322 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



times. As a raw commodity they sold for an average of 8-, 500, 000 at 

 the annual London trade sales, and the Pribi lot' quota yielded the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States in revenue more than the $7,200,000 

 originally paid for the entire Territory of Alaska. The value of raw 

 seal skins is now represented by about $15 for skins taken at sea and 

 $30 for Pribilof skins. At the present revenue rate, if it were now 

 possible to take from the Pribilof Islands the former yearly quota, the 

 Government income would be nearly $1,000,000 annually. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SEAL-SKIN INDUSTRY. 



The seal-skin industry is of no slight importance, and its proportions 

 are but roughly indicated by the lirst profit on the raw skins. These 

 peltries must be gathered in remote regions; they form part ot the 

 transportation business of railroad and steamship lines; coopers must 

 make casks for their shipment; they must pass through the hands of 

 many laborers before they reach the 40 buyers in London who purchase 

 them, and the 2,000 skilled artisans who convert them into fabrics 

 suited to the use of trade; and when all this is done there must still be 

 stores maintained and clerks employed in order that they may find 

 their way to the wealthy consumers. The labor incident to the taking, 

 transporting, manipulating, and disposing of these peltries demands 

 the employment of thousands of persons each year, and when we recall 

 the prices paid for these skins when converted into the garments dic- 

 tated by fashion, it will readily be seen that it is an industry the ulti- 

 mate value of which is represented by millions of dollars annually. 

 Above all it is a peculiarly worthy industry, in that it gives occupation 

 to many, while the profits come from the purses of those best able to 

 pay them. 



CAUSE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



Some ten years ago there was put in operation on the American side 

 of the Pacific Ocean an agency of destruction, the growth of which, if 

 uninterrupted, promised to prove as effective as did the sailors' clubs 

 upon the southern resorts. Its promise has been generously kept, and 

 from its deadly though partially controlled effects the rookeries are 

 now suffering. That agency was pelagic sealing, or the taking of seals 

 at sea by means of weapons. The source of the injury is the indis- 

 criminate killing. Whether this is practiced on land, as in the south, 

 or at sea, as in the north, the outcome is the same. No animal which 

 produces but a single offspring each year can long survive an attack 

 which involves the death of the producing class, the females. I am 

 aware that there is another side to this question, and that two great 

 nations point each a finger at the other and say: "You did it." The 

 subject-matter of that contention is only germane to such a paper as 

 this in so far as it touches upon the career of the seal, and only to that 

 extent will it be referred to. 



England and Canada hold the theory (which, in justice to them, 

 should be stated) that the decline of the northern rookeries was due to 

 excessive killing on the islands, pelagic sealing being a factor of only 

 secondary importance. If this theory meant that after pelagic sealing 

 had made serious inroads upon the seal herds it was excessive killing 

 to continue taking the annual quota of 100,000 skins, it would be a 

 sound one, and the United States would be culpable to that extent, 

 but England and Canada would not accept this limitation ; they want 

 it to account for much more. They fail, however, to sustain their 



