420 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



recomnieiulation is obscured in the Report by a coUectiou of qiiot.ations from various 

 writings, of which he is the author, aud by placing an erroneous interpretation on 

 his hiuguage. 



He is then cited to say this: 



In the season of 1868, before the prohibitory law was passed and enforced, numer- 

 ous parties sealed on the Islands at will and took about two hundred and tifty 

 thousand seals. They killed mostly all the product of 1806-77. In making our cal- 

 culations for breeding seals we did' not take that loss into consideration, so that in 

 1872-73, when the crop of 1866-69 would have matured, we were a little short. 1 licse 

 seals had been killed. For that reason, to render the matter doubly sure, I rccoin- 

 nieuded to the Secretary a diminution of 15,000 seals for the ten years ensuing. I 

 do not, however, wish to be understood as saying that the seals are all decreasing — 

 that the proportionate number of male seals of the proper age to take is decreasing. 



Q. The fenuvles are incieasing? 



A. Yes, sir; and consequently the number of pups produced annually. 



On page 73 : 



The other class of statements or conclusions advanced, to show that the breed- 

 ing and non-breeding seals decreased during the ten years following the leasing of 

 the Pribilof Islands'in 1879, may be divided into three heads, namely, an alleged 

 increased proportion of females to breading males, an alleged recognition by the 

 lessees of the decrease of male seals, and alleged overdriving and resort to new areas 

 to obtain the quota. The tirst allegation is based entirely on comparisons between 

 the early years of the lease of 1870 and the last two or three years of the same 

 (1889-1891). The United States insist that such comparisons are irrelevant, for, even 

 if the breeding males were disproportionately few during the latter years, it is the 

 result of a decreased birth rate caused by pelagic sealing. 



And this the facts will show, aud the irresistible inference from the 

 facts that are niicontradicted must establish the pro[)osition, that the 

 births also had diniinislied from the pelagic sealing during those years 

 under the circumstances stated heretofore. 



As to the question of driving on page 78. The Tribunal will under- 

 stand what is meant by driving. The animals are carefully selected. 

 The young seals are driven up like sheep to a certain inclosure or a cer- 

 tain place where they are kept together. Then they are carefully 

 selected. It is stated by the British Commissioners that the drives 

 are too long and that they get exhausted. 



The question of driving in 1879 from areas, before reserved and untouched, is used 

 in the Report to show that the male seals had decreased to such an extent as to 

 compel the resort to those hauling grounds. The Counuissioners refer to this in the 

 following words: "Whatever may have been the detailed history of the seal inter- 

 ests on St. Paul in the intervening years, the fact that in 1879 it became necessary 

 for the tirst time to extend tlie area of driving, so as to include Zapadnie and Pola- 

 vina rookeries, or the hauling grounds adjacent to them, shows conclusively that a 

 great change for the worse had already occurred at that date." 



That is, at that time they were obliged to take in a new area that 

 they had not touched before. 



This statement is not in accord with the facts. Prior to 1879 Polavina had been 

 driven from, every year but two. 



So that these gentlemen are mistaken as to the fact. 



And Zapadnie had supplied its portion to the quota of skins every year of the 

 lease prior to 1879, as is sliown in the table cited. 



It is insisted by the United States that driving and redriving after 

 the introduction of pelagic sealing, if any occurred, was directly charge- 

 able to the condition created by open sea sealing. We do not deny, 

 and we have not denied that pelagic seal hunting introduced a new 

 condition or factor into the business and that what was eminently 

 proper and successful and led to the prosperity of the industry became 

 impossible afterwards; that one hundred thousand were too many; and 



