350 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



thereto Bering Sea should be closed to seal fishing pending the report 

 of the international com mission, was to secure protection for feanale 

 seals in the breeding area, as it was demonstrated by indisputable evi- 

 dence that the female leave their young on the Pribilof Islands, and 

 frequently are found in search of food and rest hundreds of miles at sea. 



Such a prohibition, it is suggested, would be of equal value in pro- 

 tecting the Eussian herd frequenting the Commander Islands, as well 

 as the herd frequenting the Pribilof Islands. 



The communication from the Russian charge* d'affaires is returned 

 herewith, in compliance with your request. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



S. WIKE, Acting Secretary. 



The SECRETARY OF STATE. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



Washington, January 22 j 1896. 



SIR: Inclosed please find memorandum left with me by the Russian 

 minister at this capital. 



I desire to ask whether there is any other objection to the proposed 

 remodeling of the convention with Russia of 1894 except the obvious 

 one of the inducements and advantages it would afford to Canadian 

 sealers. 



Could Great Britain's concurrence be secured? Would not an 

 arrangement like that proposed by the Russian minister be an advan- 

 tageous one for the United States? 

 Respectfully, yours, 



RICHARD OLNEY. 

 Hon. JOHN G. CARLISLE, 



Secretary of the Treasury. 



[Inclosure. Translation.] 



The fur-seal herds frequenting the Russian islands in Bering Sea and the Sea of 

 Okhotsk are threatened with complete extermination within a very short period. 

 Thoir situation has heen doubly had since the Paris arbitration recoguized the right 

 of America to prohibit maritime hunting within 60 miles of the islands belonging to 

 her, whereas the Russian herds are protected, only within 30 miles of their islands, 

 without taking into consideration the fact that the entire prohibition of hunting 

 during several months and the regulation of the weapons employed, also established 

 by the Paris arbitration, secure to America privileges of such importance that the 

 poachers prefer to direct their efforts against the Russian seals, which are massacred 

 in such numbers that the extinction of the race must infallibly result, and the more 

 so because the females, which regularly seek food for their young beyond the 30-mile 

 belt, are the most certain victims of the hunters who lie in wait for them on the high 

 seas. 



In view of the great injury resulting therefrom to the Imperial treasury; in view 

 of the necessity of preserving the fur-seal race, which constitutes the only resource of 

 the inhabitants of the above-mentioned islands, the Imperial Government, desirous 

 of remedying this state of affairs, thinks it its duty to represent to the United States 

 Government that it is urgent to extend the regulations established by the Paris arbi- 

 tration to all the waters of Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as to those of 

 the Pacific from one Continent to the other down to the thirty-fifth degree of north 

 latitude. 



Snch a provision would be equitable as regards Russia and advantageous to the 

 two powers, as their interests are absolutely identical in this question. 



The Imperial Government would be especially gratified if the time of the close 

 season could be made to begin one month sooner and to end one mouth later. 



