waters, i. e., October 10-20 last. He does not tell us, because there
is no authentic record of this pelagic catch extant at this hour; it will not be known
until the end of this month; but we can safely assume that this fleet will have taken at
least 15,000 of those breeding females which were alive when this estimate of ‘‘fewer
than 59,000” was made by the agents of the department July 31 last. It is more likely
er full 20,000 of that pitiful remnant were taken by those hunters up to November 1
ast.
Therefore it is an easy matter for one to figure out what a faint margin of fur-seal
life is left on those islands to withstand the attack again upon it next season which this
horde of greedy hunters intend to make, fully realizing as they do that it is their last
chance to kill, since when they finish nothing will be left to kill. ;
What arouses me most in this connection is the fact that. unless this fur-seal life now
at stake is preserved from extermination on those islands of its birth it can not be pre-
served elsewhere. You can not take fur seals, as you can sea lions and hair seals, into
captivity of any kind and keep them alive. You can not put them in zoological tanks
and prevent them from dying of self-imposed starvation. The attempt to do so has
been made over and over again, only to result in complete failure.
The fur seal born and bred in Bering Sea is the wildest of all wild animals, and unless
we prevent its destruction on the Pribilof Islands we can not even preserve the species
itself elsewhere. That is the reason why it is fairly wicked on our part if we do not
now step in and stop our own butchers of that life; if we do, then we have the official
74 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
assurance of the Canadian ministry that they will submerge their butchers; otherwise,
they will not. They are right; there is no difference in the rank and smell of those
human wolves.
What delays the fur-seal settlement?
Henry W. E.uorr.
This classification of the lessees’ skins is given below in this order by the sales agent
of the lessees, to wit—
{From Fur Trade Review.]
Remainder
Dec. 1, 1908, New York (p. 908). sheen SE
‘ catch.
Probable offerings Dec. 17, 1908 (London sales).
Midgtings and smalls, A-vear-Oldss uawccs sek cc cles hase woe ne ae oa tee eee 13 2
Smalls: Gn lots: of 70 sleininp):S-yearsahdn. 5222 2:55 ye eri ot et ees TE od 430 95
Large to (in. lots of Shiskins)\2-year-olds...2 2-5 cts tees wraith a ete 2,132 731
1-year-olds, long and short:
Middling pips Gn lowsof oe skcinag)en 2 2 oe SSP Se oes Le ae, 4,764 2,591
Smalljpaps (in lots of 10 /Skins) 2 ge 2.-4-- S-csheee ee ted sehen See Rese tebe 4,396 2,362
Extra small pups (in lots of 110 skins), runts, 1 year old ..............-....-.---- 724 282
EYSUre OXUPA SIME UIDS.. 2522 ict ec eae meee Scie or pe oe creche mela tel oa eee s eae 4 0
Middling‘arig Small’ low ere ian cre s tite eee Ee a eon eee coe eee eee 5 0
Small Mowsietases ch bis see See bac pace aes sii aco are Se one ealblelinc! age eee eee ee 101 22
Large DUPS MOWHELCS cc onee ee 8 Ris ot MONE ie Oe ne ee eee ae ae 198 106
Middlinewpips OW, CLG oo 2 55 eee eo eek e227 sheen pee om we oie aenis oe ERC ce ae 372 318
SrIalhipiips Ows eyo ae oo s oce cs Coen eae eS eases nae a aerate s cee ieee eens 184 195
Extra sural DEBS. HOWs OUG. S22 nec eo boas Steen. See cece bade. Bae 12 il
Middling and small, cut, ete = 10
BMBMCUT IOUC sc mae eee tees ecee eee eee ya ase 151 24
Large pups, cut, etc 339 120
Middling pups, cut, etc... ee 580 311
SIAL UPS, (CMG, CLC. ccs cint coeliac = clatanstete clcictgeta Seem osiaiineiwae b amas ae ee 455 231
FEXDDAR STA IPERS vOU ta’ -.c ure oecis o Sep ele ote oe ees ease ctersovaste = ciel oa era = ctor 54 26
alin paps We cee hie ek See Re eC LAS Mame ero ame emai cine ee some 41 17
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LAKEWOOD, Onto, April 26, 1909.
Hon. Cuas. R. NAGEL,
Secretary Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: On the 8th of May, 1908, I addressed a letter to your immediate prede-
cessor, inclosing a copy of a recent publication of facts over my own signature. In
this letter I urged him to shut down that work of the lessees on the seal islands of
Alaska, since it was being done in open and self-confessed violation of the regulations
of the Government. The published statements, which I took the trouble to arrange
and present in this responsible manner to him, demanded that action from him. But
he took none. And still more, he did not even acknowledge the receipt of my letter
aforesaid, which gave him this information, lacking on his part in the premises.
However, I know that such silence is the common refuge of that particular official-
ism which is both unable and unwilling to dispute a statement of fact running
counter to its order. But I simply did my duty in the premises, as a good citizen
should do.
Now, it is both my duty and my pleasure to renew this request and address it to
you, and to inclose copies of the publications as sent to Mr. Straus last May. Also,
in this connection, I desire to add that on December 7, 1908, I again submitted addi-
tional figures and facts to Mr. Straus, in a letter of that date, which declared that the
lessees had again violated the specific terms of their contract during the season of
1908 by killing thousands of seals specifically prohibited from such killing by the
express order of the Hitchcock rules. To this letter and its indisputable serious
charge no acknowledgment has been made; no attempt to deny its statements has
been even hinted at. The reason for that silence is good. The truth of my charge
has been self-confessed by the lessees in London.
I therefore, on the strength of those figures and facts which I have submitted to
the department, as above cited (May 18 and December 7, 1908), respectfully renew
my request that this work of the lessees be wholly suspended, and at once. I doso
in the clear light of the inclosed statements of fact. I also recommend that the law
which bonds and binds this corporation leasing the seal islands of Alaska be enforced
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES, . 75
before it shall be too late to reach the lessees with those fines and penalties ordered
by it for the public good.
