122 ACTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



meaus of living. The flesli of tlie animals being tlieir principal article 

 of food, and seal skins being the only commodity of commercial value 

 obtainable by their industry. Previous to the acquisition of Alaska 

 by our Government the preservation of these animals from indiscrimi- 

 nate slaughter and extermination was by the Kussian Government 

 deemed necessary for the subsistence of said inhabitants and accord- 

 ingly authority over all of Bering Sea for the protection of fur-seals 

 therein from destruction by persons other than said inhabitants was 

 assumed. The Emperor of Russia also asserted authority over Bering 

 Sea by assuming to transfer to the United States certain territory and 

 dominion with definite boundaries including a large part thereof; and 

 the United States by the ratification of the treaty and consummation of 

 the purchase of said territory acquired a claim of right to exercise the 

 authority and sovereignty over that portion of the sea which had been 

 theretofore exercised by Russia. Our Government asserted its authority 

 to restrict the killing of seals in all the waters included within the 

 boundaries described in the treaty very promptly after the formal 

 transfer of the territory. At the first session of Congress thereafter a 

 statute was passed, entitled, "An act to extend the laws of the United 

 States relating to customs, commerce, and navigation over the terri- 

 tory ceded to the United States by Russia, to establish a collection dis- 

 trict therein, and for other purposes." The first section of said act 

 (now section 1956 Rev. Stat.), declares that, "The laws of the United 

 States relating to customs, commerce, and navigation are extended to 

 and over the mainland, islands, and waters of the territory ceded to 

 the United States by the Emperor of Russia by a treaty concluded at 

 Washington on the thirtieth day of March, Anno Domini eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty-seven, so far as the same may be aiDplicable thereto." 

 (15 U. S. Statutes 240.) The sixth section in terms prohibits the killing 

 of fur-seals within the limits of said territory or in the waters thereof, and 

 further iDrovides that all vessels found engaged in violatien of the said 

 act shall be forfeited. The first section above quoted is without change 

 ot phraseology incorporated into the Revised Statutes, but the sixth 

 section, which is section 1956 of the Revised Statutes, is therein changed 

 so as to refer to Alaska Territory and the waters thereof by substitu- 

 tion of the name "Alaska" for the word "said" preceding the word 

 " territory." 



For about one century preceding the year 1885 the validity of the 

 laws of Russia and of the United States resi)ectively, for the preserva- 

 tion of fur-seals in Bering Sea, remained unchallenged. And it is a 

 matter of common knowledge that since the year 1885 instances of 

 poaching by sealing vessels in Bering Sea have been greatly multiplied, 

 and that there has been on the part of officers of the United States 

 charged with the duty of enforcing the above statutes a corresponding 

 increase of efforts to j)revent such depredations. A large number of 

 arrests and seizures were made between 1885 and 1889 on the assump- 

 tion that said laws were effective and applicable throughout the entire 

 extent of the territory and waters including the portion of Bering Sea 

 within the boundaries of the territory and dominion ceded by the Em- 

 peror of Russia. From said arrests and seizures and the consequent 

 l)rosecutions questions arose as to the proper construction or interpre- 

 tation of section 1956, and as to tlie extent of our national jurisdiction 

 over Bering Sea. Thereupon, on March 2, 1889, Congress passed an act 

 giving a legislative construction to said section, declaring it to include 

 and be applicable to all the dominion of the United States in the waters 

 of Bering Sea (25 U. S. Statutes, p. 1009, Sec. 3). Effect must be 



