LOSS IF HERD DESTROYED. 273 



all for the 100,000 the sum of $368,000. This Loss to Great 



Biitaiu. 



makes an annual loss to Great Britam, in case 

 the Alaskan herd is commercially exterminated 

 of $464,000; but this is only a partial statement 

 of the actual damage sustained, for the depriva- 

 tion of eight-tenths of the seal-skin supply must 

 necessarily reduce the industry in Great Britain - 

 to a condition which will lead capital to abandon 

 it; and a permanent plant valued at £80,000 

 would become entirely useless if the seal-skin 

 industry were to come to an end.^ 



The French Republic will also suffer a serious Loss to France, 

 loss from the destruction of this valuable herd of 

 fur-bearing animals, on which the sealskin indus- 

 try so largely depends. The Paris firm of He villon 

 Fr^res has alone in the last twenty years bought 

 upwards of 400,000 sealskins, the majority of 

 which have been made up into garments by said 

 firm, the sales of which have amounted to about 

 4,000,000 francs annually for the period of 

 twenty years. This firm employs about three 

 hundred persons, who are skilled laborers, and 

 who would be thrown out of employment 1)y 

 the withdrawal of the supply of skins furnished 

 by the Alaskan herd ; and it is safe to say from 

 five to six hundred persons are dependent upon 

 the sealskin industry in France.^ If the 20,000 



'Arthur HirscLel, Vol. II, p. 563. 

 2 Leon KiSvillon, Vol. IL p,590. 

 271G 35 



