MAKING THE FUR SEAL ABUNDANT 
dent when in 1890 a new corporation, 
the North American Commercial Com- 
pany, obtained the lease and entered on 
its 20-year contract under conditions 
that were much more favorable to the 
government: thus, the company paid an 
annual rental of $60,c00 and a tax of 
$10.62%4 on each skin; provided free 
dwellings, churches, schools, fuel, pro- 
visions, and medical attendance for the 
natives ; gave employment to the natives, 
and cared for the aged, widows, and or- 
phans. The annual quota of skins was 
placed at 60,000 for the first year, and 
the government retained the right to fix 
the quota in each subsequent year. 
The new company obtained less than 
half its quota in 1890, and from that 
time until the expiration of its lease was 
never able to secure more than a small 
percentage of its quota. This was owing 
to the decline of the herd and the result- 
ing scarcity of killable seals, to restric- 
tions imposed by diplomatic arrange- 
ments, and to the exercise of discretion- 
ary authority by the government agents. 
On the organization of the Department 
of Commerce and Labor, in 1903, the 
fur-seal service passed from the custody 
of the Treasury Department, and in 1909 
was placed under the immediate direc- 
tion of the Bureau of Fisheries. By act 
of Congress of April 21, 1910, the re- 
newal of a lease of the sealing privileges 
of the islands was made optional with 
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 
and in 1910 and 1911 the government 
exercised direct control over the taking 
and marketing of seal skins. This has 
resulted in great pecuniary advantage to 
the government; but of far greater im- 
portance is the placing of the seal herd 
for the first time in its history under 
continuous scientific observation and con- 
trol. 
For a century or more London has 
been the world’s market for raw seal 
skins, and the entire product of the north 
Pacific land and sea killing has there 
been disposed of. ‘The salted pelts are 
graded according to size and quality and 
sold at public auction in lots of about 
100. In 1910 the average price received 
11538 
for the 12,920 skins obtained by the gov- 
ernment on the seal islands was $33. 
London is also the world’s headquar- 
ters for the plucking, tanning, and dye- 
ing of seal skins; but London’s predomi- 
nance ceases there, for America is the 
world’s market for prepared seal skins, 
and 75 per cent of the annual output 
finds its way to our shores, after paying 
a duty of 20 per cent. 
THE SCOURGE OF PELAGIC SEALING 
Although the indiscriminate killing of 
seals in the sea had been going on from 
very early times, this business was not 
extensive, was conducted by natives 
using spears in their canoes, and had no 
appreciable effect on the herd. Even for 
a number of years after vessels were in- 
troduced, in 1872, no damage to the herd 
resulted, as the same primitive method 
of capture prevailed. But with the in- 
crease in the number of vessels engaged, 
white hunters became necessary for the 
manning of the vessels, and with them 
came the rifle and the shotgun. Then 
began the carnival of ruin, which has 
continued to the present time. In 1891 
the pelagic sealing fleet had grown to 
I15 vessels, with crews of 15 to 50 men. 
It was the practice of such vessels, 
with their crews scattered in small boats 
over a wide area, to intercept the migrat- 
ing herd off California or Oregon and 
follow it into Bering Sea, spearing or 
shooting every seal that was in reach, 
and then to cruise in Bering Sea in the 
vicinity of the islands and kill the seals 
on their way to and from their feeding 
grounds. 
Special inquiry made by the govern- 
ment showed that in different years from 
70 to over go per cent of the seals killed 
at sea, either on the northwest coast or 
in Bering Sea, were females. 
What pelagic hunting then meant to 
the seal herd when so large a fleet was 
engaged, and what it has meant recently 
when the fleet was larger in proportion 
to the number of seals, may be appre- 
ciated when it is stated (1) that for 
every seal killed and secured by the 
hunters not less than two seals were 
