106 



In 1889 the Piibilof catch was 102,617, which fell off to 21,234 in 

 1890, and this was all that the islands would yield of killable seals, 

 leaving a deficit, as compared with the previous year, of 81,379 seals 

 upon the islands. If this contrast in the number of seals that could 

 be taken on the islands in 1889 and 1890 was due to the overkilling 

 of males on the islands, and not to pelagic hunting, the falling off of 

 numbers would have been indicated in each of the six years prior to 

 1889. No one has asserted such a fact, and we know that a male seal must 

 be 6 years old before he is able to take uj) and maintain a harem on 

 the rookeries. So that this sudden falling off between 1889 and 1890, 

 if it was due to an excessive killing of males, must have occurred at 

 least as early as 1882. This is not true, and no one pretends that it is. 

 The killing of 51,655 seals that the pelagic hunters got, aiul at least 

 three-fold that number, including those that were lost, must have 

 reached 300,000 seals that were destroyed. Of this number, three- 

 fourths were females, that are not killable seals on the islands, and are 

 not counted in the Pribilof catch. 



The verification of this calculation is almost perfect in 1892, when 

 the pelagic sealers took 73,000 seals, and in 1891 when they took 

 68,000. The close approximation of these figures shows that the loss 

 of the seals on the islands was due to pelagic sealing, and not to 

 the want of virility in the bulls on the breeding grounds, or to any other 

 cause. 



That the process which has actually depleted the seal herd in four 

 years to the extent of 509,065 (273,000 of which were females), is an evil 

 that re<iuires to he remedied, for the saJce of the protection and presertm- 

 tion of seal life, no one can douM, as it seems to me. This progressive 

 depletion of this herd of seals can not fail to destroy them very soon, 

 and, in the meantime, to deprive the United States of all possible 

 advantage and compensation derived from its efforts to save the species. 

 What the United States has done, or omitted to do, to deserve treat- 

 ment at the hands of this Tribunal that will expose its lawful indus- 

 tries to ruin, its revenues to depletion, and its wards on the Pribilof 

 Islands to the loss of their only valuable industry will be an inquiry 

 that will seriously challenge the. justice of su(!h an award, in the esti- 

 mate of the civilized world. 



The evil to be provided against by this Tribunal is, clearly, pelagic 

 sealing with firearms. 



If there is, or has been, any detriment to the seal herd from the 