Iam, very respectfully, your friend and servant,
Henry W. Exuiorr.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
BUREAU OF FISHERIES,
Washington, April 29, 1909.
Mr. Henry W. Ex.ior7t,
Lakewood, Ohio.
Str: This bureau has received, by reference from the department, your letter of the
26th instant, in which you invite attention to the condition of the seal herd on the
Pribilof Islands, and inclosed clippings on the same subject’ from the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, together with your comments thereon. Your communication, with
its inclosures, has been placed on file.
Very respectfully, Gro. M. Bowers,
Commissioner.
LAKEWOOD, Onto, June 25, 1909.
Hon. CHartes NAGEL,
' Secretary Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
- Dear Str: I want to put on record in the Department of Commerce and Labor this
letter of respectful but firm protest. I do so because I have learned that in the face
of the facts and figures which I have given to it in my letter of April 26, 1909, it has
decided to send one George A. Clark as an expert up to the seal islands to make another
report upon the condition of the fur-seal herd of Alaska.
This is the same Clark who united with Dr. D. I. Jordan in a letter to Senator
Dillingham on January 30(?), 1904. In this letter he declared that there was no need
of any interference with the order and rules established on the islands in so far as the
killing by the lessees was concerned; that the lessees were doing no harm; that there
was a great surplus of male seals on the islands, inaccessible places, so hunted that
the lessees could not reach to kill them even if they tried to.
This confession of his own unfitness to judge or advise the department in his own
handwriting is in Senator Dillingham’s possession, and appended to it is a review of
its errors. Undoubtedly the Senator will give you a copy.
I had to combat this nonsense and injurious influence of Jordan and Clark in the
department during the winter of 1904. Finally Mr. F. H. Hitchcock sided with me.
The result was the ordering up of the ‘‘ Hitchcock rules” May 1, 1904, over the protest
of the lessees and their ‘‘scientific” allies, Jordan and Clark. I therefore protest
against any more of this ‘‘blind leading the blind” in so far as the public business on
the seal islands of Alaska is concerned.
Very respectfully, yours, Henry W. E.uiorr.
LaKEwoop, Ouro, May 9, 1910.
Hon. Cuas. NAGEL,
Secretary Commerce and Labor.
Dear Sir: The reason why a new and competent audit of the seal island books must
be made in your department, and why it is demanded imperatively for the public good,
is as follows, briefly stated:
I. The law has been openly violated on the killing grounds of the islands, and the
terms of the lease ignored by the lessees thereof at frequent intervals, and repeatedly,
from July 17, 1890, up to the close of the season of 1909. This vioaltion of the law
and the contract has been chiefly by the act of killing female and yearling male seals;
said killings have not been in negligible numbers, but have run up into the tens of
thousands of female and yearling male seals.
II. This illegal and improper killing has been ordered by the lessees, and falsely
certified into your department, as the taking of male seals according to law and the
rules of your department.
III. The full and complete proof of this illegal killing as specified above exists on
the islands and in the records of the sales of those skins. Any competent and honest
auditor of those records will lay them open and so disclose the truth of those charges
as made in Items I and II.
Very truly, yours,
Henry W. Evuorr.
76 _ ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
LAKEWOOD, Onto, May 24, 1910.
Hon. Cuas. NAGEL,
Secretary Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
Dear Srr: As a good citizen and being possessed of abundant knowledge, based
upon indisputable fact, I addressed a letter dated December 18, 1906, to your imme-
diate predecessor, Hon. Oscar Straus. In this letter to him I specified certain grave
and inexcusable errors of official reports made to him by his subordinates and cer-
tain specific acts of official malfeasance by the same, in re conduct of the public
business on the seal islands of Alaska.
On the 2d of January, 1907, I received a single acknowledgment of the receipt of
this letter, above cited, with ‘‘thanks for the information contained;’’ but taking
notice of the fact that in spite of the indisputable truth of my charges and propriety
of prompt reform to be made by him in the premises, Mr. Straus had made no move
to do so, again I addressed a cautious letter May 18, 1907, to him, in which I renewed
those charges and request for reform. To this letter I have never received even
that perfunctory acknowledgment which was the entire return for my first one.
Of course I know why it was not answered—that subordinate officialism was
guilty as indicted. It pigeonholed my letters; yet I had charity for Mr. Straus. I
knew how hard it is for one in his position to get at the truth, so I quietly gathered an
additional statement of fact bearing on this guilty officialism aforesaid, and again on
December 7, 1908, I addressed a letter, courteously but firmly renewing my charges
and request that he put an end to this malfeasance specified.
Did I receive an answer? No. Why? Because that guilty officialism again silently
pigeonholed my letter, since it convicted and dismissed certain officers if acted upon.
Mr. Straus went out of office March 4, 1909. You succeeded. Knowing that you
could not have any definite knowledge of this fur-seal business under your direction,
except as you gathered it from this same guilty officialism aforesaid, I addressed you
in turn a letter dated April 26, 1909, exposing that malfeasance under your hand. On
the 29th following your perfunctory acknowledgment of its receipt came to me.
But to this day no attempt has been made since by you to answer its grave, explicit,
and indisputable charges of official malfeasance on the part of your subordinates. Of
course there is good reason for this silence on the part of that officialism thus indicted.
It is guilty. But yet what are you sworn to do in the premises?
On the 9th instant I have addressed to you a final brief of this malfeasance on the
part of your seal island subordinates. Will continued silence on your part vindicate
them?
Very truly, yours, Henry W. EL.iort.
EXHIBIT H.
President informed December 9, 1906, of fraudulent killing by lessees on seal islands
of Alaska—Covered in the Sims report—Unmasking the Sims-Bowers deceit of their
report sent to Congress by him in re condition of the herd—This has been suppressed
by George M. Bowers and kept from the knowledge of Secretary Nagel—The guilt
ot Bowers; he was on the islands this July of 1906, just seven days, with Sims,
then these ‘‘expert’’ officials left the islands, having ‘‘investigated,’’ and ‘‘deter-
mined the truth” as to this fur-seal question; neither of them had ever been on
the islands, and neither of them had ever seen a fur seal before, and neither of
them had any training or knowledge as naturalists.
