SEAL LIFE ON THE PKIBILOF ISLANDS. 329 



output of the Commander Islands has been reached, and probably will 

 have to be decreased in the future. There must be through these regu- 

 lations some curtailment of the contribution of the sealing schooners, 

 and the result of all this will be that seal skins will demand a higher 

 price. Should that price reach a figure which will compensate for the 

 obstacles which the regulations place in the way of the pelagic sealer, 

 then we will have the changed conditions referred to, and pelagic seal- 

 ing with its attendant evils will go on as before. If there is doubt in 

 . the minds of anyone upon this point it is only necessary to turn to the 

 history of the sea otter, which, though nearly exterminated, is as 

 eagerly sought after to-day as it ever was, simply because the ever- 

 increasing price the trade is willing to pay for its skin still compensates 

 for the small numbers now taken. There is no reason to believe that 

 the career of the fur seal will be different from that of the sea otter. 



Another possible source of changed conditions lies in the regulations 

 themselves, for they provide, as we have peen, for their own modifica- 

 tion every five years, and the pressure will come heaviest from the 

 pelagic sealers' side of the case. Indeed, the regulations require that 

 each pelagic sealer an interested party shall keep records which are 

 to be made available when the question of modifications of the regula- 

 tions arises. Now, while there never was a more fearless and coura- 

 geous set of men than these pelagic sealers, it will be something entirely 

 new in their history if their records do not appeal in the strongest pos- 

 sible terms for a Modification, of the regulations in their favor. 



The final question that arises in regard to these regulations is, will 

 they, as they now stand, ever be put in operation? The interested 

 powers have yet to agree upon measures for giving effect to them. Is 

 it likely that, when a neutral tribunal found the making of regulations 

 so tedious and difficult, the interested powers will be able without inter- 

 minable delay and pocsibly irreconcilable conflict to agree upon "con- 

 current measures" putting them in force 1 ? England has won on the 

 great law points of the case, but these regulations are objectionable to 

 Canada, for they bear somewhat heavily upon pelagic sealing; and these 

 " concurrent measures '" offer tempting fighting ground for securing their 

 modification in favor of the Dominion. 



Under the circumstances it is only to be expected that the arts of 

 diplomacy will be vigorously exercised in that direction. There is but 

 one course, however, for the United States to pursue permit no modi- 

 fications, stand squarely for the prompt carrying out of these regulations, 

 and let time reveal how much value they possess for protecting the seal 

 herd. England will champion no plan of greater protection; she has 

 all to gain and nothing to lose from delay, and it will require all the 

 energy and firmness of the Executive to put effectively in force the 

 regulations as adopted by the tribunal. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



After more than two years of close study of this question it is my 

 conviction that the only way in which the world can secure the largest 

 benefit commercially from the fur seal wherever found is by taking the 

 surplus immature males upon land under the most favorable conditions 

 suggested by experience; that securing seals by any other methods 

 introduces the fatal element of indiscrimination ; that the life of the herd 

 is jeopardized in proportion to the number of females killed; that the 

 injury inflicted on the northern herds by pelagic sealing increases from 

 January to August, grows greater as Bering Sea is approached, and 



