INVESTIGATION OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 477 



the whole group. Births are suspended ; cows and newly-born pups 

 are widely separated. This experience may be repeated for a large 

 harem a hundred times a day, when there are idle bulls in close 

 proximity. The act of copulation, a clumsy process, may proceed 

 beside a case of parturition and may disturb it with fatal results. It 

 is unnecessary to go into greater detail. The period of greatest 

 births ; that is, of greatest helplessness among the pups and mothers, 

 and the period of heat, which occasions the fighting among the bulls, 

 are practically simultaneous. Anything which tends to augment the 

 fighting and confusion on the breeding grounds — as the overstock of 

 bulls does — is simply criminal. Every effort should be made to 

 reduce the fighting to a minimum. To this end the superfluous 

 males should be removed. 



Ninth, the waste involved: In addition to the loss — I mean the 

 biological loss — resulting from the destruction of mother seals and 

 young, already referred to, the failure to take the 10,000 killable 

 seals in 1913, involved a heavy financial loss. Sealskins sold recently, 

 according to the Associated Press dispatches which came to us in 

 California, at St. Louis at $52 apiece. The Government had not over 

 2,500 sealskins to sell. It should have had 10,000 in addition to 

 what it had. The return to the Government should have been 

 $520,000 more than it got. That is, assuming that the price stated 

 is correct, which I have taken from the papers. The loss involved 

 will increase and grow greater with each season of the close period. 



Tenth, the arbitrary curtailment of the food killing: The law of 

 1912 provides for a food killing for the natives residing on the Pribilof 

 Islands, without specifying the number of animals to be killed. Such 

 a food killing should provide fresh meat for the summer and salted 

 meat for winter use. There are 300 people resident upon the islands. 

 In common with the people of the north, they are heavy meat eaters. 

 The bachelor seal dresses about 25 pounds. Five thousand animals 

 would give the native population a ration of a little over 1 pound of 

 meat a day through the year, a ridiculously small allowance. 



The Chairman. They do not eat the fat. They only eat the meat. 



Mr. Clark. I presume that is true. They cut the shoulders out 

 and the loin and such parts as are choice and leave the blubber. 



This ration of 1 pound of meat a clay would be too small. In 1891— 

 1893, when there was a similar limitation of killing, Great Britain 

 agreed with us that 7,500 seals was a normal annual food killing for 

 the same population. The population is practically identical to-day 

 with what it was at the other time. 



The Chairman. What year was that ? 



Mr. Clark. 1891-1893. There was a modus vivendi which limited 

 the killing on land, and the British Government agreed with us that 

 we could kill 7,500 seals for food for the natives. 



The Chairman. How many did they kill ? 



Mr. Clark. Just that number. They were limited to that. 



With this knowledge in hand the department arbitrarily fixed the 

 food killing for 1913 at 3,000 animals, 2,000 animals below the 

 minimum need and 4,500 below the normal need. The loss resulting 

 from this action can be computed at the rate of $52 per -skin, if the 

 press dispatches are right, a minimum of $104,000 and a maximum of 

 $234,000. In the meantime the Government is feeding these people 



