Forty-third Annual Meeting 21 



concerning which I have not consulted our worthy Presi- 

 dent. I feel it is necessary to make this statement in 

 advance. 



Last year the Society expressed itself very positively 

 regarding the matter of the Alaska Fur Seal Fisheries 

 and the part which the Bureau of Fisheries and the De- 

 partment of Commerce and Labor should have in the de- 

 cision of that question. 



Some of you remember that, in the course of the win- 

 ter, Dr. Townsend, our President, was called to testify at 

 Washington. The testimony which he gave as a scientific 

 expert did not suit certain political gentlemen, and they 

 proceeded to impugn his testimony not on scientific 

 grounds, but by charging him with various forms of dis- 

 honesty, and so forth and so on. For a short period 

 Dr. Townsend enjoyed newspaper notoriety that seldom 

 falls to a scientific man. Those personally acquainted 

 with him were sure that there was something not ex- 

 plained in the paper, but I think it very likely that there 

 were other persons in the country, who did not have such 

 knowledge of his character and standing as a scientific 

 man, and I do know that some persons were astonished 

 and perhaps grieved at the appearance of duplicity in 

 his conduct shown, or apparently shown, by this testi- 

 mony. The New York Zoological Society took the matter 

 seriously, investigated it very carefully, and, in a docu- 

 ment, called attention to certain facts. The charges that 

 were made were contained in the report of the majority 

 of a Committee of the House of Representatives; the 

 report was given a wide circulation before it was acted 

 upon by the full committee. The rest of the committee 

 presented a minority report in direct opposition to that 

 of the majority. 



The only references to Dr. Townsend were simply dis- 

 tortions made for political purposes in connection with 

 the discussion before Congress. 



After a most careful investigation the New York Zoo- 

 logical Society adopted unanimously the report of the 



