Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly 
OURNAL OF THE RoD AND GuN. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $3. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1908. 
VOL. LXV.— No. Y. 
No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
^The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
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particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
SEALS AND THEIR EXTERMINATION. 
There is perhaps no group of the larger wild animals 
' of the world which is so abundant in individuals as are 
the seals, marine mammals which are found alike in the 
Arctic and the Tropic zones and which are distributed 
all over the world. From an economic point of view 
they are of high importance to man, the seal fisheries of 
Newfoundland alone running in value up to- almost half 
( a million of dollars. Of recent years they have also 
i been of high political importance, the subject of 
i despatches, protocols and conferences, and about them 
many legal arguments have been used by representatives 
of two of the great powers of the world. 
Much interesting information has been furnished us 
: about the seals in a paper by Mr. C. H. Townsend, 
Director of the Aquarium, published in the annual Re- 
port of the New York Zoological Society. 
The Newfoundland seal fishery seems to have reached 
its height about forty years ago, at which time no less 
than 400 sailing vessels, employing 13,000 men, were 
engaged in it. In 1844 the number of seals taken was 
700,000; but the Newfoundland seal herd could not stand 
the drain to which it was subjected, decreased in number 
and the catch now varies from year to year; the 
number killed in 1899 having been more than 268,000, 
and in 1900 more than 352,000. The species found here 
is chiefly the Greenland seal, though a few hooded seals 
are taken each year. The seal are killed on their breed- 
ing ground on the ice, and more than ninety per cent of 
the annual catch are young animals taken before they 
are three weeks old. The force employed in this fishery 
to-day is about twenty-five steam vessels, giving employ- 
ment to 3,000 or 4,000 men. The gradual decrease in the 
number of the seals has made it necessary to put a close 
season on them, so that the time for taking them at 
present lasts little more than a month, beginning March 
16. These seals are killed for their hides and oil, but do 
not produce a fur that is of any value. 
Largest of the seal family is the huge sea elephant, or 
elephant seal, so named from his greatly elongated and 
flexible snout — a real proboscis. In the early days of the 
seal fishing industry seal elephants abounded in the Ant- 
arctic lands, where they were killed for their oil, the 
skins being almost valueless. A northern species of sea- 
elephant was formerly abundant along the western coast 
of North America to the south in early days, and eyen 
as late as 1870. For years it was killed there by the 
whalers, and at last was practically exterminated, so that 
when in 1884 Mr. Townsend examined Lower California 
for this species he was able to find only eighteen of the 
animals. Nevertheless in 1904 a few stragglers were 
taken. 
The familiar walrus of Arctic regions, which formerly 
. was sometimes found on the Atlantic coast as far south 
as the St. Lawrence River, and another species common 
in the Bering Sea, have now been exterminated from 
all parts of either coast which are at all accessible. 
The West Indian seal, once abundant in the Caribbean 
Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and on some of the Florida 
keys and the Bahama Islands, is almost extinct, and, in 
fact, was practically exterminated over a century ago. 
One of these seals lived in the New York Aquarium for 
more than five years. 
In two great inland bodies of water, the Caspian Sea 
and Lake Baikal, are found seals which probably made 
their way into the great inland waters which they inhabit 
long, long ago, and have remained there ever since. The 
value of the catch of seals in the Caspian Sea has 
been in a single season $350,000, in skins and oil. The 
Lake Baikal seal is remarkable chiefly as inhabiting fresh 
water. Commercially, it is unimportant. 
Far best known of all the seals are those belonging 
|9 the group Ccthed the eare4 seals, whieh furnish the 
fur sealskin. These are found in the Arctic and the 
Antarctic, in the temperate zone, and under the equator. 
The South African fur seal, breeding off the west coast 
of South Africa, was almost exterminated, but of recent 
years has been protected by the Government of Cape 
Colony. 
There is a fur seal rookery at the mouth of the La 
Plata River, which the Government of Uruguay has 
carefully protected for many years. The island on which 
they haul is only a small one, less than a mile in 
length, but it furnishes an average of more than 10,000 
skins a year. It is reported, however, that pelagic seal- 
ing is threatening this little herd, as it has already de- 
stroyed so many of the northern seals. The Galapagos 
Islands, lying on the equator 800 miles west of Ecuador, 
and Guadaloupe Island, off the west coast of Lower Cali- 
fornia, were once seal rookeries of importance, but have 
been destroyed by man’s greed. The rookeries of the 
Okhotsk Sea, Robbin Island and the Kuril Islands, have 
been pretty nearly wiped out of existence. , 
The best known and largest herds of fur seals are 
those of the Pribilof and Commander Islands in the 
Bering Sea. Here, more than 100 years ago, the Russian 
explorers discovered the fur seals in vast numbers. For 
many years they were destroyed indiscriminately, but at 
last the Russian Government took the herds under its 
protection and so regulated the killing that they became 
very productive. After the cession of Alaska to the 
United States, the taxes paid to the United States Gov- 
ernment on sealskins alone yielded within twenty years 
about $7,000,000 — the price paid for the entire territory. 
Pelagic sealing began about twenty years ago-, and has 
continued up to the present time, destroying in that 
period the value to Russia and to the United States of 
the seal islands which they possess. 
There still remain a few seals on these islands, but 
their number has decreased astonishingly from that of a 
few years ago-. Until pelagic sealing shall have been 
wholly abolished, these rookeries of the North Pacific 
can never re-establish themselves. The people engaged 
in it are a few Americans, a few Japanese and a few 
crews from British Columbia. 
