AN ALLEGED CAUSE OF DECREASE. 67 



In that 3^ear for the first time the weight of skins Admission as to 



period after de- 

 fell below the average of former years. 1 The cided decrease. 



report of the official in charge of the Islands 

 resulted in an immediate reduction of the quota 

 allowed by the Treasury Department at Wash- 

 ington, and in a curtailment of the time allowed 

 within which to take such quota. 2 Notwithstand- 

 ing the endeavors of the United States to meet 

 the new conditions created* by pelagic sealing 

 with restrictions upon slaughter, which were made 

 still more rigid in 1891, the herd continued to 

 become more and more depleted, and in 1892 a 

 decrease appears over 1891, though the con- 

 sensus of opinion of those on the Islands is that 

 in the last year the male seals have increased to 

 a limited extent. 3 



The United States, however, insist that the irrelevancy of 



such admission. 



failure, if any, to take into account the "new 

 factor" (viz, pelagic sealing) is wholly irrelevant 

 to the true issue, and they have presented testi- 

 mony in relation to the management on the 

 Islands for the purpose of showing, and which 

 shows, that such management could not, under 

 normal conditions, have caused a decrease in the 

 Pribilof seal herd. 



1 Max Heilbronner, 2>os( p. 369 and table facing. 

 Case of the United States, p. 153. 

 3 J. Stanley-Brown, post p. 385. 