Wasuincton, D. C., December 9, 1906.
Dear Mr. Lozs: I am greatly pleased over the President’s message with special
regard for the preservation and protection of our fur-seal herd.
I saw the Sims report yesterday for the first time, and I desire to quietly, yet pointedly,
draw the attention of the President to a very remarkable and unwarranted error of
statement made in it by its author, to wit, on page 28 Mr. Sims says that ‘‘2,000
choice 2 and 3 year old males were selected, branded, and dismissed from the herd
for breeding purposes,’’ i. e., saved then and thereafter from slaughter by the lessees.
Again, on page 29, he says: ‘‘The experience of recent years in annually branding
2,000 young male seals,’’ etc.
This deliberate statement of Mr. Sims is not true; these seals have not been
“branded ”’—they have been ‘‘sheared”’; these ‘‘sheared” marks have been put upon
these seals in June and July, and they have entirely disappeared from these seals by
the middle or end of September following, since all fur/seals completely shed and
renew their over hair during August and September.
Please observe the significance of what follows. In October and November every
one of these spared and sheared seals of June and July that hauls out on St. Paul and
St. George Islands is killed as a ‘‘food skin” seal, and its hide goes into the lessee’s
catch for the ensuing season.
The official proof of this serious charge you will find unwittingly furnished by the
seal island agents themselves. On pages 8, 64, and 65 of Senate Document No. 98,
Fifty-ninth Congress, first session, you will find it officially stated that the use of the
branding irons was partly discontinued in 1904 and wholly discontinued in 1905. On
page 86 of this Senate document you will find the official declaration that these seals,
‘sheared ” in June and July, are killed as ‘“‘food seals” in October and November—
the ‘“‘sheared” mark being entirely gone then. In this method of procedure, the
President will observe that the lessees nullify the pledge given by the Department
of Commerce and Labor to the Ways and Means Committee, the senatorial committee,
and myself, March 9-10, 1904.
Mr. Sims has been imposed upon, perhaps; nevertheless, he does not understand
the real status of this work done on the islands, and hence all of his labored conclusions
based upon this fictitious reservation of young male life, are utterly idle and
unfounded.
When we have mercifully, humanely, and sensibly put the land and sea butchers of
this fur-seal life out of business, by killing it down to the small nucleus sufficient alone
to preserve the species, then we shall have no difficulty in getting a proper agreement
with Canada for the full restoration and preservation of this fur-seal herd of Alaska.
Faithfully, yours,
Wn. Loses, Jr.,
Secretary to the President, White House.
Henry W. ELLIoTT.
77
78 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES,
A Brier Review or THE Report or I. W. Sims on ‘‘THE ALASKAN Fur SEAL
FISHERIES,’’ SUBMITTED TO THE PRESIDENT DECEMBER 9, 1906.
This report of E. W. Sims is based upon no personal investigation by him and study
of this status of the fur-seal herd. The author tells us that he has had but one week’s
experience on the seal islands of Alaska, and that particular time was during July,
1906. Prior to that time and since then he had never seen a live fur seal, and has not
seen one; he is not a naturalist and has never given it a serious thought.
His understanding of this subject is based upon what he has read in official and
unofficial publications. In so reading he has perused an immense mass of misinforma-
tion, which has naturally influenced his untrained mind to conclusions so unfounded
as to render all of them, except one, utterly idle and of no value.
At the outset he declares that the condition of the fur-seal herd was so bad when he
saw it in July, 1906, that it can be declared to be in immediate danger of complete
extermination under existingrules and regulations. He is right in making this state-
ment. (Report on the Alaskan Fur-Seal Fisheries, by E. W. Sims, Aug. 31, 1906, p. 3.)
He asserts as an official of the Department of Commerce and Labor this danger in 1906,
when it was officially denied by the department in 1904, in continuation of that denial
made February 7, 1902, by the Secretary of the Treasury, in reply to my charge of the
existence of this danger in January, 1902, before the Ways and Means Committee of
the House. (See hearing on fur seals, Ways and Means Committee, February 18,
1902, 57th Cong., Ist sess., pp. 7-8.)
I then furnished this committee with a detailed table of figures and facts which
declared that unless the rules and regulations which governed the killing of this
herd on the land and in the sea were amended the male breeding life on the fur-seal
rookeries of the Pribilof Islands would be extinct by the end of the season of 1907.
(See Rept. No. 2303, Ways and Means Committee, 57th Cong., Ist sess., June 2,
1902, pp. 4, 5.)
Mr. Sims has been able in July, 1906, during his brief visit to the seal islands, to
correctly grasp the truth of what I predicted in 1902, but this is the only feature of
his report which will stand analysis and bear the strain successfully.
After making a brief introduction to the body of this report by a recapitulation
of the physical features of the seal islands (published in detail by myself, 34 years
ago, in an official report to the United States Treasury Department), Mr. Sims pro-
ceeds to give a résumé of the business of pelagic sealing and its license under the
rules and regulations of the Bering Sea Tribunal ordered August 6, 1893 (pp. 4-12).
He then gives us a detailed account of the operations of the Japanese sealing fleet
which raided the Pribilof Islands a few days before his arrival, July 20, 1906 (pp.
12-20).
He does not know that this raiding by Japanese hunters has been planned and
directed on these islands by Canadian and American managers ever since 1882-83.
The significance of the fact that not one of these 30 or 40 Japanese hunters whe landed
on the island of St. Paul July 16 and 17, 1906—not one of them had a gun with him
or attempted to return the fire opened on them by the United States Treasury agents,
which resulted in the death of five of these hunters—the significance of this fact is
wholly lost upon Mr. Sims. Yet he tells us incidentally that one of the Japanese (?)
schooners opened a rifle fire upon the Treasury agents to cover the retreat of its hunters
from the beach.