From this brief review some notion may be had of the 
way in which the seals have been destroyed over all the 
oceans of the world. It would seem as if the time had 
come for the nations of the world to unite for the pro- 
tection of these wild creatures, which otherwise must 
be utterly exterminated. Unless such a step shall be 
taken, an industry of great value must cease. 
FOREST SERVICE REGULATIONS. 
The new forest service regulations and instructions 
for the use of forest reserves went into- effect July i. 
They were drawm up by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, the United 
States Forester, under whose control, by the action of 
Congress last winter, the Forest Reserves have now 
happily passed. 
People whose memories are not very long may well 
enough remember what a howl of indignation went up 
from much of the western country when the first forest 
reserves were established, and how, for several years 
thereafter, the establishment of each new reserve caused 
a renewal of the public indignation in the territory 
affected by the proclamation. Happily this is now ancient 
history, and the public has very largely come to take the 
common sense view of these reserves which not so many 
years ago was held by a hopeless minority of more ad- 
vanced people. If there still remain any who do not be- 
lieve in the forest reserves in the purpose for which they 
are created, or the Department’s intention in administer- 
ing them, a few extracts from Mr. Pinchot’s regulations 
ought to show them that they are in error and to make 
clear to them the good purpose which animates those 
authorities which now have the reserves under their 
control. 
The first paragraph of these Regulations says : “Forest 
reserves are for the purpose of preserving a perpetual 
supply of timber for home industry, preventing destruc- 
tion of the forest cover which regulates the flow of 
streams, and protecting local residents from unfair com- 
petition in the use of forest and range. They are 
patrolled and protected at Government expense for the 
benefit of the community and the home builder.” 
That statement seem§ wnmistakable and net less §o is 
another extract: “The administration of forest reserves 
is not for the benefit of the Government but of the people. 
The revenue derived from them goes, not into the general 
fund of the United States but toward maintaining upon 
the reserve a force of men organized to- serve the public 
interests. This force has three chief duties: To- protect, 
the reserves against fire, to- assist the people in their use,- 
and to see that they are properly used.” 
The view of the duties of officers of the Forest Service, 
expressed by Mr. Pinchot, the head of the service, is quite 
different from the idea so frequently held and expressed 
by persons in the West who come in co-ntact with these 
officials. These duties are thus defined: “Forest officers, 
therefore are servants of the people. They must obey in- 
structions and enforce the regulations for the protection, 
of the reserves without fear or favor, and must not allow 
personal or temporary interests to- weigh against the 
permanent good of the reserves ; but it is no- less their 
duty to encourage and assist legitimate enterprises. They- 
must answer all inquiries concerning reserve methods 
fully and cheerfully, and be at least as prompt and cour- 
teous in the conduct of reserve business as they would in. 
private business. 
They must make every effort to prevent the misunder- 
standing and violation of reserve regulations by giving in- 
formation fully and freely. The object should be to- pre- 
vent mistakes rather than to have to punish those who- 
make them. Information should be given tactfully, by ad- 
vice and not by offensive warning.” 
It might be wished that every newspaper office in the 
West were provided with a copy of these Regulations. A 
study of them; would go a long way toward making the 
public comprehend the objects hoped to be attained by the 
Forest Service and the methods of its administration. 
GAME PROTECTOR POI^D. 
Maj. J. Warren Pond, the New York Chief Game' 
Protector, has tendered his resignation to- Forest, Fish 
and Game Commissioner Whipple, to take effect on Oct, 
I. His retirement will close a term of seventeen years 
of continuous service- — a term which is notable in these 
days of political change, and a service which has been of 
inestimable value to- the people of the State. When Major 
Pond entered the department in 1888 the organization 
was raw and crude ; its development and improvement 
have been in large measure wrought by him. He was 
fitted for the place by qualifications which the public soon- 
came to recognize and respect and feel confidence in. 
With earnestness of purpose were united a shrewdness 
and a discretion in dealing with the perplexing problems 
which are forever coming up in the protective work, and 
these qualities were complemented by a. personal in- 
tegrity which inspired in those who- were familiar with’ 
his work full confidence in the man and in his methods. 
For years the sportsmen of New York have felt that in 
Chief Protector Pond they had an efficient and discreet 
friend and ally, not only in the repression of law-breaking, 
but in the wise molding of the laws to meet the needs of- 
the hour. Not the least notable of Major Pond’s services - 
has been that of counseling legislative committees 
in the consideration of the annual amendments of the law. 
His advice has been sought and heeded, to- the great good 
of the fish and game interests, and to the decided satis- 
faction- of those who are intelligently and unselfishly 
concerned in the work of protection. That at times the 
Chief Protector has been assailed with rancor because, 
of his lack of pliability in favor of some pet bill, or some 
measure designed to give some special privilege, is in 
itself a testimony to his worth as an official whose aim 
was to conserve and promote the public interests as 
against those of individual o-r class. 
Last winter Major Pond’s name was associated with 
the Adirondack timber scandals, and charges of misdoing 
were rife, but a full investigation of the affair resulted in, 
an exoneration of the Chief Protector, and Governor 
Higgins declared last week not only that Major Pond 
had not in - any way benefited personally through the 
illegal cutting of timber in the Adirondacks, but that’ 
he had only done his duty in the matter. 
We speak for the intelligent friends of game and fish 
protection in New York when we express our regret to 
see Major Pond leave the office he has filled so long and 
go wdl. We regard his going as ^ distinct public losj, 
