INVESTMENTS. 283 



cruise, outside tlie expense of outfittine', would Pelagic sealing 



a speculation. 



be at least $3,000. The loss, therefore, to the 

 owner or charterer of the vessel would be cer- 

 tainly $2,000 on his investment. If one thousand 

 seals were taken, it is also evident that there 

 would be a very close margin on the recovery 

 of the money expended, and the investor would 

 probably lose or certainly not receive one per 

 cent on the capital invested.^ It is, therefore, 

 the possibility of a large catch which leads 

 persons to venture their money in pelagic seal- 

 ing, and the business is a speculation of the 

 most uncertain character. Those eng-a^ed in Srccniating on 



° small supply of 



the industry also find the possibility of a small s^^^- 

 supply of skins from all sources to be a fertile 

 field for speculation, the price per skin being 

 advanced as the number of skins on the market 

 diminishes. It may be said, therefore, that the 

 interests of the pelagic sealing speculators is to 

 deplete the herd and thereby increase prices, 

 unmindful of the ultimate result, which is sure 

 to be the extermination of the Alaskan fur-seal. 

 This phase of the speculation is referred to in a 

 letter from the British Colonial Office to Sir 

 Charles Tupper, dated June 13, 1891, which 

 reads as follows: "That as the total cessation of 

 sealing in Bering Sea will greatly enhance the 



' T. T. Williams, Vol. II, p. 501. 



