68 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



in its power by restricting consumption through the agency of game 

 laws. 



So, also, in the case of fishes inhabiting the seas and reproducing their 

 species therein. It is impossible to limit the extent to which they may 

 be captured; but here nature, as if conscious of the inability of man 

 to take care of the future, removes the necessity, inmost cases, for such 

 care by the enormous provision for reproduction which she makes. 

 The possible necessity, however, or the wisdom of endeavoring to sup- 

 plement the provision of nature, has already been taken notice of by 

 man, and efforts are now in progress to prevent an apprehended de- 

 struction of the stock. The case of fishes resorting, for the purposes 

 of reproduction, to interior waters, has, for a long time, engaged the 

 attention of governments, and much success has followed efforts to 

 make the annual increase adequate to human wants. 



SUMMARY OP DOCTRINES ESTABLISHED. 



The foregoing discussion concerning the origin, foundation, extent, 

 form, and limitations of the institution of property will, it is believed, 

 be found to furnish, in addition to the doctrines of municipal law, 

 decisive tests for the determination of the principal question, whether 

 the United States have a property in the seal herds of Alaska; but it 

 may serve the purposes of convenience to present, before proceeding 

 to apply the conclusions thus reached, a summary of them in a concise 

 form. 



First. The institution of property springs from and rests upon two 

 prime necessities of the human race: 



1. The establishment of peace and order, which is necessary to the 

 existence of any form of society. 



2. The preservation and iucrease of the useful products of the earth, 

 in order to furnish an adequate supply for the constantly increasing 

 demands of civilized society. 



Second. These reasons, upon which the institution of property is 

 founded, require that every useful thing, the supply of which is limited, 