He does not know that many of these ‘‘Japanese” hunters have been raiding on
these seal islands of Alaska before, and that they understood the lay of the different
seal rookeries, and also the methods of the natives of the islands to guard these rook-
eries; that only on account of being greedy and careless were they detected this last
time (July 16-17). Had they ‘‘laid off and on,’’ as they have done since 1882-3,
under the guidance of their Canadian and American masters, and kept under cover
of the dense fogs so prevalent at this season (July—Sept.), annually, this raid of 1906
would have passed off as successfully as the long series of such prior raids have done,
with no special ado on the part of the islanders, beyond a feeble protest at the most.
He then proceeds to describe the need of revising existing law so as to cover the
outlying islets of Otter, Walrus; and Sea-lion Rock, which are closely adjacent to
St. Paul Island. This is, however, covered well enough by the statutes of 1868.
(Sec. 1956, Rev. Stat.)
His recommendations as to reorganizing the Revenue-Marine-Cutter Service are
idle, and of no earthly consequence, until we shall secure an agreement with
Canada, which checks and prohibits pelagic sealing so as to really result in that
end. This ‘“‘Japanese” raid of 1906 was nothing more or less than an Anglo-Ameri-
can masquerade. If we secure the adhesion of Canada to a proper agreement then
we will have no difficulty in getting the signatures of Japan and Russia to it; until
we do get it from Canada we will never get if from Japan and Russia.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 79
I do not agree with Mr. Sims as to the need of enlarging the force of Government
agents on the islands. One or two of the four men now provided for can always be in
Washington every year from September to the following May. That is everything
now required of this service. These agents are fully clothed with all the police powers
necessary, and I do not think it will amount to anything if they are enlarged as recom-
mended; and, with regard to the work of the Coast Indians, they could get no infor-
mation beyond the annual published reports of the London sales every December,
even if they were to set about the task.
On page 27 Mr. Sims makes the recommendation that the killing of seals by Coast
Indians of Alaska should be regulated. He does not know that this regulation could
not be enforced, except by such a police patrol that it would be utterly extravagant
and unreasonable—indeed, nothing save the complete prohibition of pelagic sealing
by white men, as well as by Indians, would compass such a regulation.
On page 27 Mr. Sims ignores without warrant the direct testimony of a trusted
Russian agent of the old Russian company, who passed the entire season of 1819 (not
one week) on these Pribilof Islands, directly charged with the duty of ascertaining the
cause of an annually decreased catch on the islands. He reported that this decrease
was ‘‘cdlue to the excessive killing of young male seals” by the company, and that if
the same was not suspended the complete extermination of the species would follow.
The company took advice similar to Mr. Sims’s view and ignored this intelligent warn-
ing. In 1834 that ‘‘complete extermination,’’ predicted in 1819 by Tanovksy, took
such hold on the herd that less than 60,000 seals of all classes were left alive, and then
the company was forced to suspend its work entirely in 1835. There was no pelagic
sealing industry even dreamed of in those days, and much less practiced; it was not
a factor until 1886.
Therefore, when Mr. Sims asserts so positively that ‘‘the decrease in seal life on the
Pribilof Islands is due solely to pelagic sealing” and that this assertion of his ‘‘can
not be seriously questioned,’’ he simply convicts himself of being unable to under-
stand the sense of official and authentic records of this case in hand, which deny him.
After making this unwitting confession of ignorance, he proceeds to quote the
unscientific and erroneous opinion of the Jordan Commission, which declares that
nature had not wisely created the ‘‘greater part of the male life born;” that it ‘‘is
superfluous for breeding purposes.’’ Upon this unscientific and mistaken opinion
Mr. Sims proceeds to reason to the end that only 1 male seal out of every 30 born,
“only 1 bull in 30 is absolutely necessary under present conditions.”’
That Mr. Sims, who is without training as a naturalist, and without experience of
any character in handling and observing this fur-seal life, should accept this improper
idea of the Jordan Commission is entirely natural under the circumstances. The blun-
ders, however, of Dr. Jordan and his associates have been thoroughly exposed and
published in this connection, and well illustrated by the logic of events since they
were first published in 1896-1898. Mr. Sims has not, therefore, proven himself a careful
student of the literature in question.
The absurd reduction of Dr. Jordan’s theory as to the error of natural law in creating
this particular surplus proportion of male life on the fur-seal rookeries is well exhibited
by the Stejneger dictum (one of Jordan’s assistants), who declares that ‘‘a male fur
seal” can properly serve ‘‘200 cows,’’ yet, all unconscious of this nonsense, Mr. Sims
gravely quotes Dr. Stejneger, on page 28, as one who speaks authoritatively. That
particular case cited by Stejneger was an example which he observed on Copper
Island in 1896; but, by 1900, that rookery on that island, where this immense pre-
ponderance of female life existed, was entirely extinct. Of course it was. There
are abundant, full and excellent reasons for such an extinction. No real naturalist
should have made such a blunder as Dr. Stejneger has made in this vain attempt to
help Dr. Jordan prove himself a law maker superior to natural cause and effect.
But, when Mr. Sims steps down from the discussion of a biological question which
seems to be quite beyond his understanding, like this matter of natural selection
ordered by nature to preserve that life, and proceeds to speak of the business details
of “‘branding” and ‘“‘reserving 2,090 male seals annually” from slaughter by the
lessees, he can not be excused from making a very gross error in statement on that
point, which is fairly improper for him to make.
On page 28 he says: ‘‘Three years ago, when it became apparent that there was a
decrease in idle bulls, the department established regulations whereby 2,000 choice
2 and 3 year old males were selected, branded, and dismissed from the herd for breed-
ing purposes before the company commenced taking its quota for commercial pur-
oses.”’
fs Mr. Sims knows very well from the records, which he himself quotes, that the
department did not recognize any need of saving these young male seals ‘‘three years
ago;” he knows that this action by the department was forced on it by my showing
of its necessity to the Ways and Means Committee of the House, March 9-10, 1904.
