CHAPTER XIX. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
Assuming that the fur-seal herd will ultimately receive that protection which it 
deserves, it is in order for us to make certain recommendations and suggestions which 
naturally grow out of our investigations of the past two seasons. 
INADEQUACY OF PAST KNOWLEDGE. 
We have had occasion in our present discussion to point out the faulty and 
misleading character of much of the information which has been published concerning 
the fur-seal herd. It is not necessary to recur to it here. We must, however, note 
the fact that between the first two investigations instituted by the Government a 
period of fifteen years elapsed, during which there was absolutely no provision made 
for obtaining information concerning the real condition of its breeding herd. 
THE AGENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT NOT INVESTIGATORS. 
After the investigations of Mr. Elliott, covering the period from 1872 to 1876, 
the herd was given over to untrained men, who were not prepared to conduct the 
investigations necessary to understand the nature of the trust they were set to guard. 
To make matters worse, these men were speedily replaced by others equally inex- 
perienced as soon as, by reason of practical contact with the affairs of the islands, 
they begau to acquire some knowledge of their duties. The result is that the herd 
passed unnoticed from its state of maximum prosperity into one of rapid decline, and 
was reduced to one-half its size before the Government or its agents were made aware 
of the fact. 
THE FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND THE CONDITION OF THE HERD. 
How little the situation was understood in 1889 by the officers of the Government 
may be seen from the fact that in that year the agent in charge of the islands 
recommended that the quota of killable seals be reduced from 100,000 to 60,000, when, 
as a matter of fact, the hauling grounds were only capable of furnishing 20,000, as 
the year 1890 disclosed. 
Through lack of experience in dealing with animals, or because influenced by the 
crude notions of the natives, the agents of the Government, early in the history of the 
herd, established the traditiou that the seals were virtually wild animals, which must 
be left severely alone if they were not to be driven away. Accordingly, they instituted 
stringent rules against the visitation and molestation of the breeding grounds. These 
rules were not only enforced against the natives and casual visitors, but for the most 
part they were so rigidly adhered to by the agents themselves that they too remained 
in practical ignorance of the real condition of the herd. 
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