INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 825 



Under the circumstances, his colleagues could not dispute his false report; therefore 

 they took no action on this bill, at his request. 



1903: Mr. Elliott, openly asserting that there was no truth in Senator Fairbanks's 

 statement, as above quoted, then secured the insertion of an item of 120,000 in the 

 pending sundry civil bill for the purpose of "making a new examination into the 

 condition of affairs on the seal islands of Alaska," etc.; but on June 20 (1903), when 

 Mr. Elliott asked Mr. Hay to take this work up, the Secretary replied that he was un- 

 able to go ahead with it as long as Senator Fairbanks, who, as chairman of the Ameri- 

 can membership of the Anglo-American High Joint Commission, "stands over me and 

 assures me that this subject is all settled and will be soon published by the commission;" 

 "he says the commission will soon reassemble." 



A special subcommittee of the United States Senate made an extended trip of in- 

 spection over Alaska during July and August and visited the seal islands (Messrs. 

 Dillingham, Nelson, Burnham, and Patterson). They found the condition of affairs 

 there exceedingly bad. 



1904: This special Senate committee charged with Alaskan affairs made its report 

 January 19, and urged a reopening of the question of fur-seal protection with Great 

 Britain. To this end Senator W. P. Dillingham, chairman of the committee, intro- 

 duced a bill which is finally passed in both Houses and is approved April 8. 



On the 9th of April the committee wait upon Secretary Hay and urge him to take up 

 this matter under the authority of this act of April 8 aforesaid. Mr. Hay agreed to, 

 but he asked Mr. Elliott to get the Senators to agree with him (Elliott) first upon any 

 plan of action; then he (Hay) would carry it into effect. 



1904: On the 12th April Mr. Elliott took a general plan for the suspension of all kill- 

 ing of fur seals on land and in the sea for a period of 10 years, duly signed up by the 

 Senators. In the meantime the details of how the work of killing seals should be re- 

 sumed at the end of that period of rest; these details should be considered and then 

 agreed upon in turn. 



Secretary Hay took this up at once with Sir Mortimer Durand, the British ambassa- 

 dor, and on the 26th of April it was officially given to him; but it was rejected at Ottawa 

 in July, because it gave no assurance to the Canadian Government that the terms 

 of agreement would be acceptable after this long period of prohibition of pelagic sealing 

 rights to British subjects. The Canadian ministry objected on the following grounds: 

 (a) When the killing is resumed then the Canadian Government will get nothing out of 

 it of any substantial gain to itself, and only arouse the ill will of its own people who are 

 now engaged in fur sealing, and who say that as Canadians (1) they have vested rights 

 in this business which can not be sold or denied to them; and (2) they are well satisfied 

 with existing conditions; and (3) there is no danger of extermination to the fur-seal 

 herd of Alaska from the effects of their hunting. 



When fully informed of these objections, Mr. Elliott then, on November 30, 1904, 

 outlined to Mr. Hay the plan of mutual concession and joint control which, in his 

 opinion, we must offer to Canada, or else lose the case completely. Mr. Hay said that 

 any agreement which the senatorial committee might sign up in the premises would 

 be approved by him, but every detail must be in writing. Mr. Elliott set to work on 

 these details, calling in [at the suggestion of Mr. Hay] Senator Piatt of Connecticut, 

 and [of Gen. Dillingham] Senator Foraker, of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations 

 Committees. On the 22d of February — 



1905: He was able to give Mr. Hay a draft of the senatorial agreement on these 

 terms of mutual concession and joint control. Being at that hour very busy with a 

 sudden demand upon his time made by a turn in the San Domingo business, Mr. 

 Hay asked Elliott to defer this sealing-treaty paper for a week or two, until he should 

 have more leisure to discuss its details. 



On the 7th of March Mr. Elliott took the subject up again with Secretary Hay. He 

 approved the terms. He then said that he now desired to have these details ap- 

 proved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, since they were largely matters of 

 business detail which properly belonged to that department; he desired this plan to 

 be submitted to that department by the Senators with a request on their part that 

 Secretary Metcalf approve it and give it, so indorsed, to the President. He asked 

 Mr. Elliott to have this done. 



1905: On March 17 the senatorial committee addressed a letter to Secretary Met- 

 calf, inclosing a memorandum which itemizes in detail the terms of a plan of mutual 

 concession and joint control for the full, fair, and final settlement of the fur-seal 

 question. This committee asks the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to approve 

 this plan and give it, so approved, to the President, etc. 



In the meantime, Mr. Hay is prostrated on March 9 by a severe illness; he leaves 

 the State Department on March 15 and never returns to resume his official duties 

 there; he dies at his summer home in New Hampshire on July 1, 1905. Mr. Elliott 



