ALASKA. 



47 



early as the year 1870, designed to protect the seal and other fur- 

 bearing animals in Bering Sea and the other possessions recently 

 acquired from Russia. At a later period, this statute, with others 

 that had been subsequently passed, was revised, I think in the 

 year 1873, when a general revision of the statutes of the United 

 States was made. They were revised and made more stringent. 

 It was made a criminal offense to kill any female seal; and the 

 taking of any seals at all, except in pursuance of the authority of 

 the United States and under such regulations as it might adopt, 

 was made a criminal offense. Any vessel engaged in the taking 

 of female seals in the waters of Alaska, according to the phrase 

 used in the statute, was made liable to seizure and confiscation; 

 and in this way, it was hoped and expected that the fur seals would 

 be preserved in the future as completely as they had been in the 

 past, and that this herd would continue to be still as productive as 

 before, and if possible, made more productive. That system thus 

 initiated by the United States in the year 1870 produced the 

 same result as had followed the regulations established by Russia. 

 The United States Government was enabled, even, to take a larger 

 draft than Russia had prior to that time, made upon the herd. 

 Russia had limited herself at an early period to the taking of 

 somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 seals annually, not solely, 

 perhaps, for the reason that no more could be safely taken from 

 the herd, but also for the reason, as I gather from the evidence, 

 that at that time, the demand for seals was not so great as to justify 

 the putting of a larger number of skins upon the market. 



At a later period of the occupation by Russia, her drafts were 

 increased. At the time when the occupation was transferred to 

 the United States, I think they amounted to somewhere between 

 50,000 and 70,000 annually. The United States, as I say, took 

 100,000 from the beginning, and continued to make those annual 

 drafts of 100,000 down to the year 1890. That is a period of 

 something like nineteen years. The taking of this number of 



