STATEMENT SUBMITTED IN RE THE FUR-SEAL HERD OF 



ALASKA. 



Me. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: I desire to 

 submit for your consideration a concise statement of facts, showing 

 the history and condition of the fur-seal herd of Alaska, and the con- 

 nection of the officers and stockholders of the North American 

 Commercial Co., as lessees, and the officials of the United States 

 Government and others therewith since 1890 to date. 



It is first in order to show how and why the fur-seal herd of 

 Alaska has been commercially destroyed and ruined as an asset of 

 value to the Government ever since 1890; I will lead by giving you a 

 brief but carefully studied statement of the reasons why this herd 

 has been reduced so as to be at the verge of complete extinction 

 when the act of August 24, 1912, prevented that end. 



By order of this committee, a careful survey of the herd was made 

 by Mr. Gallagher and myself last July. We have given you in our 

 report of August 31 last an account in detail of its condition. 



The condition of this herd as we found it last July on its breeding 

 rookeries of St. Paul and St. George Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska, is 

 one of complete commercial ruin and of near extinction of virile 

 breeding male life. 



Happily the act of August 24, 1912, prevents any repetition of the 

 deadly killing of young male seals for the next five years on the islands, 

 and makes it unnecessary to call upon Congress for any further 

 legislation in the premises until the lapse of this close time thus 

 provided for. 



It now becomes in order to clearly show how and why this herd 

 of 4,700,000 seals in 1874 has been so managed by our own agents 

 as to bring it to the pitiful limit of less than 1,500 breeding* bulls in 

 1913, as contrasted with 90,000 in 1874— with less than 30,000 non- 

 breeding seals — yearlings and males, 2, 3, 4, 5, and up to 6 years 

 old, against 1,250,000 of them in 1874, and less than 80,000 breeding 

 cows as against 1,633,000 of them in 1874. 



It is an easy exhibition of cause which I am to give you, as follows: 



I. The fur seal by its law of life breeds but once a year, and then 

 during one short period of that year only, viz, between July 4 and 25. 



II. This makes its •order of life entirely different from cattle, sheep, 

 horses, and swine, with which it has been erroneously contrasted by 

 ignorant or scheming " naturalists," who have at great length 

 declared it to be similar, when in fact it is utterly and irreconcilably 

 different. 



III. That two weeks of the year (between July 4-25) in which all 

 of the cows land, give birth to their young (a single pup), and are 

 impregnated for another 12 months of gestation, is now admitted to 

 be the "height of the season" by every observer who has had several 

 seasons of personal study of the question on the rookeries. A few 



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