185 



at great expense ai^i^inst indiscriminate slangliter bj^ raiders and seal- 

 hunters In addition, and that tliey may not be nncUily disturbed 

 while on the breeding' grounds, the United States exebules all persons 

 from the islands of St. Paul and St. George, except sueh as are required 

 in connection with the industry there conducted under its authority or 

 license — that iiulustry being the taking, for puri)oses of revenue and 

 commerce, such proportion of males as cau be safely taken without 

 Impairing tlie stock, and forbidding the killing of all female seals. . 



(e) On the islands of St. Paul and St. George, during the season, and 

 at no other place, nor at any other time, cau discrimination be made in 

 respect to the sex of seals taken for use. Such discrimination is im- 

 possible when the seals are taken in the ocean. 



(/) The taking of these seals in thehigh seas to any extent that isj^rofit- 

 able to those engaged in it involves the very existence of the race, 

 because the killing by pelagic hunters of seals heavy with young, or 

 suckling mothers, or impregnated females, willinevitably result in the 

 speedy extermination of the race. 



(</) So that the taking of these animals at the breeding grounds for 

 commercial purposes, under regulations that e;iable a proper proportion 

 of umles to be taken for use, and the killing of them in the open waters of 

 the ocean, where no discrimination as to sex is possible, is the difference 

 between iireserving the race for the benefit of the world and its speedy 

 extermination for the benefit of a few Canadian and American sealers 

 prosecuting a business so barbarous in its methods that President 

 Harrison fitly characterized it as a crime against nature. 



(/t) Tlie coming of these aninmls from year to year to the Pribilot 

 Islands and their abiding there, so that their increase can betaken for 

 man's use without impairing the stock, being due entirely to the care and 

 supervision of the United States, if that care, industry, and supervision 

 be onntted or withdrawn, the speedy destruction of the race will cer- 

 tainly follow. The same result will inevitably follow if pelagic seal- 

 ing be recognized as a right under international law, to be restrained, 

 if at all, or effectually, only by a convention to which all the great mari- 

 time nations of the earth are parties — a convention which all know 

 could never be obtained; and which, if i)ossible to be obtained under 

 a:iy circumstances, could not be had until its object, the preservation 

 of these animals for the use of the world had been defeated in the 

 meantime by the extermination of the race. 



(*) On the other hand, a recognition of the right of property asserted 



