FISHERY QUESTIONS. 



FLORIDA. 



285 



western coast of North America, the difficulty 

 of preserving the seal-fisheries from destruc- 

 tion becomes greater. Schooners and steam- 

 ers from British Columbia hover around the 

 seal islands, and find ways of obtaining a share 

 in the profitable seal-trade that the American 

 company can not prevent. American vessels 

 also engage in the business, which may be the 

 main object of the trip, or may be pursued in 

 connection with fishing and walrus-hunting. 

 The seal-hunters have been accustomed to 

 shoot the seals in the waters adjacent to the 

 breeding-places, but this method of obtaining 

 them, though exceedingly destructive, would 

 not be profitable by itself, for only a small 

 proportion of the animals hit are killed in- 

 stantly and secured while floating on the wa- 

 ter. It was more advantageous to land on 

 the islands and shoot the seals on the rocks. 

 In 1876 the United States sent cruisers to put 

 a stop to such depredations, and since then a 

 more or less effective guard has been main- 

 tained against poachers on the islands. It 

 has been much more difficult to prevent an 

 illicit traffic in sealskins with the Indians, who 

 stalk and harpoon the seals on the islands, 

 and take the skins out to sea in their boats, 

 exchanging them for money or whisky with 

 the vessels engaged in the traffic. In order to 

 prevent the destructive practices that threat- 

 ened the extermination of the seals, the Treas- 

 ury Department in 1886 attempted to enforce 

 a doctrine that it had not previously asserted, 

 viz., that Behring Sea was a mare clausum, and 

 that the United States had jurisdiction over 

 one half of it. This right was specifically 

 granted in the treaty ceding Alaska to the 

 United States, yet in 1822, when Russia at- 

 tempted to claim sovereignty over the sea, the 

 United States, as well as Great Britain, raised 

 a strong protest against the doctrine that a 

 nation could claim territorial jurisdiction over 

 a sea having an entrance a thousand miles wide. 

 The commander of the revenue cutter " Cor- 

 win " was instructed to seize all sealers found 

 to the east of a line drawn from between the 

 Diomede Islands in Behring strait in a south- 

 westerly direction to a point equidistant from 

 Copper and Otter islands in the Aleutian 

 group. In 1888 the British schooners " Caro- 

 lina," " Onward," and " Thornton " were capt- 

 ured and taken to Sitka. A trial was held, the 

 vessels were condemned, the masters fined, 

 and the seal-skins on board confiscated and 

 sent to San Francisco. The vessels were not 

 taken within the three mile limit. Several 

 American schooners were captured and con- 

 fiscated. Judge Dawson told the captain of 

 the " Thornton," in sentencing him to a fine of 

 $500 and imprisonment, that it was little 

 better than piracy to go into the waters of an- 

 other nation and interfere with its industries 

 as he and the other prisoners were doing. The 

 British Government made a demand for the 

 release of the prisoners, and presented a claim 

 of about $160,000 for loss of property and 



damages for loss of time and probable profits, 

 and for illegal arrest and imprisonment. The 

 first demand for information was made on 

 September 21, and the claim for redress was 

 presented on Oct. 21, 1886. On Jan. 26, 1887, 

 by direction of the President, Attorney-Gen- 

 eral Garland sent a dispatch to the authorities 

 in Alaska ordering the unconditional release of 

 the imprisoned men, and the surrender of the 

 vessels and other property. The order was 

 not executed, and it was not till September 20 

 that a letter was received from the United 

 States Marshal at Sitka, explaining that the 

 telegram was supposed to be a fraudulent dis- 

 patch. On October 12 the Attorney-General 

 sent another telegram, ordering the vessels to 

 be released, which directions were repeated in 

 a letter dated October 15. Meanwhile, the 

 officials of the Treasury Department had not 

 revoked their instructions, but had sent out 

 the steamer "Rush" with the same orders, 

 which during the summer of 1887 seized the 

 British vessels "Dolphin," "Annie Beck," 

 " W. P. Say wood," "Grace," "Alfred Adams," 

 besides seven American sealers, at distances 

 of from thirty to seventy miles from land. 



FLORIDA. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Edward A. Perry, Democrat ; Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, Milton H. Mabry; Secretary of 

 State, John L. Crawford; Comptroller, Will- 

 iam D. Barnes; Treasurer, Edward S. Grill; 

 Attorney- General, Charles M. Cooper; Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, Albert J. Rus- 

 sell; Commissioner of Lands and Immigration, 

 Charles L. Mitchell ; Chief-Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court, George G. McWhorter, succeeded 

 by A. E. Maxwell ; Associate Justices, George 

 P. Raney and R. B. Van Valkenburgh. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature assembled 

 on April 5, and continued in session sixty days. 

 Being the first that had met since the adoption 

 of the new Constitution in 1886, it had impor- 

 tant work to perform in revising and enlarging 

 the laws to harmonize with or give effect to 

 that instrument. An unusually large amount 

 of legislation was secured, in spite of the fact 

 that much time was taken from the session by 

 a prolonged contest in the Democratic caucus 

 over the succession to United States Senator 

 0. W. Jones. Ex-Gov. Bloxham and Gov. Per- 

 ry were the leading candidates through nearly 

 100 ballots, when, upon their withdrawal, Sam- 

 uel Pasco, Speaker of the House, was chosen 

 as a compromise candidate. The Legislature 

 in joint session elected him Senator by a vote 

 of 84 to 17 for F. S. Goodrich, Republican. As 

 the term of Senator Jones expired in March, 

 before the meeting of the Legislature, the Gov- 

 ernor had previously appointed Gen. J. J. Fin- 

 ley to hold the office in the interim. 



The legislation adopted embraces a railroad 

 commission act, an act revising the entire meth- 

 od of assessing and collecting State taxes, a new 

 appointment of members of the Legislature ac- 

 cording to the census of 1885, and a State militia 



