822 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Elliott. I did say that; and that is true. 

 Mr. McGuire. I will ask you if in turn Mr. Morgan made this 

 statement: 



I know Mr. Elliott, whom the British Government has dubbed "Professor." I 

 have respect for his character and sprightliness. He is painter in water colors of no 

 mean pretentions, but his use of color does not stop with his canvas. It enters into 

 all he says, and makes him too vivid an enthusiast for a safe reliance on questions of 

 measurements, statistics, and facts. 



That is from the Tribunal of Arbitration, Paris, volume 1, page 

 108. 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; that is correct. I want Senate Document 407 

 put into the record, since Mr. McGuire has read it. I want it all to 

 go in. 



(The paper referred to follows:) 



[ Senate Document No. 407, Sixtieth Congress, first session.] 

 Fur-Seal Herd of Alaska, 1868-1908. 



Mr. Foraker presented the following paper by Mr. Henry W, Elliott, of Lakewood, 

 Ohio, on the fur-seal herd of Alaska. 



March 25, 1908, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be 

 printed. 



The official record of the loot and ruin of the fur-seal herd of Alaska. A brief and 

 concise chronological abstract showing the salient points of progress in events leading 

 up to the present status of the fur-seal negotiations from their inception to date, 

 1868-1908. [Taken from the official records of Congress, of the State and Treasury 

 Departments, and other authentic sources.] 



1868: The Pribilof or Fur Seal Islands of Alaska are formally and officially taken 

 possession of by agents of the Government of the United States, and declared by 

 them to be in danger of excessive killing, etc. 



1869: The Pribilof Islands are made a Government reservation by act approved 

 March 4. 1869. 



1870: The Pribilof Islands are leased for a term of 20 years to the Alaska Commercial 

 Co., of San Francisco, under provisions of act approved July 1, 1870. 



1872-73: First biological survey of the fur-seal herd is made on the Pribilof Islands 

 by Henry W. Elliott under the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 United States Treasury Department. 



1874: Review of the Elliott survey of 1872-73 ordered by act approved April 22, 1874, 

 and made by T ieut. Commander Washburn Maynard. United States Navy, and Henry 

 W. Elliott. This survey confirms the survey of 1872-73 and declares the presence of 

 at least 4.500.000 fur seals of all classes on the breeding and hauling grounds of the 

 Pribilof Islands during the season of 1874. 



1886: First appearance of organized pelagic sealing fleet in Bering Sea — two Ameri- 

 can and three British vessels. Three British vessels, the Caroline, the Onward, and the 

 Thornton, and one American, the Angel Dolly, are seized and confiscated by United 

 States revenue marine agents; but the protests of marine lawyers in Victoria and 

 San Francisco against the legality of this seizure were so ptrong that in — 



1887 : A large number of British and American vessels went into Bering Sea. Again, 

 seven of them were seized on the "high seas " and all sent to Sitka for trial. There they 

 were duly condemned, fines levied, etc., in the United States district court by Judge 

 Dawson. 



1888: Mr. Bayard, Secretary of State, ordered the release of all those British vessels 

 aforesaid seized in the open waters of Bering Sea during 1886-87, and the remission of 

 fines, etc. Mr. Bayard then advanced the plan of an international close time for 

 hunting of fur seals., which would prevent the killing of these animals at sea during 

 their breeding season. He was well received, and everything was going to his satis- 

 faction when that political scandal over the Murchison letter in September, 1888, 

 caused an abrupt nipture between the British ambassador, Sir L. S. West, and the 

 Cleveland Administration. All negotiations then ended forever in so far as Mr. 

 Bayard was concerned. 



L889: Mr. Blaine succeeds Mr. Bayard on March 4. He at once renews the orders of 

 seizure abandoned by Mr. Bayard. A number of British schooners are seized in 

 Bering Sea, a "prize crew" of only one man put upon each, and then, after taking all 



