26 FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 
your argument would be that the herd would be exterminated in time 
by its own process? 
Mr. Fautxner. No; when they killed down to that point when there 
would only be a sufficient number of bulls for the cows the fighting 
would cease. These fights do not occur until the sexual desire causes 
the fighting propensities of the bulls to be aroused and the female is 
in heat. 
Myr. Cuark. In these fights they have it is a survival of the fittest? 
Mr. Faurkner. Yes; when it comes to the fighting it is a survival 
of the fittest. 
Mr. Winuiams, of Mississippi. That is the point exactly. 
Mr. Hiri. And it is the killing of the best seals. : 
Mr. Fautxner. No, sir; it is the killing of the inferior in age and 
strength. 
Mr. Hirz. But the best of that age. 
Mr. Fautxner. No; they will take all of that age within the quota 
they can get. It must be remembered that at no one time are all the 
seals of killable age on the islands; large numbers of the seals are in the 
sea. The 2-year-olds do not reach the driving grounds until perhaps 
in the middle of July. Under the conditions that are now imposed 
upon the lessees they do not allow a drive after the 20th of July. 
That is the recent. limitation. It was formerly the 10th of August. 
Gentlemen, I will not detain you by reading my authorities, but I will 
refer you to the books and pages relied on, so that you may read it if 
you desire. Iam going to give you the conclusions of some of the 
authorities. Part 1, The Fur Seals and Fur Seal Islands, by David 8. 
Jordan, page 185. Hesays: , 
Land killing is not now a factor in the decline of the herd, and has not been since 
the islands came into the possession of the United States. It has not caused injury 
to the breeding of the herd, either by undue reduction in the number of males or 
impairing their virility, or in any other way. 
Land killing has tended to increase the size of the breeding herd by the reduction 
of the number of adult bulls, and their consequent fighting, which results in the 
destruction of females and pups. 
This is the conclusion reached by Mr. Jordan after discussing the 
questions elaborately in his report. 
Here isa very important matter, gentlemen. Itis worthy of your at- 
tention. Lheconference of fur-seal experts, representing Great Britain, 
Canada, and the United States, which convened in the city of Wash- 
ington November 10,1897. The delegates were D'Arcy Wentworth 
Thompson, on the part of Great Britain; and on the part of Canada, 
Mr. James Melville Macoun; on the port of the United States, Hon. 
Charles Sumner Hamlin and David Starr Jordan. That was the com- 
mission representing Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, 
that made its report in 1898. They found certain facts to exist and 
principles controlling this subject that bear with great force upon the 
question before the committee. I desire to read several conclusions 
they reached. They decided that you can not count the seals by taking 
the number of feet they occupy upon the ground, but by counting the 
pups. In the seventh paragraph of the ‘Joint statement” they say 
(p. 242): a 
The count of pups is the most trustworthy measure of numerical variation in the 
herd. The counts of harems, and especially of cows present, are much inferior in 
value. The latter counts, however, point in the same direction. The harems on all 
the rookeries were counted in both seasons. 
