SEIZURES OF 1889. 201 



the recoo-iiitioii of a fact now hold beyond denial or doubt that the 

 taking of seals in the open sea rapidly leads to their extinction. Tliis 

 is not only the well-known oi)inion of experts, both British and Amer- 

 ican, based upon prolonged observation and investigation, but the fact 

 had also been demonstrated in a wide sense by the well-nigh total de- 

 struction of all seal flsheries excex)t the one in the Behring Sea, which 

 the Government of the United States is now striving to preserve, not 

 altogether for the use of the American people but for the use of the 

 world at large. 



The killing of seals in the opea sea involves the destruction of the 

 female in common with the male. The slaughter of the female seal is 

 reckoned as an immediate loss of three seals, besides the future loss of 

 the whole number which the bearing seal may produce iu the successive 

 years of life. The destruction which results from killing seals in the 

 open sea proceeds, therefore, by a ratio which constantly and rapidly 

 increases, and insures the total extermination of the species within a 

 very brief period. It has thus become known that the only proper time 

 for the slaughter of seals is at the season when they betake themselves 

 to the laud, because the land is the only place where the necessary dis- 

 crimination can be made as to the age and sex of the seal. It would 

 seem, then, by fair reasoning, that nations not x)ossessing the territory 

 upon which seals can increase their numbers by natural growth, and 

 thus afford an annual supply of skins for the use of mankind, should 

 refrain from the slaughter in open sea where the destruction of the 

 species is sure and swift- 

 After the acquisition of Alaska the Government of the United States, 

 through competent agents workiug under the direction of the best ex- 

 perts, gave careful attention to the improvemcMit of the seal flsheries. 

 Proceeding by a close obedience to the laws of nature, and rigidly liinit- 

 iug the number to be annually slaughtered, the Government succeeded 

 in increasing the total number of seals and adding correspondingly and 

 largely to the value of the fisheries. In the course of a few years of 

 intelligent and interesting experiment the number that could be safely 

 slaughtered was fixed at 100,000 annually. The Company to which the 

 administration of the flsheries was intrusted by a lease from this Gov- 

 ernment has jiaid a rental of !ii<50,000 per annum, and in addition thereto 

 $2.02^ ])QY skin for the total number taken. The skins were regularly 

 transported to London to be dressed and prepared for the markets of 

 the world, and the business had grown so large that the earnings of 

 English laborers, since Alaska was transferred to the United States, 

 amount in the aggregate to more than $12,000,000. 



The entire business was then conducted peacefully, lawfully, and 

 profitably — profital)ly to the United States for the rental was yielding 

 a moderate interest on the large sum which this Government had paid 

 for Alaska, including the rights now at issue; profitably to the Alaskan 

 Coinx^any, which, under governmental direction and restriction, had 

 given unwearied pains to the care and development of the fisheries; 

 ]>rofitably to the Aleuts, who were receiving a fair pecuniary reward 

 for their labors, and were elevated from semisavagery to civilization 

 and to the enjoyment of schools and churches provided for their benefit 

 by the Govermnent of the Unite<l States; and, last of all, profitably to 

 a large body of English laborers who had constant emi^loyment and re- 

 ceived good wages. 



This, in brief, was the condition of the Alaska fur-seal fisheries down 

 to the year 1880. The luecedeiits, customs, and rights had been estab- 

 lished and enjoyed, either by liussia or the United States, for nearly a 

 2G 



