ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 339 



is manifestly absurd. If in a natural condition each female 



bore on an average only one female pup, the death of such 



a pup before it had in its turn borne a female pup to replace 



it, would of course produce such an eflect. But each cow, 



according to the United States Commissioners, produces 



fifteen pups, so that there is a large reserve to meet pos- /Tf*'"^^*?''*'5 



sible causes of death without diminishing the " herd," even states c^se^ %. 



if some are killed before they reach the breeding age at all. ^^^• 



4. The Diagrams also show that when the seals are in a 

 natural condition, there is a yearly death from imtural 

 causes of 20,000 seals (10,000 male and 10,000 female). This 

 destruction arises from disease and killing by killer- whales 

 and other natural enemies. It is mostly effected at sea, 

 and is entirely indiscriminate as to sex. If, then, pelagic 

 killing, without distinction of sex, be so destructive as is 

 argued by the United States, it is difficult to see how, on the 

 pro tanto theory, the natural pelagic killing at sea, without 

 distinction of sex, of 20,000 seals annually out of a " herd" 

 of 80,000 of both sexes, should not long ago have extirpated 

 the "herd;" or, on the other hand, why, if so large a de- 

 struction has not extinguished the " herd,"acomparatively 

 small addition to that killing should be alleged to have 

 suddenly produced so destructive an effect. 



5. In the above Tables and the Argument of the United 

 States' Commissioners it is assumed that every breeding 

 seal, male or female, lands at the islands every year. 



0. The above-mentioned large reduction in the numbers 

 of breeding bulls, which is, according to the United States 

 Commissioners, produced by regulated killing, would lead 

 to an expectation that when land killing had been practised 

 for some time the size of the harems would be increased, 

 and the competition of the bulls for females diminished. 

 Of course the killing of females at sea would tend to pro- 

 duce a contrary effect. 



7. If the killing of 2,100 males out of a "herd" of 80,000 g^Ye^'^^ssf^''**' 

 seals, or, what is the same thing, the killing of 78,750 males, *^^' ^* 

 or in round numbers 80,000 males, out of a " herd " of 

 2,380,000 seals of both sexes, is the most that can be 

 effected without depleting the "herd," it is evident, on the 

 United States Commissioners' showing, that the 100,000 

 males yearly killed on the islands has been too large a 

 number, unless the " herd " has, during the period in which 

 it was done, exceeded 3,000,000, The United States Com- united states 

 missioners assert thiit this has not been the case. On the^*^®' ^" ^^'^' ^'°® 

 contrary, they say that the " herd " has largely decreased 

 within six or seven years before 1891. They seem to esti- Page 337, line 

 mate this decrease as having reduced the "herd" to one-^^' 

 half its former quantity, but the estimates are conflicting. 

 The natives and Daniel Webster consider that the decline be- 

 gan in 1877-78. In any case itisquite clear that the killing 

 of 100,000 seals has l)e('n far too large according to the esti- 

 mates shown by the United States Commissioners' Dia- 

 grams, and would fully account for the diminution of the 

 4' herd " without reckoning the pelagic sealing. 



