THE SALVATION OF THE ALASKAN FUR SEAL HERD 703 



HENRY W. ELLIOTT. 



"The man who did by far the most of the work that saveed the fur 



seal industry to the people of the United States." 



W. T. Honiaday. 



I then prepared the first draft, which 

 was suhmitted to the Canadian Govern- 

 ment April 16, 1904, by Mr. Hay. It 

 was not satisfactory or definite enough 

 to meet Sir Wilfred Laurier's idea; so 

 on Feb. 28, 1905, I outlined and submit- 

 ted to Mr. Hay the plan of "mutual 

 concession and joint control," which is 

 now in eft'ect. Then, on Mr. Hay's re- 

 quest, the Senatorial Committee (Gover- 

 nor Dillingham, Chairman), approved it 

 March 17, 1905. But Mr. Hay's illness, 

 which caused him to leave the Depart- 

 ment of State March 15, 1905, never to 



return to resume his official duties, 

 caused a total suspension of this work 

 until it was forced up and out Feb. 8, 

 1911, as follows: 



The Canadians served notice on us in 

 1897-99 that as long as we fostered pri- 

 vate interests (i. e., leased the islands 

 to contractors) they would do nothing 

 to disturb their private interests at work 

 in killing seals at sea (i. e., the pelagic 

 hunters). I understood that sentiment 

 well in 1890-91, and vainly endeavored 

 then to get Mr. Blaine to recognize its 

 importance. John Hay promptly saw 



