62 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



discouraging one. Apparently nothing can be done to save 

 the animals from total extinction. Could the industry 

 be properly regulated, there is said to be no doubt that it 

 might flourish for all time. But the seals belong to no one 

 when outside the ordinary limits of marine jurisdiction, and 

 the high seas must be free to all. There is no legal remedy. 

 Possibly a balance will be found, and the yearly diminution 

 of seals will cause a corresponding falling off of hunters, 

 as pelagic operations become less renumerative. But the 

 chances are strongly in favor of a total destruction of the 

 herd within a few years, unless some immediate understand- 

 ing can be had with Great Britain to check the onslaught. 



The American company on the Pribyloff Islands took in 

 1899 and 1900, 16,812 and 22,470 skins respectively, the in- 

 crease in 1900 indicating a desire to gain as much as possible 

 from a dying industry. 



In consequence of the unequal laws governing their opera- 

 tions, American pelagic sealing vessels have been driven 

 from the field. Danger of further conflicts in Bering Sea is 

 lessened, but the unjust conditions which are imposed upon 

 the Americans remain as a sequel to the closing of a diplo- 

 matic incident which from first to last has been disastrous to 

 American interests. 



