Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-12

~ .s6s. ss,s07. and In 1890 the catch Of The
429 Canadian vessels that went out wa
A,7bl. while last year the Canadian feet. in.
creased TO ~ SAL. made . catch Of 1912. Of
catch 81 1877 in the North Pacific, while in Ber-
ing sea, despite the modus vivendi
by which the schooners were elected,
2S,6o5 skins were taken in about 6
weeks. But that is not all. for the American
schoonsrs were not inactive. The London
trade sales Of last year show that So. 500 skins
were offered for sale and doubtless there were
some skins retained in this country or shipped to
England to be cured and returned to the Amer
lean owners. Leaving ont Of consideration the
seals shot ana not secured. this all means at the
very least over hundred thousand seals were
killed at sea and that more than half of them
were mothers.
IT wi1 now be readily understood Why 1t
became more and more difficult for the old
ALASKA Commerciai Company to get its
9uo'a Q, one hundred thousand skins after
1854, ana why In 1880 the new lessees, the North
American Commercial Company, were able to
secure less than 10000. It has been
urged tnat she number Of seals which the
government permitted to be killed was
placed TOO high, but 1t should be borne
IN ~, mind that the rookeries held their own un-
III the waste from open sea sealing reached
Tvs iatsi proportions and it is notapparent tina.
this government can be Justly blamed for not
placing the unit so low as to permit of an in
aennite amount Of leakage from a source which
Is insisted she had no right to control and
''o" WHICH sne mad no right to protect herself.
THE REMEDY FOR THIS EVIL
The remedy for the evil you have already
anticipated. Stop open sea sealing or employ
time or geographic restrictions. The first
would be absolutely effective; the second would
De ase1ui In proportion to the terms Of the re-
III the seal is to receive further international
consideration it must now take its turn with
other matters which will come before the board
OF arbitration, the treaty creating which is
now before the United States Sem
arbitration the United States very naturally
asked for continuation of the modus vivendL
Certainly this is not an exorbitaut demand,
Tor last year it willingly acceeded to Q reduc-
ton OF the catch on the islands to $500
seals, sctuated by the desire Of heartily
cooperating In the effort being made to stop
by intelligent and wise methods the deplorabie
loss in seal life. while arbitration is going
on We cut The grass says Lord
Salisbury: The only thing infslicitous about
this simile is its application. We do not
OBJECT to the gathering of u harvest, but we do
OBJECT to having the grass dug up by the roots.
venture to assert that II the marquis found O
man on his front lawn he would not wait for
the tsrdy processes Of the law, but would eject
tho intruder at the toe Of his boot.
POSITION OF THIS GOVERNMENT.
1.-THE United States is not engaging in this
controversy for the sake Of immediate gain as
Lord Salisbury's recent offer would seem to
imply. In every position the government has
taken it has manifested Its willingness
to subordinate its present interests
If 1t will at all facilitate the settlements of the
problems involved, and it is difficult to un-
derstand how Lord Salisbury can presume to
meet this spirit with such a proposal.
"A serious chapter has certainly been
reached in the history Of seal life, and it re-
mains to be seen whether the cupidity Of the
few will destroy magnificent industry, which
for years has furnished occupation to
many.
Improprieties on the land can be guarded
against, but the disastrous effect of Open-ses
sealing are uncomfortable. 1t has reached
the point where killing on the land will
have to be restricted for term Of years
to rehabilitate the rookeries. 1t has reached
the poiut which, If kept up will, in spite OF the
remarkable zonal invention proposed by Lord
Salisbury, speedily make the islands Of Boring
sea as barren OF seals a. those Of the south
antarctic"