OriNIONS OF AMERICAN FURRIERS. 497 



Deponent believes and says that if unrestricted pelagic sealing be 

 allowed to continue throughout the whole of Be- 

 ring Sea, not only will the United States Govern- C. A. Williams, p. 5oU. 

 nient soon be deprived of a considerable annual 



revenue, and over 2,000 English workmen of skilled employment, ol 

 which they now have a practical monopoly, but a portion of the civil- 

 ized world will hereafter be deprived of a useful and valuable fur-bear- 

 ing animal; and a great and irreparable injury will thus be done to 

 various legitimate industries which have been built up by the author- 

 ized lessees of Eussia and the United States and the firm of C. M. 

 Lampson & Co., which industries are confined to one locality and which 

 if fostered promise to continue in existence for an indefinite length of 

 time; while in return for such injury there will be only a comparatively 

 slight benefit of a few years' duration to a comparatively small number 

 of men. 



It is safe to say that these animals are all United States property, 

 and having been born on United States soil and 



reared in United States waters in the twenty-one C. A. Williams, p. 543. 

 years that have elapsed since the cession of Alaska 



by Russia, and having the instinct of regular return to their home, 

 which accords them a status in law, they would seem to be entitled to 

 the protection of their Government, while they are in the acknowledged 

 boundaries of their country. 



To open the sea and the rookeries to the taking of seal by any wlio 

 choose to seek them would be simply to surrender 



the herd to destruction. But a danger menaces c. A. Williams, p. 547, 

 the system and the seals which the Government 



alone can avert, viz, the intrusion of foreign vessels with armed crewa 

 in the waters of Bering Sea, with intent to kill seal in the water be- 

 tween the Aleutian chain of islands and the Pribilof group. In this 

 water the seal rest and sport after their long migration; "here the 

 females, heavy with young, slowly n earing the land, sleep soundly at 

 sea by intervals, reluctant to haul out of the cool water upon the rook- 

 eries until the day and the hour which limits the period of gestation ;"' 

 here, with gun and spear and drag net, these marauders desire to 

 reap their harvest of destruction and for their selfish greed extermi- 

 nate the animal which now, under the wise policy of Congress, plays 

 so important a part in the economy and distribution of commerce. 

 Three years of open sea would suffice in these waters to repeat the 

 story of the southern ocean and the fur-seal would be of the past, and 

 a valuable industry would be obliterated forever. Let the sea be open 

 to all commerce that harbors no evil intent, but protect the seal life 

 that swims in its waters and "hauls" on its shores. Let the sea be as 

 free as the wind to all legitimate commerce, but protect the unique 

 possession of seal life that harms none and benefits thousands. 



Opinions of Pelagic Scalers. 



Page 246 of The Case. 



The extermination of the animals and of the industry will be swift 

 and sure unless the female seals are protected 

 from the devastation now going on, and I do not Jno. Armstrong, p. 2. 

 believe it possible to protect them as they should 



be unless the North Pacific as well as Bering Sea is included in any 

 measures adopted to this end. 

 32 bs 



