THE GAME BREEDER 



51 



tective measure have now been attained, 

 the seal herd being past the danger 

 point. 



(3) The law guards almost wholly 

 against practices which may have been 

 possible under the leasing system, but 

 which can not occur under full Govern- 

 ment management. 



(4) The law is a rigid measure im- 

 posing fixed restrictions on the manage- 

 ment of living animals subject to natural 

 vicissitudes, whereas in the nature of 

 the case reasonable elasticity is required 

 to meet conditions as they arise. 



(5) Under the law, no one has discre- 

 tion to permit the killing of seals in 

 emergencies or exceptional circumstances 

 to prevent the spread of disease, to 

 avoid suffering, to provide material for 

 scientific study, or to obtain specimens 

 for museums and other educational in- 

 stitutions. 



(6) By provision for the annual sale 

 of skins, the law makes it difficult to 

 regulate the time of the sale to market 

 conditions. Moreover, a small output of 

 skins during the suspension of commer- 

 cial sealing may cause the demand for 

 them to diminish, and a sudden large 

 supply upon the resumption of sealing 

 is likely to meet with reduced prices. 



(7) The blue fox industry, capable of 

 yielding $50,000 or more per annum, is 

 reduced to small proportions through 

 lack of seal meat for food. 



(8) The continued suspension of seal- 



ing and the subsequent reserves pro- 

 vided by law will create a large excess of 

 males, and failure to take and market 

 their skins at the proper time will cause 

 an estimated minimum loss of $2,700,000. 

 • (9) A part of this loss falls upon 

 Great Britain and Japan, to each of 

 which we are by treaty bound to deliver 

 15 per cent, of the annual take under 

 commercial sealing. 



(10) The suspension of sealing pre- 

 vents the immediate determination of 

 the proportion of seals which naturally 

 survive the killable age, a most vexed 

 and vital matter, which must be settled 

 before any explicit regulations based on 

 sound principles can be formulated. 



(11) The development of general 

 efficiency for the future management of 

 a very large and profitable business, the 

 training of both white and native em- 

 ployees, the installation of modern 

 methods, and the numerous preparations 

 necessary for adaptation to new condi- 

 tions are largely dependent upon the re- 

 sumption of active sealing at the earliest 

 possible date. 



(12) The law now offers 'no compen- 

 sations for its many disadvantages. It 

 has served a purpose as a remedy for a 

 shortage of male life, but though a 

 shortage existed when the law was en- 

 acted it does not now and will not in the 

 future, whether the law be in effect or 

 not. 



THE DEER TROUBLE. 



By Warren R. Leach 



With reference to your letter and en- 

 closing one from Mr. John Reinhart on 

 the disease which appeared among his 

 deer, I will say that this disease has ap- 

 peared at intervals among the various 

 herds of deer and other ruminants all 

 over the United States for the past 

 twenty-five years. At the time I had 

 my first experience with it among my 

 milk cows and a local veterinary whose 

 sole ability lay in practical experience 

 alone stated that it seemed to be general 



in our county at that time. Cows en- 

 tirely dried up in their milk in two days' 

 time and after treatment they gradually 

 came to it again in a week or ten days. 

 On examination their mouths, gums and 

 throats were found to be inflamed and in 

 very sore and angry-looking condition. 

 The animals could. not eat, though they 

 tried to do so. I have never had this 

 appear among my big game, but last 

 year a gentleman in Alabama wrote me 

 that his deer were affected in this same 



