60 INVESTIGATION" OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



was reduced to the very same commercial ruin by 1834 which we 

 now find our herd reduced to in 1913. 



(2) And that this ruin of 1834, and again in 1913, was caused by 

 the very same close killing annually of all the young male seals, and 

 yearlings that could be secured by the greedy Russian contractors, 

 and in turn by our lessees. 



(3) And that the Russians, to save and restore the herd, were com- 

 pelled to stop this excessive and improper killing in 1834, and suspend 

 any commercial killing on the islands for 10 years thereafter, or up to 

 1844-1846. 



(4) And that the experiment of annually taking 100,000 choice 

 young male seals, since 1870 up to 1890, by our lessees, as against the 

 habit of taking 60,000 annually by the Russian lessees, was a bad one; 

 and that this number of 100,000 " surplus male seals" was an exces- 

 sive and destructive killing, which has led to a complete elimination 

 of the breeding male life of the herd, as we see it to-day, and which 

 policy, if continued, will surely exterminate the species itself. 



dr. Jordan's recent attempt to shield the illegal and ruinous 

 killing on the seal islands by the lessees and government 

 agents since 1896 to date of december, 1912. * 



This anxiety to shield the lessees from any criticism or punishment 

 for this illegal work of killing young seals has been carried by Dr. 

 Jordan to the extreme limit of issuing through the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor, by the consent and approval of Secretary 

 Charles Nagel, a statement, on December 20, 1912, entitled " Eco- 

 nomic Circular No. 4," with this preface, as follows, by Mr. Nagel: 



TRUTH ABOUT THE FUR SEALS OP THE PRIBILOP ISLANDS. 



f D3partm?nt of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Fisheries. Economic Circular No. 4, issued Dec. 20, 



1912.] 



A treaty was entered into July 7, 1911, by the United States, Great Britain, Japan, 

 and Russia, intended to prohibit pelagic sealing. In August, 1912, an act to give 

 full effect to the treaty was passed by Congress. 



In view of these facts and of recent discussion as to the best method of management 

 of the fur-seal herd, the department determined to have a careful examination and 

 study made during the season of 1912. Mr. George A. Clark, secretary of the Fur Seal 

 Commissions of 1896 and 1897, and special investigator on the seal islands in 1909, 

 was sent to the islands for that purpose. The following statement, drawn up by him 

 and Dr. David Starr Jordan, commissioner in charge of fur-seal investigations in 

 1896-97, is based primarily upon Mr. Clark's investigations of the past season. It 

 presents the important and essential facts so clearly that the department publishes 

 the statement for the information of all who are interested in the fur-seal question. 



Instead of telling Congress and the people to whom it was sent 

 under the frank of the department the "truth," it has told nothing 

 but untruth, and a few examples of the most flagrant and brazen 

 untruths will be submitted, as follows: 



STATEMENT OF DR. DAVID STARR JORDAN AND MR. GEORGE A. CLARK. 

 ******* 



The fur seal is a polygamous animal. Steller, its discoverer, found it in a state of 

 nature in families numbering 8, 15, 50, and even 120 females to 1 male (p. 1). 



This quotation of Steller, as above made by Jordan, who only saw 

 these animals during a few days in June, 1742, and then under cir- 



