138 MANAGEMENT OF THE SEAL ROOKERIES. 



Uniiceused The secoiicl coursG would coii3ededly have 



working iinj)racti- 



cabio. resulted in the extermmation of the Alaska seal 



herd in a very short time,^ as it has in all cases 



where seal killing has been general and unlini- 



ited.2 



Working by Gov- The third metliod, direct manao'ement by the 



einment impracti- ^ •' 



cable. Government, was also deemed impracticable to 



the committees who investigated the question. 

 The committee of Congress in 1876 reported that 

 in their judgment the Government could not 

 advantageously assume charge itself of the seal 

 industry and did wisely to intrust it to the Alaska 

 Commercial Company.^ The committee of Con- 

 gress which made a thorough examination of the 

 question in 1888 reported: ''All these witnesses 

 (those examined by the committee) concur in 

 testifvino' to the wisdom of the existino- law on 

 the subject, and favor the retention of the pres- 

 ent system. All other existing rookeries are 

 managed substantially in the same way by tlie 

 different Governments to which they belong, all 

 following the lead of Russia, who m^uiaged and 

 protected our rookeries by a simihir method from 

 their discovery until their transfer to the United 



1 Senate Doc. No. 48, Forty-fourth Congress, first session, p. 4. 



2 Post, p. 218. 



3 Report No. 623, House of Represeutatives, Forty-fourth Con- 

 gress, lii'st session, p. 12. 



