June IS, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



903 



1914 found them in the unsatisfactory condi- 

 tion which Mr. Jones emphasizes, the season 

 was certainly an exceptional one. For this 

 there was a very simple reason. 



At the close of the season of 1912 the effi- 

 cient and long-experienced representatives, 

 four in number, who had had charge of the 

 affairs of the government and natives for pe- 

 riods ranging from ten to fifteen years each, 

 were ruthlessly displaced. They were under 

 civil service protection but their discharge was 

 effected by the simple expedient of omitting 

 their salaries from the appropriation bills. In 

 their places were substituted two underpaid 

 caretakers, one for each island. It was osten- 

 sibly a matter of economy. Congress had just 

 enacted a law which suspended land sealing for 

 five years. There was no need to continue the 

 full force of expensive agents. The sealing 

 plant and natives could get on by themselves 

 for a time. Such was the argument. No re- 

 sult other than demoralization of the service 

 could have been expected. Mr. Jones himself 

 admits the cause of the trouble by recommend- 

 ing the appointment of a superintendent and 

 assistant superintendent for each island at 

 salaries commensurate with the need of good 

 men, these officers to replace the present care- 

 takers. This is in effect a recommendation to 

 restore the conditions of 1912 and prior to that 

 time. It will be well if the government heeds 

 this suggestion. Even then it will sorely miss 

 the mature experience and capacity of the 

 agents it turned off. 



Other criticisms made by Mr. Jones, regard- 

 ing inefficiency of schools, lack of occupation 

 for the natives, delay in handling cargo, and 

 the like, are referable to the same cause. The 

 government weakened its island force and is 

 suffering the inevitable consequences. Given 

 an efficient management and the " deplorable " 

 conditions will quickly disappear. These con- 

 ditions have not, as Mr. Jones states, " existed 

 on these islands for years." The men he found 

 occasion to dismiss had been in charge hut 

 one season. 



Mr. Jones's discussion does not touch the 

 real problem of the Pribilof Islands at all. 

 This has to do with the operation of the fur- 

 seal law of 1912 which suspended land sealing. 



As noted, this gave excuse for the dismissal 

 of the responsible agents. It deprived the 

 natives of their regular occupation and means 

 of livelihood, making them the dependent 

 wards of the government. Mr. Jones in a 

 speech to the natives on St. Paul Island, which 

 he includes in his report, calls their attention 

 to the fact that they were receiving from the 

 government supplies to the value of three hun- 

 dred dollars a year for four days' actual labor. 

 Idleness leads to viciousness and fosters all of 

 the unsatisfactory conditions enumerated. 



Mr. Jones does not discuss the fur-seal situa- 

 tion, because this matter was in the hands of 

 a scientific commission. He passes it over in 

 silence. At least twelve thousand killable fur 

 seals, with skins worth approximately fifty 

 dollars each, went to waste on the hauling 

 grounds of the Pribilof Islands in the season 

 of 1914 under Mr. Jones's very eyes. It was a 

 striking thing and deserved notice in his re- 

 port, especially since the report of the scien- 

 tific commission has apparently not been pub- 

 lished. In comparison with this great loss 

 which the government sustained on the fur 

 seal islands in the summer of 1914, the matters 

 of which Mr. Jones does treat pale into insig- 

 nificance. 



The blue foxes, however, are touched upon 

 by Mr. Jones. These are an important, if 

 subordinate, element in the government's fur 

 industry. The outlook for these animals on 

 St. Paul Island is said to be " bright." On St. 

 George Island, " owing to some fault in feed- 

 ing," it was not so good, but new breeders were 

 to be brought over from St. Paul to take the 

 place of those which died. The advisability of 

 selling foxes " on bids " to those wishing to 

 engage in fox farming is gravely discussed. 



This is all very interesting, but very super- 

 ficial and inadequate. The blue foxes were 

 left to starve, just the same. The herd has 

 grown to depend largely upon the carcasses of 

 the fur-seal killing grounds for its winter food. 

 Commercial killing had been cut off and the 

 killing fields were bare. The government had 

 taken no steps to replace this food. That was 

 why the foxes on St. George died. They died 

 also on St. Paul. The foxes are cannibalistic 

 under shortage of food, the strong eat the weak. 