80 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
It was denied by the agents of the department, but Mr. F. H. Hitchcock, then chief
clerk of the department, agreed with me, and then appeared before this committee
aforesaid and fully explained why he did so, in spite of the ‘‘scientific’”’ evidence of
Dr. Jordan and his associates, who opposed it. (See p. 53, Hearing on Fur Seals, Ways
and Means Committee, 58th Cong., 2d sess., Mar. 9-10, 1904.)
Mr. Sims says that 2,000 young male seals have been annually ‘‘ branded” in, since
the season of 1904 and saved from slaughter by the lessees, in compliance with this
pledge given to the Ways and Means Committee March 9-10, 1904.
This deliberate statement of Mr. Sims is not true. These seals have not been
‘‘pranded;” instead, they have been ‘‘sheared.’’ The sheared marks have been put
upon those seals in June and early July; they have entirely disappeared from the
bodies of those seals by the middle or end of September following, since all fur
seals completely shed and renew their overhair during Augustand September annually.
Then the significance of what follows appears to have entirely escaped Mr. Sims.
It destroys completely the sense of his conclusion. These sheared seals of June and
July haul out continually thereafter upon the islands during October and November.
Each and every one of them that so appears has no longer the sheared mark upon its
body. It is killed then as a “‘food seal,’’ and its hide goes into the lessees catch for
the ensuing season.
Mr. Sims will find the official proof of this serious charge of inexcusable ignorance
on his part, unwittingly furnished, by the very men with whom he associated officially
on these islands in 1906. On pages 8, 64, and 65, Senate Document No. 98, Fifty-
ninth Congress, first session, it is officially stated that the use of branding irons was
partly discontinued in 1904, and wholly discontinued on the seal islands during 1905.
Still more: On page 86 of this Senate Document No. 98 is the official declaration that
these ‘‘spared”’ and sheared seals of June and July are killed on the islands as ‘‘food
seals” during October and November, and so done because the sheared mark has
entirely disappeared. :
By this method of procedure (Mr. Sims being all unconscious of it (?)) the lessees
completely nullify the pledge given by the Department of Commerce and Labor to
the Ways and Means Committee, March 9-10, 1904.
Mr. Sims has either been imposed upon by the selfish and greedy interests concerned,
or else he is sadly deficient in those qualities which a competent investigator should
OSSeSS.
P With this evidence of Mr. Sims’s inability to see and understand these details of the
‘ routine business as it is conducted on the seal islands, it is idle to proceed further in an
extended analysis of his complete misunderstanding of it, as he progresses with this
report of his.
Following this erroneous statement, as above cited, made on page 28, by Mr. Sims,
he proceeds to advance an irrational argument in favor of no further interference with
the work of the land butchers. This improper plea for those factors of destruction 1s
not to be seriously considered, since it is based upon the improper argument of Dr. D. 8.
Jordan, who exploited the untruth during 1896-97, that ‘‘no land killing ever injured
the herd.”’
The only ‘rational basis’? upon which to kill fur seals hereafter upon the Pribilof
Islands is to have it done without serving any private interest. Mr. Sims does not
see anything ahead but the interests of private gain, and he therefore supposes that
these interests are to continue into the future as they have endured in the past.
On page 29, Mr. Sims says that it is not sensible or human to put the land and sea
butchers out of business by killing off the surplus female and male life to a nucleus just
sufficient to preserve the species. He makes the pronounced blunder of assertion that
the pelagic hunters will soon kill off this surplus female life themselves, and it is better
that we continue to breed those mother seals for these butchers to kill indecently, than
to decently kill them ourselves, and so mercifully end this cruel business at once.
Mr. Sims does not seem to know that when this business of the pelagic hunter is
rendered impracticable by the act of killing off this surplus life at once, on the islands,
at least ten years must elapse before that business can be profitably resumed. During
that interval and while the pressure of these greedy private interests of land and sea
butchery is thus wholly removed from the question, it will be both easy and practicable
to have an agreement made with Great Britain, Japan, and Russia which will forever
shut these butchers out and so protect, preserve, and fully restore the fur-seal herd of
Alaska.
The advice given by Mr. Sims, on page 29, that the Government “ brand or tag all
of the seals born on the islands in the same way that the great herds of cattle which
roam the western prairies are branded,”’ and that action of this kind would reduce
these fur seals to its possession and justify it in protecting them on the high seas, is
utterly impracticable and unfounded for the following good reasons, to wit [and this,
too, coming from one who claims legal training]:
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 81
First. The brand mark which might be put upon the nape, back, or side of a fur
seal would be instantly removed from that animal’s skin by the pelagic hunter in the
process of skinning the body, if its presence on that skin was conclusive evidence
that it was illegally taken. In no way could such a mark be placed upon a fur seal’s
skin so as to prevent its perfect removal by its captor as a ‘‘spear” or gunshot mark
during the process of skinning.
Second. The idea of attaching ‘*‘metal tags” to the ‘‘ young seals before they leave
the islands,’ on which might be stamped the words, ‘Property of the United
States ’’—this idea is entirely idle. The tags can not be permanently attached to
the bodies of the seals, and even if they could be so attached then this property-right
claim, which Mr. Sims seems to think can be made, has been and is rendered null
and void by that decision of the Bering Sea tribunal, which on August 16, 1893, de-
clared that no such property right could be vested in the bodies of these seals. There
re te appeal from that decision, and that ends it. Yet Sims, the lawyer, does not even
now it.
With this puerile recommendation that the Government proceed to brand and
tag the remnant of that fur seal herd now in existence as a means of conserving it,
and making no other suggestion, Mr. Sims closes this report by reference to a series
of statistical tables which he has compiled. There are five of these tables, duly
itemized, to wit:
Table 1 is substantially correct (pp. 33-34).
Table 2 is also substantially accurate (p. 35).
Table 3, with the discussion that precedes it on pages 36-37 and following it on
pages 38-41, is. both erroneous and misleading as to figures, facts, and deductions.
