312 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



The manner in which he finally reached Sir Julian and so learned 

 of the deceit of Blaine and was thus enabled to expose the jobbers 

 and stop the slaughter that season of 1891, as the secret permit of 

 April 1 1 ordered, is set forth by Elliott in terrible words of truth to 

 the rotten officials of the Bureau of Fisheries, thus: 



The Chairman. All right then. I suppose it is the sense of the committee that the 

 statement shall go in? 



Mr. Patton. I have^no objection. 



The Chairman. Then it is so ordered. 



Washington, May 12, 190S. 



Dear Col. Hay: I do not know why the inclosed is sent to me, except for my 

 sympathy with Elliott in the matter of the Alaskan seals. Nor do I know what to 

 do with it except to place it at your disposition to decide if there is wisdom in his 

 suggestion. 



Very faithfully yours, Kasson. 



(Given to me by Mr. Hay, in Department of State, June 20, 1903, 11.40 a. m. — 

 H. W. E.) 



Lakewood, Ohio, May 10, 190S. 



My Dear Mr. Kasson: In packing away a lot of papers to-day I came upon those 

 minutes of the interview which took place between Sir Julian and myself in April, 

 1891. You suggested that I put them into writing after I had recited them to you 

 in your residence, December 10, 1901. I inclose a copy of them. 



Reading them over, the thought occurs to me that the desperate condition of affairs 

 on the seal islands to-day warrants Sir Michael in doing exactly what Sir Julian did 

 in 1891. He can override the Canadians and agree upon a modus vivendi for 1904, 

 just as Sir Julian did for 1891. 



Sir Julian took this action solely on the strength of his belief in the truth of my 

 representation and report of 1890. Sir Michael can have not only all of this ground, 

 but the important additional data which I have placed in Mr. Hay's hands. 



I had to go as a stranger, personally, to Sir Julian in 1891, on account of Mr. Blaine's 

 "infirmity" of purpose. Mr. Hay can go to Sir Michael with vastly greater effect 

 and tact than I went to Sir Julian. He can take these authentic records, illustrations, 

 facts, and figures which I have given him recently and lay them with great emphasis 

 before the British ambassador. 



Something must be done this summer and before Congress meets. Otherwise, if 

 naught comes from the State Department, the pending seal bill, now lying in the 

 Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be passed in short order, as a measure 

 absolutely necessary to save the fur seal species of Alaska from complete extinction. 



It would be a great feather in Mr. Hay's cap, and also for that of Sir Michael, if such 

 a modus for 1904 was agreed upon as was that of 1891. 



I have never said a word to Mr. Hay about this particular matter and the securing 

 in 1891 of that modus vivendi which I urged in my report of 1890. I do not know 

 whether I ought to. If you think it proper and will serve as a useful side light, I 

 venture to ask that you see Mr. Hay and talk it over with him, for, really, the more I 

 think of it the more I am inclined to believe that Sir Michael can easily do again 

 what his distinguished predecessor did in the premises, and for which action he was 

 highly rewarded by his Government, in spite of tl e bitter opposition of tl e Canadians. 



With every regard for you, 



I am, faithfully, your friend, Henry W. Elliott. 



Hon. John A. Kasson, Washington, D. C. 



[Inclosure.f 



Washington, D. C, December 10, 1901. 

 During a call made upon Mr. John A. Kasson this morning and for the purpose of 

 understanding fully what the High Joint Commission did about the fur seal question 

 before it was strangled by the boundary dispute February 22, 1899, Mr. Kasson said 

 to me that I ought to reduce to writing that account which I had given him of the 

 adoption of my modus vivendi of 1891-1893; this account to be sealed and not broken 

 during the life of the British ambassador, the other party, James G. Blaine, being 

 d<M\d. 



