662 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



9. The methods of driving: and killing practiced on the islands, as they 

 have come under our observation during the past two seasons, call for no 

 criticism or objection. An adequate supply of hulls is present on the rook- 

 eries; the number of older bachelors rejected in the drives during the period 

 in question is such as to safeguard in the immediate future a similarly 

 adequate supply ; the breeding bulls, females, and pups on the breeding 

 grounds are not disturbed; there is no evidence or sign of impairment of 

 virility of males; the operations of driving and killing are conducted skill- 

 fully and without inhumanity. 



It was agreed by the commission of 1892 that " excessive kill- 

 ing by man " was the cause of the decline of the herd. As to the 

 '* man " in question the two sets of commissioners differed diametri- 

 cally. The Americans placed the responsibility with the pelagic 

 sealer; the British, with the lessees through their methods of sealing 

 on land. 



To any one who is at all familiar with the conspicuous part which 

 the theories of close killing, and especially overdriving, played in the 

 British contention before the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, this full 

 and frank vindication comes as a refreshing surprise. That it should 

 be agreed to by British scientific experts ought to revive even Dr. 

 Mendenhall's faith. It is true that the statement is carefully limited 

 to the seasons under observation, but neither the principle nor the 

 methods of land killing have been altered within the past half cen- 

 tury except in so far as they have been improved. It was an absurd 

 and foolish theory which ascribed to the treatment of the non-breed- 

 ing and superfluous male life of a herd of polygamous animals re- 

 sponsibility for the decline of its breeding stock, but it served a pur- 

 pose useful to Canadian interests before the Paris tribunal. It is 

 now forever eliminated from the fur-seal question. 



10. The pelagic industry is conducted in an orderly manner, and in a 

 spirit of acquiescence in the limitations imposed by law. 



This statement is true, though wholly irrelevant to the question 

 of the efficiency of the regulations themselves. Moreover, it stands 

 as an implied impeachment of the active and efficient patrol fleet 

 constantly maintained by the United States and Great Britain for 

 the enforcement of the regulations governing the pelagic industry. 

 For example, there were in 1896 five American and three British 

 vessels engaged in active patrol of the waters of Bering Sea. One 

 would think it a foregone conclusion that the pelagic industry should 

 b^ law-abiding, whether of its own volition or not. In addition to 

 all this, however, the regulations are as admirably suited to the 

 needs of the pelagic sealer as if he had himself prepared them. There 

 is, therefore, no reasonable incentive to violate them. Viewed in this 

 light, this statement seems ludicrous, but it has a justification not 

 evident at first sight. 