It is wholly erroneous for the following reasons:
In attempting to get at a fair idea of the real size of the fur-seal herd in early days,
and down to date, the author has assumed an arbitrary ratio of calculation based upon
the annual records of seals killed. This isa ratio of ‘‘1 to 15,’’ and then he gravely
and laboriously carries it through his entire discussion as a sound and proper working
hypothesis; in no sense whatever do the facts justify this ratio of ‘‘1 to 15,” it is -
utterly misleading and self-contradicting, and it is strange that its author should
soberly reduce its vagaries to cold type. Yet he has done so, in spite of the fact that
at frequent intervals during his discussion he admits that the ‘‘1 to 15’’ ratio will not
satisfy the case and is misleading. Therefore, the appearance on page 38 of an
elaborate ‘‘Table 3.—Take of skins and approximate size of seal herds, 1786-1906,”’
wholly based on this ratio of ‘‘1 to 15,’’ is, to my mind, an idle and worthless com-
pilation with a baseless summary; indeed, it is self-confessed as such by its author.
Mr. Sims, in this table above cited, puts the entire number of seals on the Pribilof
breeding and hauling grounds in 1868 at ‘‘2,000,000,’’ on this arbitrary basis of a
ratio of ‘‘1 to 15,’’ which governs his entire tabulation from 1786 to 1906. The catch
of fur seals made on these islands in 1868 was 340,000 (280,000 on St. Paul and 60,000
on St. George). The Sims ratio of ‘‘1 to 15’’ applied to this catch (precisely as he
applies it to the catch of 12,886 made on both islands in 1906) would give 5,100,000
seals instead of the ‘‘2,000,000’’ which he credits the ‘‘average’’ of 1868 with.
I early saw through the utter futility of making estimates and ‘‘rough approxima-
tions” like this attempt of Mr. Sims. I saw the folly of it after a few weeks’ study
of that life in these islands, in 1872; and, in lieu of it, I made a survey of the herd
then, which has passed into history as entirely accurate and well founded on fact.
These original charts of the precise area and location of the breeding fur-seal herd on
the Pribilof Islands, as it existed there, during the seasons of 1872-1874, are now in the
possession of the State Department, having been acquired by John Hay, April 18,
1904. They declare the presence of over 3,000,000 of breeding seals and young, and
some 1,500,000 nonbreeding seals, on the Pribilof Islands, July 25, 1872, with no
increase or diminution in 1873, and a very slight increase in 1874.
Every detail of this elaborate and careful survey of the fur-seal herd has been re-
duced to writing from my original field notes and was placed in the hands of Secretary
Hay, January 26, 1905. There is no ‘‘acreage estimates” in that work as Mr. Sims
has erroneously asserted [p. 36], and there is no step taken in my method of computa-
tion which has been, or can be criticised properly or sensibly, as ‘‘guesswork,”’
even if the imaginative mind of Dr. Jordan has so suggested it, and so made it “‘un-
reliable” to Mr. Sims and kindred lightheads. He says that Jordan has ‘‘proven”
it to be unreliable. (See pp. 36, 37.) Dr. Jordan has done nothing of the kind. Di-
rectly to the contrary. I have made a full and complete answer to Jordan’s criticisms,
and that ‘‘authority” has never been able to reply. (See pp. 1658, 1679, of Congres-
sional Record, February 2, 1903; debate over fur-seal bill, and passage of the same,
57th Cong., 2d sess.)
95100—No. 1—11——6
82 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
ce
The utter and self-confessed error of the ‘‘complete censuses’’ of the fur-seal herd
made by Dr. Jordan in 1897 and by Agent Lembkey in 1904 and 1905, and to which
Mr. Sims refers (p. 36), is plainly exhibited, as follows: But in justice to Mr. Lemb-
key I want to specify this fact, that he does not claim an ‘‘accurate count”’ for his
figures. He admits that he is only ‘‘making an estimate,’’ and that admission at
once removes any good ground of complaint from those who hold opposite views.
The steady diminution of the herd since 1890, when my census of that season
showed 950,000 breeding seals and young, and not to exceed 80,000 nonbreeding
seals above | year old was such that by 1896, when Dr. Jordan made his first appear-
ance on the islands, it was then not a very difficult task to count nearly all of the
breeding bulls as they planted themselves on their stations. Then, Jordan struck
an average of 30 cows for each bull, and in this method of calculation he satisfied
himself that some 450,000 to 480,000 breeding seals and young, exclusive of the non-
breeding seals, were then in existence. But to cover the nonbreeding seals it became
necessary to fix upon some other ratio, and so the Jordan people assumed a ratio of
“*1 to 20,’’ or that for every seal taken during the season there were 20 seals (old and
young) not taken. Thus, in 1896, the lessees by severe driving got 30,000 skins.
This Jordan ratio of ‘‘1 to 20’? would make some 600,000 seals in the herd during the
season of 1896. But in 1897 the lessees took but 117,000 without exertion, and so
this ratio of Jordan’s assumption declared that the herd had shrivelled to 340,000.
He was suddenly aware of the gross absurdity of this great reduction, as he proceeded,
to average anew that catch for 1896-97 and apply this average to the multiple of his
ratio. In this “‘scientific’? manner did Jordan finish that portion of his ‘‘investi-
gation,’’ and his bad example of 1897 has set the pace for Mr. Sims in 1906, who
acknowledges his indebtedness for the ill-fitting pattern of the Jordan census, and
who, in turn, carries it soberly out to its idle reduction all through the long list of kill-
ings on these Pribilof Islands since 1786 down to date. Just nonsense.
The failure of our case before the Paris tribunal was due wholly to the ignorance and the
inexperience of the agents of our Government who made it up and managed it. Again,
when it was reopened, in 1896-97, the ignorance and inexperience of Dr. Jordan and his
associates who had charge of our case—again this deficiency on the part of our agents,
resulted in making this bad matter worse, when the Jordan-Thompson ‘“‘joint agree-
ment as to matters of fact,’’ was signed up in the Department of State, November 16,
1897.
