58 INVESTIGATION OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OP ALASKA. 



" Senator Nelson. What was the age of seals killed last year? 



"Mr. Elliott. They were mostly yearlings. 



"Senator Nelson. What is the proper age to kill them? 



"Mr. Elliott. They should not be killed under 2 years of age. 



" Senator Nelson. And most of those killed last year were yearlings? 



"Mr. Elliott. Indisputably so. It is all a matter of evidence. 



"Senator Shively. And when the Russian Government again allowed seal killing 

 they put strict limitations on the land killing? 



"Mr. Elliott. They had autocratic power, but their experience taught them to 

 put that limitation on them. 



" Senator Shively. But they did 



"Mr. Elliott. Yes, they did; and they so preserved the birth rate by allowing the 

 necessary number of males to keep up the herd . 



"The Chairman. You may go ahead with your statement. Gov. Clark." 



In closing this topic, it is in order to submit an exhibit of. the facts 

 which show us the cause of that commercial ruin of our fur-seal herd 

 which we now observe on the Pribilof Islands. 



If it were not for these records elaborately and systematically 

 made on those desolate hauling grounds, which Elliott published in 

 1874 and 1890, it would be fairly impossible to get an adequate idea 

 of what an immense herd of fur seals was in existence when we took 

 possession of Alaska in 1867. 



Then, when that idea is grasped, and it is made clear that ever 

 since 1857, up to the hour of 1867 when the herd became ours, this 

 wild life had remained at about a steady annual number of 4,700,000 

 seals of all classes, we ask: What have we done to reduce it, so by 

 this year of 1913 all that we find surviving of it are only 190,555 seals 

 of all classes ? 



Why did we lose this herd, when the Russians easily kept it from 

 1857 to 1867 in that fine form and number? 



The answer is made easy in the light of the following facts : 



I. It is a fact of indisputable record that the Russians never killed 

 or disturbed the female seals on the rookeries of St. Paul and St. 

 George Islands from start to finish of their possession of them. 



II. It is a fact of indisputable record that from 1786-87 up to 

 1800 the Russians annually took from 120,000 to 60,000 young male 

 and j^earling seals from these hauling grounds, and during all that 

 time never took any seals at sea nor were these seals taken at sea 

 by any other people, save the few annually secured by the North- 

 west coast Indians. 



III. It is a fact of indisputable record that the Russians, beginning 

 in 1S00 with an annual catch of 40,000 young male seals and year- 

 lings, by 1817 had the greatest difficulty in getting that number then, 

 and notes of protest against the killing on the islands were sent to 

 Sitka by the caretaker, Kazean Shaishnikov, of St. Paul Island, 

 urging the governor of the R. A. Co. to rest the seals from killing 

 for a term of years. Xo pelagic sealing was known to the Russians 

 during this period of any kind. 



IV. It is a fact of indisputable record that while the protest of 

 Shaishnikov was noticed favorably by the governor, yet the. direc- 

 tors of the R. A. Co. at St. Petersburg did not consent; that they 

 renewed their orders to kill, and sent one of their number, Gen. 

 Yanovsky, out from St. Petersburg in 1818 to the seal islands, 

 charged with the business of examining into the cause of this loss of 

 surplus male life on the islands. 



