ALASKA. 
49 
sible, and which was enjoyed by mankind by this particular mode 
of dealing with the fur seals which had been established and carried 
on upon the Pribilof Islands. Mankind received the benefit of 
the entire annual increase, and at the same time, the stock was per¬ 
petually preserved and kept from any sort of peril; and in that 
benefit the citizens of the United States enjoyed, of course, no 
advantage over the rest of the world. The whole product of the 
herd was contributed at once to commerce, and through the 
instrumentality of commerce was carried all over the world to 
those who desired the sealskins, and those who desired sealskins, 
wherever they might be on the face of the globe, and whatever 
nation they might inhabit, got them upon the same terms upon 
which the citizens of the United States enjoyed them. Phis con¬ 
tribution of the annual product to the purposes of commerce, to 
be dealt with as commerce deals with one of its subjects, of course 
amounted substantially to a putting it up at auction, and it was 
awarded to the highest bidder, wherever he might dwell. 
The effect of this was, also, as we shall have occasion to see in 
the course of this discussion, to build up and maintain an impor¬ 
tant industry in Great Britain. It was there that the sealskins 
were manufactured and prepared tor sale in the market, anti thou¬ 
sands of people were engaged in that industry, many more, indeed, 
than were engaged in the industry of gathering the seals upon the 
Pribilof Islands. That particular benefit was secured to Great 
Britain in consequence of this industry. 
In the few years preceding 1890, the Government of the United 
States was made aware of a peril to the industry which had thus 
been established and which it was in the enjoyment of, a peril to 
the preservation of this race of seals, a peril not proceeding from 
what may be called natural causes, such as the killing by whales 
and other animals which prey upon the seals in the water, but a 
peril proceeding from the hand of man. It was found that the 
practice of pelagic sealing, which had for many years, and indeed 
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