INVESTMENTS. 285 



be found several public officials, seven grocers, Occupations of 



vessel owuers. 



a druggist, an auctioneer, a farmer, three saloon 

 keepers, a plasterer, an insurance agent, two iron 

 founders, three real estate agents, a carriage 

 manufacturer, a tanner, two women, a machinist, 

 and others of different pursuits.^ It is evident 

 that the people who undertake this venture are 

 as varied in their occupations as the purchasers 

 of lottery tickets, and the same spirit which in- 

 duces persons to risk their money in the latter 

 has persuaded them to take their chances in the 

 sealing business. 



Under the present state of affaks the increase Results of pro- 



tectiug seal kerd. 



of the sealing fleet, the decrease of the seal herd, 

 and its certain extinction in a few years if pelagic 

 sealing is continued, the insignificant invest- 

 ment of Canada for a few years compared with 

 the sealskin industry of the world for an indef- 

 inite future seems infinitesimal and unworthy of 

 notice in considering, from an economic point of 

 view, the advisability of protecting and preserv- 

 ing the world's chief supply of fur-seal skins. 

 Prohibition of pelagic sealing means the employ- 

 ment of thousands of people in England and the 

 United States for generations, and the invest- 

 ment of millions of capital. 



Nonprohibition means the employment of a Results if not 



c (' f protected. 



few hundred persons tor lour or five years, tlie 



' Report of U. S. Consul L. W. Myers, April 29, lb[)2,Vol. I, p. 514. 



