74 FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 
Treasury, December 3, 1902, under head of ‘‘ Alaska: Seal herd,’”’ on page 30, the fol- 
lowing reaffirmation of the nonsense and mischief, to wit: 
“Capt. C. H. McLellan, commander of the revenue steamer Manning, reported in 
_ July last the finding of a seal rookery on Buldir Island, in the Aleutian group. The skin 
of a pup seal was taken from this rookery, and experts have pronounced it to be that 
of the fur seal. Jf is reasonuble to suppose that there are fur seals on other islands of the 
Aleutian chain. This fact will be determined by investigation during the next season. 
In the meantime it is suggested that a sufficient appropriation be made to protect the 
Buldir Island rookery, and any other that may be discovered hereafter, from the 
unlawful depredations of the seal hunters. If the herd can be left to develop, it may 
prove valuable; and it will be utterly destroyed by theseal hunters unless protected .’’— 
[Italics mine. ] 
This last season of 1903, Captain McLellan goes again to Buldir Island; he makes 
an energetic search for the new ‘‘seal rookery on Buldir Island.’’ Does he find it? 
No. Does the Secretary of the Treasury in his report for 1903, submitted to Congress 
last December, say anything about it? No. Why? Because Captain McLellan 
reported to the Department on October 7, 1903, that he ‘‘ did not find a trace of fur- 
seal life on Buldir Island,’ this year, where he ‘‘discovered”’ last year a new fur- 
seal rookery in July, as stated above by the Department in December, 1902. Nota 
word about this confirmation by McLellan himself, of the sense and truth of my 
denial, a year before, of the ‘‘ discovery.’’ 
It is this sort of information about the fur seals that has been filtered into the 
Treasury Department, without break, since 1890; and this shows clearly to the com- 
mittee why the condition of affairs on the seal islands has never been truly or 
adequately described in the reports of the Treasury Department since 1890. 
Henry W. Eniiort. 
Marca 9, 1904. 
Exuisir I. 
[Memorandum for Ways and Means Committee.] 
AN EPITOME OF THE REPORT OF 1903, SUBMITTED BY SECRETARY SHAW, TREASURY 
DEPARTMENT, DECEMBER 8, TO coNGRESS (Pp. 43) ON THE STATUS OF THE ALASKAN 
FUR-SEAL HERD. 
In this report Mr. Shaw makes only a brief mention of the subject. He itemizes 
the season’s catch on the islands, but he fails to give a single figure as to the pelagic 
catch for the season. This was big enough for him to notice. It was 27,000 skins 
against the land catch, which he cites as 19,292. 
He makes no recommendation that the land killing be checked, but repeats the 
pe untruth that the loss of life, which he notes this year, is due solely to pelagic 
sealing. 
He says that ‘‘only the surplus males are taken on the islands.’’ He should have 
said, and then said truly, that ‘‘ad/ the surplus males were taken on the islands’’ to 
get the catch which he reports. 
He makes no reference to the failure of hig agents to locate that ‘‘new fur-seal 
rookery’’ on Buldir. Island, which he asked Congress to protect with an appropria- 
tion last year. 
On the 1st of July the fur-seal business passed from the Treasury Department to 
the Department of Commerce and Labor. 
AN EPITOME OF SECRETARY CORTELYOU’S FIRST REPORT TO CONGRESS, ON DECEMBER 9, 
1903, WHICH RELATES TO THE FUR-SEAL HERD. (p. 43.) 
Mr. Cortelyou takes up the subject July 1, 1903, and has no opportunity to get 
any information officially, except as it is turned over to him by the old Treasury 
ema which has fogged this question up successfully in that Department since 
Therefore he makes no recommendation that the killing by the lessees be stopped 
on the islands; but he should have brought out the fact that the pelagic hunters 
have taken 27,000 skins from our herd in the season just ended. 
He brings out the agent’s report that the ‘‘breeding bulls have decreased 42 per 
cent, while the breeding cows have increased 9 per cent, in the last three years.”’ 