Mr. Sims has followed this erroneous pattern of Dr. Jordan, to its absurd reduction in
1906—‘‘ branding irons and metal tags!”
There never has been an hour since 1890, when we first opened this question seriously
with the Government of Great Britain, when we could not have settled that fur-seal
question properly, had our own agents been qualified by education and experience to
deal truthfully with the salient points in dispute, and honest enough to put the greedy
demands of the land and sea butchers of this life down and out forever.
Henry W. ELLiorr.
LAKEwoop, Onto, December 9, 1906.
“The President wants nothing but the facts—he will attend to nothing else,
coming from anyone, no matter how close that person may be to him personally.”
(News item.)
BRIEF.
Analysis of the sworn official evidence which John Hay transmitted to Congress
in 1902, which convicts the lessees of the Seal Islands of Alaska of gaining their lease
from the Government, on March 12, 1890, by fraud and perjury, and which is self-
confessed in this publication by those lessees aforesaid. j
This proof is detailed in the testimony given to the Ways and Means Committee
of the House of Representatives, by Henry W. Elliott, on January 14, 26, and 28,
1907. (Said testimony is found in the record of that fur-seal hearing given to Mr. Elliott
by that committee on those dates, and duty preserved on the files. ) ;
Respectfully submitted for the information and the use of the President by
Henry W. Elliott, July 12, 1909.
EXHIBIT I.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT IN RE FUR-SEAL FRAUDS,
The evidence which has been sent in to Congress by John Hay that convicts the
lessees of the seal islands of Alaska of fraud and perjury March 12, 1890, in securing
their lease from the Government, is found as follows:
In February, 1890, Secretary Windom invited bids for the renewal of the lease of
the seal islands of Alaska, said lease to run from May 1, 1890, 20 years.
On February 20, in the presence of the agents and representatives of the bidders
for this lease, he opened nine proposals. These bids were all carefully scheduled
and referred by the Secretary to a board of survey composed of three chiefs of divisions
in the Treasury Department. This board was directed to report to the Secretary
the best bid offered as above stated for the Government to accept.
This board of survey found that the bid of the North American Commercial Co.,
of San Francisco, Cal., was the best for the public, and so reported to Mr. Windom.
This finding was unofficially made known to the bidders, and the Secretary informed
the president of the North American Commercial Co., Isaac Liebes, that on the 12th
of March this lease aforesaid would be awarded to him then if he appeared at the Treas-
ury Department at that time and complied with the stipulations and regulations de-
manded by law and the department.
Mr. Liebes appeared as desired and above cited. Mr. Windom then said to him
that he had been credibly informed by good authority that Mr. Liebes and his asso-
ciate bidders, in the name of the North American Commercial Co., were owners of
pelagic hunting schooners and interested in the buying and selling of fur-seal skins
taken at sea. If that were true, then Mr. Windom said that he had a plain duty to
perform, and would throw out the bid of the North American Commercial Co.
President Liebes replied that this charge that he and his associates then owned a
* pelagic hunting schooner or schooners or were then interested in the buying and
selling of pelagic skins was not true. He said that he and his associates had disposed
of all their interests in pelagic sealing vessels and skins and came into this bidding
entirely clean and free of any association with or interest in that business of pelagic
sealing as charged.
Secretary Windom then told him that he (Liebes) must make oath to that declara-
tion; that if he did so then this lease aforesaid would be duly awarded to the North
-American Commercial Co.
Mr. Liebes replied and said that he was then ready to do so; and he did so in the
presence of the Secretary and the several chiefs of division, who formed the Board of
Survey, asabovestated. This oath having been duly made and recorded, Mr. Windom
then, on March 12, 1890, formally executed the lease and awarded it to the North
American Commercial Co. aforesaid. (See pp. 142-143, H. Doc. No. 175, 54th Cong., 2d
sess.
When Mr. Isaac Liebes swore on the 12th day of March, 1890, that neither he nor
any of his associates in the North American Commercial Co. owned pelagic hunting
vessels or were interested in the business of pelagic sealing, on that day and date
aforesaid he committed deliberate perjury, and by so doing he secured that lease from
the Government, as above described, in a fraudulent manner.
The official sworn proof of this perjury aforesaid is found in the following: Report
on the foreign relations of the United States, 1902, Appendix I, etc., sent into Con-
gress by John Hay. This Appendix I is also published as House Document No. 1,
Fifty-seventh Congress, second session.
On page 203 of this House Document No. 1 aforesaid is the sworn official oath of sole
ownership of the pelagic hunting schooner James Hamilton Lewis, executed January 10,
1890, by Herman Liebes, the partner of Isaac Liebes and associate member and director
of the North American Commercial Co. aforesaid. } ?
This record of the ownership of the James Hamilton Lewis as above cited, in the
name of Herman Liebes, associate incorporator, and director, of the said North Amer-
ican Commercial Co. (with Isaac Liebes, D. O. Mills, and Lloyd Tevis), stands with-
out change on the books of the United States customhouse, office of the collector of
the port, San Francisco, Cal., as quoted above, up to September 17, 1890. Then this
83
84 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
sealing schooner, the James Hamilton Lewis, is sold by H. Liebes to H. Liebes &
Co. (Inc.). So that, then, this said vessel stands on the collector’s books as the prop-
erty of Herman and Isaac Liebes. (See p. 120, ‘‘Exhibit A,’’ H. Doc. No. 1,
aforesaid.)
Then and thereafter, up to July 29, 1891, this sworn proof of the ownership of that
vessel, as above cited, stands without change; but on this date a bill of sale is made
of that vessel by H. Liebes & Co. (Inc.) to Max Waizman, etc. (See p.120, Exhibit A,
H. Doc. No. 1, 57th Cong., 2d sess.)-
Thus the State Department, in this form and time, sends the proof clear and undis-
putable to Congress that Isaac Liebes, president of the North American Commer-
cial Co., of San Francisco, Cal., did, on the 12th day of March, 1890, utter fraud and
perjury in the presence of the Secretary of the Treasury, Wm. Windom; that by
said utterance he fraudulently secured the lease of the seal islands of Alaska, as above
stated, from the Government.
