INVESTIGATION OP THE PUR- SEAL INDUSTRY OP ALASKA. 101 



THE ASSERTION. 



[Report of Special Treasury Agent Lembkey, in charge of seal islands of Alaska, to Secretary of the 



Treasury, August, 1901.] 



The lessees during the season of 1901 took skins ranging from a maximum of 10 

 pounds to a minimum of 5 pounds. Previous to 1900 the lowest limit of weight was 

 6 pounds: but a 5-pound limit was established that year, and during the past season 

 as many 5-pound skins as could be found were taken . (Fur Trade Review, New York, 

 Sept. 1, 1901, p. 452.) 



Who ordered that " 5-pound limit ? " Who gave the lessees author- 

 ity to "establish" that limit in open violation ot the specific order 

 not to do it, dated May 14, 1896 ? 



Why, the seal contractors did; they needed no "authority;" they 

 just used the "order" of the "United States chief special agent, 

 J. Stanley Brown," who, as their own tool in 1894 (also to date), and 

 who, with the consent of their other tools in public service, "estab- 

 lished" this illegal and improper killing. 



All through these official journals of the United States agent's 

 office at St. Paul Island, from 1896 to 1901, there is not one word 

 written which even hints at a "5-pound limit" being "established" 

 in 1900; not a fine from the Secretary of the Treasury which alters 

 or amends his order of May 14, 1896; and, up to 1904, these agents 

 of the Government swore to the House Committee on Expenditures in 

 the Department of Commerce and Labor that no rule or regulation 

 of the department had ever been made against their "killing year- 

 lings and seals whose skins weigh less than 6 pounds." 



But, this order against the killing of "yearlings and seals having 

 skins weighing less than 6 pounds" has been in effect ever since May 

 14, 1896, and has been annually violated by the lessees ever since 

 that date up to May 1, 1904, when the Hitchcock rules were published 

 to gain the same end, in ignorance of the fact that they had been 

 ordered by the department years ago, and had been suppressed and 

 violated by the lessees and the United States agents up to that date. 



The status of J. Stanley Brown invoked as a defender of the policy 

 of the Bureau of Fisheries, his part, first, as an agent of the Gov- 

 ernment, in ] 892-93, and his action in that office, before he entered 

 the service of the seal contractors, is well set out as follows: 



The officialism of the Bureau of Fisheries, when up before the 

 House committee, and testifying as to conduct of the work of kill- 

 ing seals by the lessees under its direction, had the following to say 

 of one of their "scientific" supporters. They introduced him to the 

 committee as follows (Hearing No. 10, p. 519): 



Dr. Evermann. Within the last 25 years nearly a score of the most distinguished 

 naturalists not only of this country, but of Great Britain, Canada, and Japan have 

 visited our seal islands for the specific purpose of studying the habits of the fur seals 

 and the problems connected with the proper management of the herd. Among these 

 gentlemen I may mention the following: 



Mr. Joseph Stanley Brown, of New York, spent the seasons of 1891, 1892, 1894, 

 1895, 1896, 1897, and 1899 on the seal islands, where, as naturalist and keen business 

 man, he made very thorough study and investigations not only of the habits of the 

 seals, but very valuable study of the economic questions involved. 



Why was Stanley Brown never pioduced by the Bureau. Why 

 has he never been in evidence? Good reasons, and they are found 

 written upon the official journals of the United States Treasury 

 agent's office at the village St. Paul Island, to wit (p. 2): 



St. Paul Island, Thursday, June 9, 1892. — Mr. J. Stanley Brown arrived and took 

 the place of Maj. Williams, as the United States agent in charge of the seal islands. 



