FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 55 



With the single exception of coiTectly speaking of this immediate danger of com- 

 plete extinction of the fur-seal herd of Alaska, under existing conditions. Mr. Sims is 

 completely at sea and in profound error over everything that he lirings into conclusion 

 and recommends in his report of August 31, 1906. 

 Very sincerely, your friend and servant, 



Henry W. Elliott. 



Department of Commerce .\nd Labor, 



Office of the Secretary, 

 Washington. January f , 1907. 

 Mr. H. W. Elliott, 



No. 17 Grace Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio. 

 Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th ultimo, comment- 

 ing upon that portion of the Secretary's last annual report which refers to the Alaskan 

 fur-seal service, and to thank you for the information therein contained. 

 Respectfully, 



Lawrence O. Murray, 



Assistant Secretary. 



No. 17 Grace Avenue. Lakewood. Ohio, 



May IS. 1908. 

 Hon. Oscar Straus, 



Secretai-y Commerce and Labor. Washington. D. C. 



Dear Sir: On the 19th of December, 1906, T addressed to you a letter in which I 

 pointed out to you certain pronounced errors of statement made in an official report 

 to you by one E. W. Sims on the condition of the fur-seal herd of Alaska. That I did 

 so was fairly imperative on my part, since these errors of .statement and recommenda- 

 tion, which this inexperienced and wholly untrained agent made, were entirely 

 subversive of the truth, and most injurious for those jjublic interests at stake, if acted 

 favorably upon by you. 



On the 2d of January, 1907, I received an official acknowledgment of the receipt of 

 that letter aforesaid, with the simple "thank you for the information contained." 

 That acknowledgment was enough; it made no suggestion of an error in any statement 

 on my part. There was none, and I knew it when I addressed you. 



My chief protest in that letter was against the grave misstatement by Mr. Sims, who 

 said that all of those seals ordered spared by the Hitchcock rules were duly " branded, ' ' 

 and so exempted from slaughter ever afterwards by the lessees; that this "branding" 

 was faithfully done, and those spared seals thus permitted to live, grow up into breed- 

 ing bulls for the rookeries; all this officially and explicitly reported to you. when in 

 fact it was not true. 



Therefore I described to you the manner in which these seals were not branded — not 

 one of them — and how they were sheared instead. How this sheared mark was entirely 

 lost a few weeks later when the seal went into its natural annual molt and renewed all 

 of its body hair. So that those sheared seals thus "branded" in June and July and 

 spared then, when they hauled out again in October and November following were 

 without any mark of exemption and were killed then by the lessees as "food" seals; 

 that in this manner those land butchers were actually nullifying the regulations of 

 the department, which Mr. Sims erroneously declared the faithful observance of 

 to you. 



What has been the result of this truthful and clear statement on my part to you 

 made December 19, 1906? What has been done with regard to the conduct of affairs 

 on the islands during the season following? 



1 have the official answer of the agents — your agents — now in my hands. It is 

 printed as Senate Document No. 376, Sixtieth Congress, first session. Since I have 

 myself officially reported to my Government on this life, and as I have so reported 

 up to date that no man or official following me or prior to my work has thus far been 

 able to successfully impeach the entire truth and sense of my published official rec- 

 ords in 1881 and in 1890 (Monograph Seal Islands of Alaska, Govennnent Printing 

 Office, 1881), and (H. Doc. No. 175. 54th Cong., 2d sess.), I am constrained to review 

 these reports of your agents for tlie seasons of 1906-7, inclusive. That review i;- here- 

 witli inclosed for your information and use. If I have made an error in it and it is 

 publicly presented to me, I will be most happy to acknowledge it; but I desire to 

 say that I do not believe it can be questioned seriously by any autiiority. I cliallenge 

 the correction contidentlv. 



