SECTION VII. 



THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE FUR-BEARING INTERESTS 

 OF OUR GOVERNMENT ON THE PRIBILOV ISLANDS— THE IMMEDIATE 

 ACTION NECESSARY, VIEWED IN THE FULL LIGHT OF EXISTING 

 DANGER. 



Those statements and exhibitions of fact contained in the foregoing 

 Sections, I to IV, inclusive, warrant me in declaring- that the close of 

 the j)resent season's work of 1890 brings a grave question and its. alter- 

 native promptly forward — shall our Government make no further effort to 

 prei^ent the extermination of its sealing preserves on the Prihilov Islands? 

 or, will it step forward again and try anew to prevent that ruinf 



There is a universal, a hearty wish, not only at home, but abroad, 

 that these Alaskan fur-seal rookeries be preserved: and a hope that 

 these anomalous and valuable interests can be saved: and every repu- 

 table commercial, scientific, and political organization throughout the 

 whole civilized world will applaud any action that will draw the Powers 

 of Great Britain, Kussia, and the United States together in harmonious 

 effort to that end. 



Telling the truth, as I have been compelled to tell it in detail, will 

 have, however, this compensation — it will arouse and enlist the sym- 

 pathy and support of a very large element that has heretofore declared 

 its utter indifference as to whether the huntijig of fur seals in the open 

 waters of Bering Sea was prohibited, or not: since it believed that the 

 last official reports published m^ to 1889, as filed in the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, were correct in declaring that the Pribilov fur seals were vastly 

 increased and increasing still over their fine form and number of 1872- 

 1874.^ And it also said, "What real harm are these poachers doing*? 

 Why, only look at the figures ! after all their work, yet in spite of it, there 

 are more seals than ever on those islands. Their work may annoy and 

 injure somewhat the leased monopoly up there, but what of that? If 

 the seals can stand it, we do not feel concerned." 



Those erroneous statements made in 1886, 1887, and 1888^ by official 

 reports to the Treasury, declaring a steady increase of seals on the 

 Pribilov Islands, have given to the pelagic sealers during the last four 

 years, solid aid and comfort, that has been advanced to them from 

 official circles not only at home, but in Great Britain and Canada: and 

 which would not have been proffered from any quarter for a moment, 

 had the fact been believed that ever since 1882, the Pribilov seals have 

 been declining in number, rapidly dwindling ever since 1886. 



Those, who did not, and do not believe that we are right in claiming 

 Bering Sea as a mare clausum will at once heartily unite with those 

 who do believe in that doctrine, in so far as making it a closed sea to 

 all pelagic sealing at the moment such action becomes necessary to 

 prevent an extermination of those world-renowned rookeries of Bering 

 Sea. And, in the presence of this threatening ruin, the most pro- 



' See Appendix, pp. 205-207. '^ See Appendix, pp. 203-207. 



438 



