FUR-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 



259 



Dr. Jordan denies his responsi- 

 bility for the fencing and branding- 

 fiasco. 



Leland Stanford Junior 



University, 

 Office of the President. 

 Stanford University, Ceil., 



January 16, 1906. 

 Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, 



The White House, Washington, D. C. 

 The plans of fencing and branding the 

 seals were suggestions of earlier investiga- 

 tors which the commission of 1896-97 

 merely tested as a part of its duty. They 

 were expected to assist only in the dis- 

 couraging of pelagic sealing should other 

 means of prohibiting it fail. 



Very respectfully, yours, 



David Starr Jordan. 



Jordan declares that his 

 ''scourge " of the fur seal has been 

 overlooked by incompetent men. 



That the herd should be put in charge of 

 a competent naturalist was the sole impor- 

 tant recommendation of the commission of 

 1896-97, as will be seen by reference to 

 Chapter XIX, pages 191-193, of the first 

 volume of the commission's final report. 



It may be that I have underestimated 

 the completeness of the rejiorts of the local 

 agents. As I look over those of Mr. Lemb- 

 key for 1904 and 1905 I find that they are 

 filled with important data. He has evi- 

 dently done his work well. The figures 

 he gives regarding the condition of the 

 breeding herd as shown by the compara- 

 tive counts of the rookeries are instructive 

 and show the continued decline of the 

 herd under pelagic sealing. As I look 

 through the reports, however, I see no 

 mention whatever of the effects of the 

 parasitic worm Uncinaria, which we found 

 in 1896-97 to be responsible for the death 

 of upward 12,000 pups, or practically 10 

 per cent of the birth rate of that year. 

 This was one of the mo:st im])ortant discov- 

 eries made by our commission. It is a 

 destructive agency which should be 

 fought. (D. S. Jordan to President Roose- 

 velt, Jan. 16, 1906. Appendix A, pp. 

 328-332, June 24, 1911. IT. Com. Exp. 

 Dept. Com. and Labor.) 



But the official record declares 

 that these twin follies were or- 

 dered by him. 



St. Pauls Island, Alaska. 



Monday, August 2, 1897.— Br. Jordan 

 sent five of his men, under Mr. Murray's 

 charge, to lay out and dig post holes for 

 the fence around the lagoon. 



Wednesday, August 4, 1897. — Mr. Mur- 

 ray's men who were digging post holes for 

 the lagoon fence have almost completed 

 the job. * * * From present indica- 

 tions Dr. Jordan and his able assistants 

 will leave very little to be looked for in 

 that direction in the future. 



Wednesday, August 18, 1897. — Messrs. 

 Warren and Farmer busy all day endeav- 

 oring to put the electrical branding ma- 

 chine in order. * * * Messrs. Farmer 

 and A^'arren are hopeful of making it a 

 grand success. (Official entries in the 

 Journal of the Government Agent in 

 charge of the seal islands, St. Pauls 

 Village.) 



But Lembkey has furnished 

 abundant competent evidence 

 that Jordan's ''scourge" is , a 

 myth to-day. 



Mr. Elliott. The sandworm, Uncina- 

 ria, "scourge" discovered by Jordan in 

 1897 is like the "trampled i>ups" of his 

 "discovery" in 1896, a sporadic trouble, 

 which has never been noted on the islands 

 prior to 1891 or seen there since 1898, 

 This I declared to be the case in 1872- 

 1874, and again in 1890. 



The Bureau of Fisheries in 1906 tried to 

 find it, as follows (p. 663, Appendix A): 



"In order, however, to ascertain the 

 latest developments in seal life, Mr. H. C. 

 Marsh, an expert in the diseases of fishes 

 in the Bureau of Fisheries, was sent by 

 Secretary Metcalf to the islands in the 

 summer of 1906. Mr. Marsh arrived on 

 the islands early in June of that year and 

 remained there until the middle of the 

 following August. He was rendered 

 every assistance by the resident agents in 

 his investigation. 



"Dr. Jordan, in commenting on the re- 

 port of Mr. W.I. Lembkey, agent in charge 

 of seal fisheries (S. Doc. No. 98, 59th 

 Cong., 1st sess.), contended that the num- 

 ber of bulls reported did not comprise all 

 the bulls present, and in his memoran- 

 dum he referred to the fact that deaths 

 among seal pups due to Uncinaria, an in- 

 testinal parasite, were not reported. 



"Mr. Marsh had instructions to investi- 

 gate these two points particularly. 



"In the matter of bulls, Mr. Marsh car- 

 ried maps of the rookeries, and on these he 



