INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 363 



Dr. Townsend. Yes. 



Mr. Elliott. Is that letter under your 

 eye so I do not need to read it? 



Dr. Townsend. Yes; I have read this 

 letter here. sir. What do you wish to 

 ask me in connection with it? 



Mr. Elliott. Who called on you, who 

 used their influence with you, before 

 you went to Mr. Lucas, and asked him to 

 write letters to Members of Congress 

 opposing the Dixon resolution, which 

 prevented the renewal of the lease? 

 Who asked you to go to Mr. Lucas? 



Dr. Townsend. I do not remember 

 that anybody asked me to go to Mr. 

 Lucas. (Hearing No. 12, pp. 775, 776, 

 May 26, 1912.) 



Townsend is engaged in the 

 business of " preventing well- 

 meaning Congressmen from being 

 deceived," etc. 



[Science, Mar. 1, 1912.] 



To the Editor of Science : In Science 

 for February 2 Mr. Marshall McLean, 

 member of the Camp Fire Club, enters 

 the list of those who would by indirection 

 ruin the fur-seal herd. He would have 

 "natural conditions" rule upon the fur- 

 seal islands and "all killing of selected 

 males for commercial purposes * * * 

 cease until the tide of increase in the fur- 

 seal herd has once more set toward the 

 flood." He lays down as reason for this 

 the principle ' ' that when any species of 

 wild animal has become so depleted as to 

 be in danger of extinction, the best rem- 

 edy is to let it absolutely alone." 



"This is not the first time I have en- 

 deavored to prevent well-meaning Con- 

 gressmen from being deceived by the mis- 

 representations which have been poured 

 upon them for many years. The mischief- 

 maker referred to has bobbed up every 

 other year for the past 18 years and has 

 been discredited every time. I hope you 

 will look up his record as just published 

 in House Document No. 93, Sixty-second 

 Congress, first session, pages 1153-1162." 



The Member of the House to whom I 

 sent this letter has at last presented an 

 amendment to the State Department bill 

 in which he proposes to limit the killing 

 of male seals to 5,000 a year for five years, 

 7,500 a year for the following five years, 

 and 10,000 annually for five years after 

 that. At the end of 15 years new regu- 

 ations to be adopted. 



Xow that is better. The gentleman has 

 evidently been thinking it over. We 

 shouldn't probably kill much closer if 

 allowed to have our own way. Perhaps 

 by the time the treaty bill reaches the 

 Senate Congress will decide that the 

 Bureau of Fisheries is able to handle the 

 seal fishery safely for the seal herd and 

 for the Government. 



The well-meaning Congressmen 

 take notice of Townsend's efforts; 

 they are not deceived. 



In 1893 proceedings were commenced 

 in the State Department, claiming dam- 

 ages on the part of owners, master, and 

 crew of the James Hamilton Lewis. 

 H. H. D. Peirce and Charles H. Townsend, 

 " sealing experts," of the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries, prepared the cases 

 for the parties interested and presented 

 the claim on the part of the United States 

 against the Russian Government at The 

 Hague in 1902, which resulted in an award 

 of approximately $50,000 in favor of the 

 United States Government for the use of 

 the parties interested, including Alexan- 

 der McLean and Max Weisman, Novem- 

 ber 29, 1902. The said H. H. D. Peirce 

 and Charles H. Townsend presented the 

 claim of Max Weisman as the owner of the 

 vessel James Hamilton Lewis before the 

 tribunal at The Hague, when in truth and 

 in fact the owner of said schooner at the time 

 of its seizure was Herman Liebes, of San 

 Francisco. The said H. H. D. Peirce and 

 Charles H. Townsend represented to the tri- 

 bunal in the trial of said case that Alexander 

 McLean, the captain of said vessel, was an 

 American citizen, when in truth and fact he 

 was a British subject and notoriously 

 known as a pirate. (See pp. 754, 755. 

 Hearing No. 12.) 



The committee therefore recommends: 



(1) That the Attorney General be re- 

 quested to take such steps as may be 

 necessary to collect the bond of $500,000 

 from the said North American Commer- 

 cial Co. and the sureties thereon. 



(2) That the Attorney General be re- 

 quested to institute civil proceedings 

 against Isaac Liebes personally to recover 

 such damages as he and his confederates 

 did to the seal herd of Alaska from 1890 

 to 1910. 



(3) That the State Department take up 

 with Russia the matter of the case of the 



