Again, I forced my modus vivendi of 1891 through in spite of the secret opposi- 

 tion of Secretary Blaine and of the open opposition of the lessees and the Canadians 

 June 14. 1891. I Avas able to do this by the prompt ste])s taken by Sir Julian Paunce- 

 fott', and the pressure aroused public opinion here at home. 



Therefore, with this explanation, I plead guilty to Dr. Jordan's charge of being 

 ' " hostile to the lessees ' ' ; but is that charge not one of infinite credit to myself? Who, 

 save tliis dull man Jordan, fails to see this point? — that man Jordan, who has con- 

 stantly pleaded the cause of these seal butchers and has not voiced the sense of a 

 real naturalist since 1896 in behalf of the fur-seal life of Alaska— that man Jordan, 

 who, in this letter to you just read, calls me a "lobbyist," because I have gone and 

 now go where I should and must go to plead the necessity of checking up those butch- 

 er.-^ — on these islands — to the one and only source of power which was not under 

 the brief control of those land butchers in 1895, 1896, and 1897. 



III. Dr. Jordan sees no danger ahead, in his "opinion," from any excessive land 

 killing of >-oung male seals by the lessees; he would let this work proceed as usual, 

 but he would have it imder tlip direction of a "trained naturalist. " 



Just think of it. That wretched fiasco which he has made of his work on the islands 

 as a "trained naturalist" in 1896-97, he wants to renew on these islands in 1904. He 

 wants to supplement the "trampled pups," the uncinaria or "sand-worm scourge," 

 the '-successful abolition of pelagic sealing, by branding all the female seals," and 

 hfs ••perfect agreement" with his British associates; he wants to supplement this 

 riiliculous record of 1896-97 with a crowning finish in 1904; he wants to finish the life 

 Itself with the aid of another "trained naturalist" and another joint cc;nimissi<m. 



Let me tell you, my dear sir, that Dr. Jordan should not be permitted to indulge 

 an<'w and again his folly and ijjcompetence to grasp the cau.se and manage the details 

 of tills business. lie stands before you a self-confessed incompetent in the premises — 

 he has had his day in court — he should not be further indulged if ordinary care and 

 prudence is exercised by Congress and the Executive. 



IV. He says that this' fur-seal business should ])e "put in charge of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries," and "a trained naturalist over it" in turn, I deny it; you want a man 

 of good common sense, of fair education, and sterling integrity; such a man you want 

 as your agent on the seal islands; one who is known to be careful and thoughtful 

 in the ordinary walks of life and successful in its affairs. Such a man is so much 

 better than a man like Jordan that I can not well express in modest terms the length, 

 depth, and breadth of his superiority. 



V. Do not waste another hour with "trained naturalists" in this administration of 

 detail in fur-seal business, which is now in tlie secretary's office. Keep it here, 

 just as it is to-day; keep it here where good business sense can quickly reach and 

 control it. 



WORK THOROUGHLY DONE. 



The work of the "trained naturalist" has been done; it has been so thoroughly doiie 

 by me in 1872-1874. that no man up to this hour has been able to add one authentic 

 biological line to the published whole of my "Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska," 

 issued in 1881, by the Tenth Census, and the United States Fish Commission. Not a 

 single line of biological truth has Jordan and his job lot of naturalists been al)le to add 

 to my original story of my investigation into the life and habits of Alaskan fur seal; 

 then, too, other men than these naturalists of the Jordan party, have been hard at it 

 trying to discredit me ever since 1891, and all of them have failed. Witness. C. H. 

 Merriam, J. A. Allen, George M. Dawson, and F. W. True Not one of them has been 

 able to point to a flaw in my elaborated work of 1881, or add a single truthful line to it of 

 the least sense or value. 



But some of them have been unwise and foolish enough to deny my statements of 

 1890 as to the injurious and improper work of the lessees in land killing; that a large 



f)art of the loss to that fur-seal herd was due entirely to overdriving and excessive 

 and killing of the voung male seals by the lessees, this being done by them ever since 

 1872. 



Now, most all of these men know better but are silent in the shadow of Jordan; 

 even Stejneger, with his fair}- tale of 2 bulls being enough to serve 500 cows (which 

 Jordan so gravely quotes here to you with all of the pompous gravity and true 

 coarseness of ignorance j — even he can not find a trace to-day of either those ''2 bulls" 

 or "'500 cows."" which he so specifically describes on Copper Island in 1896. Good 

 reason — they are extinct. That ghost dance has ended forever over there. But 

 Jordan does not even know it at this late hour. 



VI. In conclusion I want to ask you frankly if you really believe that any man of 

 ordinary intelligence and prudence would have been puerile enough to have recom- 

 mended the branding of female fur seals as a means of surely putting an end to the 

 business of the pelagic hunter? 



