116 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



PELAGIC SEALING, CLOSE SEASON, ETC. 



That many honest and patriotic men have differed in their opinions 

 about the true cause of the destruction and threatened total extinction 

 of the Alaskan fur seal is not to be denied ; for, unfortunately, the rival 

 interests have been so many and so diverse, and the seal islands are so 

 far beyond the reach and ken of the public, that it has been very diffi- 

 cult to get at the plain truth of the matter as it really exists. Above 

 all the theories advanced, however, there are two facts which are most 

 intimately connected with the discussion, which never should be lost 

 sight of if we would understand the matter thoroughly. 



First. That from 1835, when the Russians first prohibited the further 

 killing of the female seals, to 1884, when the pelagic sealers became 

 numerous and powerful, the seal herds grew and flourished and the 

 rookeries expanded notwithstanding long drives and other barbarous 

 methods continued until the United States purchased Alaska; and that 

 from 1868 to 1886 an average annual killing of 100,000 young males was 

 made before a sign of decrease or diminution appeared on the islands. 



Second. In spite of all that has been said and reiterated against the 

 lessees' management of the islands and the methods pursued for so 

 many years in caring for the rookeries and the seals, in driving and 

 killing, and the waste of seal life resulting therefrom, it must be 

 admitted that under this same management (which has been the same, 

 practically for twenty-five years), the seals increased steadily from 1868 

 to 1884, or until the pelagic sealers appeared in force in Bering Sea. 



These are facts that have been proved beyond the possibility of a 

 doubt, and although interested or meddlesome parties may and often 

 do make wild charges and unreliable statements about bad manage- 

 ment, bad methods, and barbarity in the driving and killing of the seals, 

 there is not a shadow of truth in the stories, nor has any honest man 

 who ever lived on the seal islands ever said or thought of anything of 

 the sort. 



The word " monopoly " is often used for the purpose of bringing odium 

 on the seal questionN^hen facts are lacking, but the truth is that, despite 

 all the wicked and idle insinuations thrown out in that way, the leasing 

 of the seal islands to a responsible company was the best as well as the 

 most prudent thing the Government could have done under the circum- 

 stances, as the result showed before the pelagic sealer appeared to inter- 

 fere with the prosperity of the rookeries which had been fostered and 

 built up by the wise management of the lessees. 



As an answer to the fault-finder who proclaims the destruction of the 

 seals through the mismanagement of a monopoly, I will quote from the 

 island records the number of seals actually killed for their skins on 

 the islands during the twenty years' lease of the Alaska Commercial 

 Company, and also the number of skins which were rejected or lost 

 out of all that were killed. 



[Senate Ex. Doc. No. 107, Fifty-second Congress, second session, appendix.] 

 Total number of seals killed for their skins by the lessees from 1870 to 1889, both inclusive. 



S Paul 1,463,907 



St. George 318,120 



Total 1,782,027 



Total number of skins rejected from same. 



St. Paul 2,480 



St. George 628 



Total 3,108 



