Between 1913 and 1922 the Government developed a new 

 method for processing and selling Alasi<an sealskins in the 

 United States. The 1912 catch had been sold in London on 17 

 January 1913 (Evermann 1913:10). The 1913 catch was sold in 

 St. Louis by Funsten Brothers and Company on 16 December 

 1913, representing the first American sale (Evermann 

 1914:10). The combined catches of 1914 and 1915 were sold by 

 Funsten on 21 October 1915 (Bower and Aller 1917:106). In 

 1915 the Department of Commerce entered into contract with 

 Funsten to process as well as to sell sealskins (Bower and Aller 

 1917:107; Martin 1946a:251). 



Processing began at St. Louis in December 1915. The first 

 sale in the United States of processed (as against salted) seal- 

 skins was held in St. Louis on 20 December 1916. The Funsten 

 firm went bankrupt in 1920, following a severe depression in 

 the fur market. On 15 February 1921, the Department of Com- 

 merce cancelled its contract with Funsten and negotiated a new 

 one for 10 yr with the Fouke Fur Company (U.S. Congress, 

 Senate 1923:2-6). When Fouke took over from Funsten they 

 received 57,612 skins then in custody of Funsten (Bower 

 1922:71). 



P. B. Fouke had been a guiding spirit in the Funsten firm. 

 "Colonel" Fouke lured two sealskin technicians from Rice 

 and Brothers of London but was subsequently enjoined from 

 using their secret dye formula; he then developed his own. 

 While three sales were held in 1 9 1 2 ( Bower 1 922: 7 1 ) , we believe 

 that the first sale of skins, processed, or mainly processed, by 

 Fouke, was one held in St. Louis on 3 April 1922 (Bower 

 1923:96). 



Of human interest is the fact that during the 1911 treaty 

 negotiations, Ernest Poland, member of a London firm which 

 then led the world in the processing of seal skins, was adviser 

 to the British Ambassador. He suggested that the treaty be 

 worded in such a way as to favor the London Public Fur Auc- 

 tion. This was not done "When [he] returned from America he 

 was furious and said it was the end of the Fur Seal trade in 

 London" [reported by his son, Re.x Poland (1964:22)]. The 

 elder Poland was prophetic; 2 yr later the last sale in London 

 of American skins was held. 



The Osgood, Preble, and Parker Study, 1914 



The Secretary of Commerce on 26 May 1914 appointed a 

 commission of three eminent zoologists to visit the seal islands. 

 He wrote: "You have been selected for this service because, 

 not having previously been identified with or in any way con- 

 cerned with fur seals or the fur-seal controversy, it is expected 

 that your observations and conclusions will be uninfluenced by 

 past contentions but will depend wholly on the existing condi- 

 tions" (Osgood et al. 1915:14). 



The Secretary's appointees were: George H. Parker of Har- 

 vard University, Wilfred H. Osgood of the Field (Chicago) 

 Museum of Natural History, and Edward A. Preble of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey. The three had been nominated by 

 the National Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, and the Department of Agriculture, respectively. "Short- 

 ly after the organization of the group we met in Washington 

 with Mr. W. C. Redfield, secretary of the Department of 

 Commerce, for a general conference. The outcome of this 

 meeting was a request. . .that he wished a report returned by 

 us which we all could agree upon, and not a split report with 

 each one expressing his own views. As our report was to turn 



mainly on an enumeration of seals it seemed to me that the sec- 

 retary' s admonition savored rather of politics than of scientific 

 integrity, for we all three entertained no doubts about our abil- 

 ity to count and to tell the truth" (Parker 1946:150-151). The 

 Canadian Government also sent scientists James M. Macoun, 

 who had been on the islands in 1 89 1 , and B. W. Harmon of the 

 Dominion Department of Marine and Fisheries. We find no 

 record of a published report from either. The Japanese Gov- 

 ernment sent its first observer to the Pribilofs, T. Kitahara of 

 the Imperial Fisheries Bureau. 



The work assignment of Osgood, Preble, and Parker was 

 staggering. It was to "census" the Pribilof herd by age and sex 

 components, to evaluate past influences upon it, to evaluate 

 current sealing methods, and to recommend future practices 

 which would lead to restoration of the herd. Other assign- 

 ments included study of the welfare of the native peoples, the 

 taking of motion pictures for publicity use, and studies of 

 foxes, reindeer, and birds (Osgood et al. 1915:14). The field 

 work was completed between 21 June and 30 August 1914. The 

 more important scientific accomplishments are listed below. 



1) Contour maps representing each of the 22 rookeries and 

 showing the approximate locations of harems were printed. 

 "Before the investigation of 1914 was begun it was found that 

 unpublished charts showing the number and approximate 

 position of the harems on each rookery had been made in 1912 

 and again in 1913 by Special Investigator G. A. Clark. These 

 charts showed the contours of the topography as surveyed by 

 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey [in 1897] and also 

 indicated the position of the rocks on which conspicuous num- 

 bers were painted at the time of the survey" (Osgood et al. 

 1915:27). Maps no. 23 (St. Paul Island) and no. 24 (St. George 

 Island), showing the location of individual rookeries, were the 

 first to be published since the crude maps of Elliott (1882, 

 frontispieces). 



2) A method of computing the number of seals in certain age 

 classes, and of computing total herd size, was established (Os- 

 good et al. 1915:37-38). Essentially the same method was fol- 

 lowed by Bureau of Fisheries officials until the late 1940's. It 

 was originally based on hard facts: the number of pups 

 counted, the number of bulls counted, (Fig. 5) and the number 

 of bachelors killed or reserved. The investigators stressed the 

 importance of continuing the pup counts in future years to ob- 

 tain the best possible estimate of the rate of increase of the 

 herd. 



3) Evidence on the effect of pelagic sealing was obtained. 

 The harem bull count had been under 1,400 in every year since 

 1906. In 1914, after 3 yr of closed seasons on pelagic sealing, it 

 had risen to 1,559 (Osgood et al. 1915:39, 49). 



4) Measurements of 2-yr-olds were first established from 

 marked animals. Body length and other data were obtained 

 from 16 males and 1 female (Osgood et al. 1915:66-67). (The 

 largest "female" listed in the table on p. 67 was actually a 

 male.) The program of measuring each summer the length of 

 branded male seals was continued through 1918, at which time 

 a table of length standards for seals in ages 1 to 6 yr was com- 

 piled (Bower 1919:96). 



5) Osgood, Preble, and Parker realized that important zoo- 

 logical data — future rates of increase of the herd and survival 

 rates of young seals to killable age — could be obtained from 

 complete pup counts. The increase in the pup count from 1912 

 to 1913 was 12.4% and from 1913 to 1914 was 1.06% (Osgood 

 et al. 1915:44, 74). These figures suggested a mean annual 



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