FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 3 
Bering Sea, ‘‘indicated a pursuit of the American herd of seals during 
the closed season. .It was impossible to determine the nationality of 
the schooners. There is reason to believe, however, that foreigners 
are not the only offenders.” 
Mr. Cortelyou thinks there is something wrong but he can not say 
what, and, naturally, he can not. There is no way of finding out. 
The result in short is this: Our people under existing laws and regu- 
lations, Mr. Chairman, have killed the young male seal so close that 
during the last four years no young male that has passed the killing 
ground as a 2-year-old ever got through the next year as a 38-year-old 
that he was not killed in the third year as a 4-year-old. He has no 
more chance to run that gauntlet under existing conditions than you 
would have of walking down Pennsylvania avenue with men on each 
side of the street shooting at you from the Capitol to the Treasury, and 
escaping. Intwo years more, unless we let these young male seals grow 
up undisturbed, there will not be a propagator of the species on the 
breeding grounds. It becomes necessary at once to step in here and 
stop this work on the islands for a period of some years; it may be 
four; it may be five; it may be seven years; we can not tell how long. 
Mr. Tawney. Did Russia at one time stop the killing of seals on 
the Pribilof Islands? 
Mr. Exsiorr. Yes; it stopped the land killing. 
Mr. Tawney. I mean land killing. 
Mr. Exuiorr. Yes; the land killing on the Russian side—— 
Mr. Tawney. In what year? 
Mr. Exriorr. From 1817 to 1834 they ran out. Then they stopped 
it entirely in 1834; there was no such industry as pelagic sealing 
in sight or even known of then. They were killing as our people are, 
and allowing no choice young inales to grow up and get on the breed- 
ing grounds. 
Mr. Tawney. How long did they prohibit the killing? 
Mr. Extrotr. They held it up about twelve years. 
Mr. Tawney. And in that time to what extent did the herd increase? 
Mr. Extiorr. In twelve years they were killing from 30,000 to 
40,000. In fifteen years they raised it to 50,000, and when we took 
the islands from Russia—there were 4,500,000 seals there—they were 
then killing between 45,000 and 60,000 young male seals annually. 
Mr. Hiti. What is the use of suspending the killing of these males 
if you are going to allow pelagic sealing to continue? . 
Mr. Exxtiott. We want to save the fur-seal species itself. If wedo 
not stop this close slaughter of young male seals we can not save the 
species. We want to save the life itself; we must save these young 
males from our own hands or lose the life itself, long before the female 
life goes out. ; ; 
Mr. Tawney. Did not the last Congress, or the House at least, pass 
a bill intending to give to the President of the United States authority 
to reopen negotiations with Great Britain for the purpose of adopting 
new regulations in regard to pelagic. sealing? I know that bill did 
not pass the Senate in the form it passed the House, but is it not a 
fact that the sundry civil bill gave to the President of the United 
States authority to open these negotiations for that purpose 
Mr. Extrott. The President has authority under the Paris treaty to 
opt it every five years. This gave him the power. But the minute 
the Secretary of State attempted to use that power the chairman of the 
