The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-10-10
TIE RUSSIANS SHOOT,
scal Poachcrs Give Them n Wido
Nertli-wlat Special Agent Williams

ANA soal Poachcrs Give Them n Wide
Nertii-wl,at Special Agent Williams
Says.
WASHINGTON, Oct 0.-"rlere has been
too much science and not enough com.
non sense in treating OF the subject OF
aeal life in Boring Sea-"
The speaker was Special Agent Will
liams, OF the Treasury Department, who
was sent to Alaskan Waters last spring
to superintend tho killing OF seals Oh
the pribylcir Islands.
There Is no trouble about tho killing
on land" Mr.. Williams continued.
THE methods employed arc sat!stac-
tory, ana the greatest care Is exercised
IN sorting the males from the females.
1t Ia the deep sea-pelagic scaling, rs it
~ called-that Is SO rapidly decimating
tho animals"
ut is said that half q dozen seals are
destroyed for every one that is captured
in tho water. Is that statement cor
rectY' he was asked.
1T varies with the crews. Some
crews nro more expert than others.
With some crews the proportion Is only
three to one. With others it is often us
high US fifteen 10 onc. | should say
that the average was about seven to
one"
1T Is reported to-day that the price
OF scalsltins has very materially nd.
yanced within the past few days. Is
that due to the scarcity on the market?"
doubt II that statement Is true. Mr..
Williams replied. "Thcrc,will probably
be as many skins in the market this year
as there was last year. In 1890 the North
American Commercial Company took
el,O0o. This year tho catch was only
half that amount, but to this must be
added 4 number that we're left on the
islands last season and which will also
be thrown on thcmurl;et. The poachers,
no doubt, secured 10000 skins or there.
abouts. | have no means OF
knowing what the Russians did, but
| don't suppose their catch fell off
any. So you SEQ there ought to
DO nothing in tho situation to
cause any appEcciablc advance in prices.
Moreover, the company would greatly
uSPi ss"tS tl SiSicuoS III VIZ lIia'iutaS-
turcd product. The effect could not but
be hurtful to them. Why? because it
would make the article sQ,expansiyc as
practically to prohibit their sales. In
other words, il the present price of $500
were advanced to $500, the dealer would
soon find Il substitute for the sealskin
garments that would drive the latter out
OF tho market. don't know what the
substitute would DO, but it would come
sure"
GLOW are We going 10 prevent proach-
ing in the futurc?"
at can only be prevented by some
sort OF international agreement that
will permit us to seize. not only any
vessel found scaling in the Boring Sea,
but any vessel having skins on board.
Armed with those instructions a few
vessels could patrol those waters sue
cessfully. The threc-mile limit is no
special protection to us. 1t is COM
p%arativeiy an easy matter for schooners
to run in close 10 the rocks on ioggy
nights and send 4 boat ashore and kill
the seals in their rooEerics. The
weather there is often so fosgy that you
cannot see twenty feet in front Of YOU"
"Why don't the poachcrs 90 over to
the Russian side Of the sea and follow
their avocation there"
Because" said Captain Williams,
grizzly, "the Russians shoot. That's
the reason. If We had adopted that
policy in 1856 and 1857 we would have
no poaching. Those Canadian %scalers
have the the greatest contempt for us.
We issue stringent orders to our rcvc-
nue. cutters, but We don't execute them.
The result is they have no fear OF us,
but set about their operations with an
absolute contempt for us. We ought
not to allow 4 seal to be killed in
Boring Sea except with our permits
sion"
"And the seals are disappenring%
-"There is no doubt Us to that. Unless
some measure OF protection is afforded
them it will soon become q lost indus
try. You can figure it out for yourself.
II the; poachers got 10000, thnt shows
that $4,000 must have been destroyed.
Add to this the number legitimatcly
taken, and you will see how great is the
destruction"