DAVIS ACT OF 1X97. 



And, again, do yon V^elieve that such a man would have asked Congress to pass such 

 an absurd act as is the Davis Act of 1897? Why, it has driven all of our pelagic hunt- 

 ers — vessels, capital, and men — f)ver to Victoria instantly. Theref they are to-day, 

 under the British flag, meaner and uglier, if aaylhing, than their Canadian brethren. 



Then, too, this absurd act contains a section which orders the confiscation and 

 destruction of every sealskin and sealskin garment that comes into our borders 

 unless it has a certificate of capture of the Priljilof Islands. Think a moment of the 

 folly of this stupid measure, which, instead of depreciating the value of the pelagic 

 skins, has actually caused them to advance 150 per cent in price within three years 

 after the said act became a law — December 17, 1897. This is the brilliant work of 

 Dr. Jordan, the "trained naturalist," and it fitly finishes his most mischievous work 

 on the seal islands; it is an act which has done nothing but annoy and disgust our own 

 people, and is a farce ab initis as a means of securing the least abatement of the pelagic 

 hunter's work or of destroying in the least the value of his skins. 



VII. Jordan tells you in this letter that "the pelagic hunter is bankrupt " — that this 

 man "is going out of business," "Bankrupt," indeed, ^^^ly, he took 27,000 skins 

 from the Alaskan herd this year just past, upon which he will clear a net profit of not 

 less than $300,000; he took 22,817 skins last year, or, rather, 1902, and cleaned up some 

 ),000 over all expenses, plus capital, interest included. 



Does this look like his "going out of business," and his "bankruptcy "? It may look 

 so to an ignoramus but not to you or to me. 



INDUSTRY PASSES INTO TRUST. 



Jordan also does not seem to know that this pelagic industry has passed into a "trust" 

 at Victoria, ever since 1898; that a single executive officer now directs that business far 

 better than it has ever been before — far more deadly for the seals, and keeps its counsel 

 so well that Jordan has not been equal to seeing or understanding the real situation. 

 "Going out of business," and "We are bankrupt," and many other similar bogus proc- 

 lamations have been annually given to the public by the pelagic hunting chief ever 

 since 1890. They fool no one by any means, unless he is a dull one. But it is true, 

 however, that there are a great many dull ones in official life, as well as in business 

 circles, and this pelagic hunter knows it — he has lauded Jordan, hard and heavy. 



In conclusion, I desire to say that it is a fortunate thing for the cause of truth and 

 the preservation of this seal life, now at stake, that four of the ablest and best Senators 

 of the United States made a personal visit to the seal islands of Alaska last summer. 

 They have seen the sin and shame of the condition of affairs thereon, and they have 

 avowed their desire to make an end of it. 



I trust that your stenographer who has followed me will not leave out one word of 

 this recitation which I now end. Publish it or not, just as you see fit; it is the truth. 

 I have an immense amount of detailed proof in my hands. 



Therefore, Mr. Editor, your readers can, in the light of the foregoing analysis of Dr. 

 Jordan's letter of January 12, 1904, clearly see him rushing in to prevent the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor from putting any check upon the work of the land butch- 

 ers such as I demanded. He not only scoffed at my argument, but slandered it, and 

 myself, to serve these butchers. What followed my answer, as above stated? 



Mr. H. F. Hitchcock, the chief clerk of the department, said to me that he was 

 greatly embarrassed by this difference of opinion between Dr. Jordan and myself; 

 that not only Jordan, "but Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, Mr. C. H. 

 Townsend, and all of the special agents in the islands (Lembkey, Clark*, Chichester, 

 and Judd), disagreed with me — that the "weight of evidence was against me"; but, 

 he added, "I am much inclined to believe that you are right." 



MATTER CARRIED TO CONGRESS. 



After looking over the ground carefully and feeling quite sure that the department 

 was bound up to Jordan in this improper and ruinous understanding for the good of 

 the public interests at stake, I carried this matter of checking that improper work of 

 the lessees from Mr. Hitchcock's office up to Congress, and had the question raised in 

 the Ways and Means Committee March 9 and 10, 1904. Mr. Hitchcock, representing 

 the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, then appeared and said to the committee that, 

 although the "weight of scientific evidence was against me," yet he would "order 

 that check desired." It was done May 1, 1904, and this order is known as the "Hitch- 

 cock rule." 



Under date of October 2, 1905, the seal island agents reported to the department 

 that these "Hitchcock rules" have been absolutely necessary to prevent the complete 

 extinction of the male breeding life on the seal island rookeries— that I was right, and 