Henry W. ELtrorr.
JULY 12, 1909.
All of which is respectfully submitted on this 12th day of July, 1909, for the informa-
tion and the use of the President of the United States.
Henry W. E tiorr.
Norr.—On July 29, 1909, the President ordered this brief referred to the Depart-
ment of Commerce and Labor for its information. On the 6th of August the Secre-
tary of the Department of Commerce and Labor notifies me that he has received the
above and will give it consideration.
H. W. E.
Aveust 15, 1909.
[Mailed to him, same day, 9 a. m.]
LAKEWOOD, Outo, June 18, 1909.
To the PRESIDENT:
The appended press dispatch from the Plain Dealer! this morning prompts me to
ask that you call upon the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House
of Representatives for a complete copy of that testimony which I gave to his com-
mittee on January 14, 26, and 28, 1907, in re fur-seal frauds and the conduct of the
lessees of the seal islands of Alaska. It has been printed, for I read all of my testi-
mony in page revise. It has been withheld from publication—why?
This testimony aforesaid calls for the Attorney General to perform a plain duty
which he is sworn to execute in the premises.
With great respect,
Henry W. ELLorr.
Wasuineton, D. C., February 14, 1907.
Hon. J. A. TAWNEY,
House of Representatives.
On January 14 last, before the Committee on Ways and Means, I made the distinct
and specific charge of perjury and fraud against the president of the North American
Commercial Co., of San Francisco, and lessee of the seal islands of Alaska; said per-
jury and fraud being uttered on the 12th day of March, 1890, by said president of
the North American Commercial Co., and on the 28th day of January last I submitted
the sworn and official evidence which proved my charge aforesaid.
Also, on the 14th of January last, before that committee above cited, I made the
distinct and specific charge of malfeasance in office against H. H. D. Peirce, Third
Assistant Secretary of State, and on the 28th day of January last I submitted the sworn
and official evidence which proved my charge against Peirce. It is in that record of
my hearing before that committee aforesaid.
If the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee does not make this testimony
of mine above mentioned public, then he is vainly trying to shield those men above
named, and merely deferring the date of their punishment.
Henry W. ELLIOTT.
1Copy not furnished.
ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES. 85
Wasuineton, D. C., February 14, 1907.
Dear Mr. Loes: I have just been credibly informed that the chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee is not going to make public that testimony which I
have placed upon the record of that fur-seal hearing, held in the aforesaid committee
over the pending House Joint Resolution 205. The only reason which he can assign
for this unusual secrecy over such a matter which I will entertain for a moment as
valid is that I have proven certain serious charges of fraud and perjury which I have
made against the lessees of the seal islands of Alaska, in re securing their lease from
the Government and of certain malfeasance in office against H. H. D. Peirce, Third
Assistant Secretary of State, duly suborned by those agents of those lessees above cited.
While it may be best for the public interests concerned to withhold my testimony
from publication at the present hour and immediate future, yet I am positive in my
belief that a copy of the record of this hearing above mentioned should be in the
hands of the President. This fur-seal question can not be settled right without all
of these facts which have been developed in committee during the progress of that
hearing being known to the President.
Very sincerely, yours, Henry W. E.uiorr.
Wo. Loss, Ir.,
Secretary to the President,
hite House.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, August 6, 1909.
Sir: The receipt is acknowledged, by reference from the President, of your commu-
nication of 9th ultimo, in which you make certain charges against the North American
Commercial Co. in connection with its lease of the seal islands.
In reply you are advised that your letter and the statements contained therein will
receive proper consideration.
Respectfully, OrmsBy McHara,
Assistant Secretary.
Mr. Henry W. ELuiort,
17 Grace Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio.
WHO ARE THESE ‘‘OFFICIALS’’?—KARGER MUST TELL US.
OrricE oF Epiror CLEVELAND News,
August 30, 1909— Monday, 9 a. m.
George M. Bowers shows me letter from Gus Karger to Bowers and typewritten article
on yellow paper for publication, entitled ‘‘Elliottiana.’’ In this article appeared the
followme ~ * * *°:
“‘T. Secretary Nagel has instructed them (the officials of the United States Fish
Commission) to pay no attention to his (Elliott’s) charges. * * *
“II. Elliott has made charges against James G. Blaine, John Hay, and Charles
Foster. * * * He has also made charges against Hon. John W. Foster. * * *
“TIT. He (Elliott) was thrown almost bodily out of the Ways and Means Committee
on account of getting into a controversy there with the Hon. Sereno Payne, the chair-
man.
“TV. He used to be an authority 20 years ago, * * * but he is now getting
somewhat confused. * * *
“The officials of the Bureau of Fisheries have a most intense dislike for this
an Se *,??
This letter from Karger written in obedience to request from Bowers that Karger
call on the department for some advice as to what the department was going to do in
the matter of taking action on the proof of the guilt of the lessees submitted to it by
the President on July 29, 1909; said proof given to the President on July 12, 1909, by
H. W. Elliott.
Henry W. Exwiorr.
86 ALASKAN SEAL FISHERIES.
Avaust 12, 1909.
Hon. Ormsspy McHara, >
Assistant Secretary Commerce and Labor, was
Washington, D. C. ‘tag
Dear Sir: Your advice of the 6th instant that my brief of that proof which con-
victs the lessees of the Seal Islands of Alaska of securing their lease by fraud and
perjury, March 12, 1890, from the Government, has been referred to you by the Presi-
dent, has been duly received.
The best lawyers here, to whom I have submitted that proof aforesaid, all unite in
saying that they fail to understand how the department can do otherwise than promptl
‘cancel that lease thus procured by fraud and perjury, since the evidence whic
orders that cancellation is so indisputably published by the United States Depart-
ment of State.
Very truly, yours, Henry W. E.wiorr.
O
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