234 CARNIVORA PINNIPEDIA. 



said: ''In case we are compelled to abandon the hope 

 of making arrangements with other governments, to 

 put an end to the hideous cruelty now incident to pelagic 

 sealing, it will be a question for your serious considera- 

 tion how far we should continue to maintain and protect 

 the Seal herd on land, with the result of continuing such 

 a practice ; and whether it is not better to end the practice, 

 by exterminating the Seal herd ourselves, in the most 

 humane manner possible." 



There was considerable difference of opinion as 

 to the wisdom of the President's suggestion and a 

 joint resolution introduced in the Congress, in 1907, pro- 

 viding for the killing of all female Seals on v the islands 

 down to a minimum of not less than 10,000, and of all 

 male Seals down to a minimum of not less than 1,000, 

 was killed in the House Ways and Means Committee. 

 The opponents of the measure justly claimed that if such 

 reduction was desirable, the Secretary of Commerce and 

 Labor should be empowered to authorize the North 

 American Commercial Company to kill the Seals on the 

 islands down to the number designated, and thus accom- 

 plish the result aimed at without any violation of the 

 contract with the lessees, or expense to the government, 

 which on the contrary would receive the sum of $10.22 

 for every skin thus taken by the lessees. 



It was the judgment of the writer at that time that 

 there should be no change in the provisions then existing 

 for the killing of Sea Bears on the Pribilov Islands, unless 

 England, Russia and Japan would agree to a convention 

 to put a stop to pelagic sealing in northern w r aters ; and 

 that in the absence of such an agreement, the United 

 States government should, at all times, keep a sufficient 

 force on the islands, and in the Bering Sea, to compel 

 the observance of the regulations of the Tribunal of Paris, 

 and to prevent the possibility of a repetition of such a 

 raid as was made on the Island of St. Paul, in June, 1906, 

 by the crews of Japanese vessels. He claimed it was also 

 imperative for the better protection of American interests 

 in the Pribilov Islands, that the restrictions regarding the 

 landing of aliens and citizens upon the islands of St. Paul 

 and St. George should be made to apply to Sea Otter, 

 Walrus, and Sea Lion Islands as well, so that designing 



