REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 73 
cutter Manning and thence forwarded to St. Louis. Owing to the 
depressed condition of the fur trade, the sale of the sealskins was 
deferred, under special authority given by Congress. 
In 1915 arrangements were made for a complete census of the seal 
herd, to be taken by the Bureau’s agents already on the seal islands, 
and figures submitted indicate an increase of about 60,000 animals 
over the estimate for 1914. The quota of bachelor seals that could be 
killed to meet the requirements of the natives was fixed at 5,500. 
It is apparent from the report of the special investigators of 1914 
and from the results of the census of 1915 that there exists a great 
surplus of male seals and that commercial killing on a limited scale 
could properly be resumed. A noteworthy economic contingency will 
arise when the taking of large numbers of seals begins. The com- 
paratively limited needs of the natives will consume but a small part 
of the seal meat and other products, and steps have already been taken 
looking to the profitable utilization of what has heretofore been 
wasted. 
The past year has witnessed an important change in the relations 
of the Government to the natives in the matter of compensation for 
services rendered. The old practice has been to pay cash for services, 
and a comparatively large part of the appropriation has thus been 
consumed. The natives used the cash thus obtained in purchasing 
supplies at the Government stores, and the sums thus received were 
turned into the United States Treasury. There was consequently a 
double drain on the appropriation which, in recent years at least, 
was none too large for the legitimate administration of the islands 
and the support of the natives. Under the new system, able-bodied 
natives are required to perform some kind of labor, and payment is 
made in supplies. This arrangement at first was resented by the 
natives, but in general is now working well. The agent on St. 
George Island reports that the natives “ have both privately and as a 
body expressed their preference for the present method of issuing all 
necessary supplies as against receiving pay in cash for all labor and 
buying with their earnings their food and all other necessary arti- 
cles.” It is realized that on the resumption of commercial killing 
when, under the law, the natives will be entitled to cash compensa- 
tion for services performed in various capacities, other arrangements 
will have to be made. It is believed that the expense which may be 
connected with the commercial operations should be deducted from 
the selling price of the sealskins and not from the appropriation for 
the maintenance of the fur-seal service. 
Owing to a change in the personnel on the islands, the savings of 
the seal-island natives, heretofore kept in a San Francisco bank in 
the name of a trustee, have been transferred to Washington and 
deposited in a local bank, and the United States Commissioner of 
Fisheries has been designated as trustee. The amounts thus trans- 
ferred and held to the credit of the natives are $5,143.12. 
An entirely new method of procedure in obtaining supplies for the 
Pribilof Islands was adopted for the 1915 season. In the past the 
general supplies have been bought either without competition or on 
more or less formal proposals. This year formal schedules were pre- 
pared and printed copies were distributed to prospective bidders at 
Seattle, San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Boston, and 
