EXHIBIT I. 



In Exhibit III, following, are the itemized lists of more than 120,000 

 yearling seals which have been taken by the lessees since 1896, on 

 the Pribilof Islands, in criminal trespass. 



The sole object of prohibiting the killing of yearlings by law and 

 regulations was and is to prevent the killing oi female seals, since 

 the sex of seals can not be told apart when as yearlings they haul 

 out upon the islands. The yearling female is precisely of the same 

 size, shape, and outward appearance and behavior, from every point 

 of view, as is the male yearling. Unless she is caught and ex- 

 amined by our hand her sex can not be told truly by us or by any 

 human being — only guessed wildly. 



Therefore, as it is utterly impracticable to capture, examine, and 

 separate the male and female yearlings on the hauling grounds or 

 killing grounds, the killing of them as a class has been j^rohibited 

 and wisely ordered, since this class is easily recognized on the slaugh- 

 tering field. 



In s])ite of this prohibition, when the numbers of 2 and 3 year 

 old male seals as secured ran down year after year to zero, the lessees 

 in order to get the full number allowed them of 2 and 3 year old seals, 

 entered into a combination with the agents of the Government 

 and slaughtered the yearlings by the tens of thousands; but falsi- 

 fied that work to the Government, declaring that no seals had been 

 taken under 2 years of age since 1896. The details of this malfea- 

 sance and fraud on the part of the Government agents and the lessees 

 are fully given in Exhibit III (pcsted). 



In order that an adequate idea may be firmed of what the loss 

 to the herd is when female yearlings are killed (and half of the 120,000 

 yearlings taken since 1896 were females), the following table of 

 increase which 4,500 slaughtered yearling cows in 1896 would have 

 brought to the herd is given, to wit: 



Table showing the natural increase of 4,500 yearling coivs from 1896 to 1909 if they had 

 been suffered to live undisturbed on the Pribilof rookeries . 



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