Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-08-25
SEA DECIsIONl
UNITED STATES CLAIMS ARE,
NOT ALLOWED.
so Right to the Protection of, or Property
in. the Seals Frequenting the Islands Of
the United States When Found Outsids
the Ordinary Three-MIile Limit.
Victory for Britons.


Baron De Courcel, President of the
Behring Sea arbitration tribunal, has
announced in Paris the decision of the
srbitrators on the issues presented to.
1t. Except for a provision that tho
seals shall be protected from indiscrim-
mate slaughter, the decisionis entirely
against the United States. Not q
proposition put forth by the Ameri-
can counsel has been agreed to by
the tribunal. Every issue made blythe,
United States has been decided in favor
bf Great Britain. The a%rbitrators
practically deny that Russia asserted
or exercised exclusive rights in the
seal fisheries prior to the purchase of
Alaska by the United States. That
any such claims were recognized and
conceded by Great Britain and that the
United States have any property rights
In the seal fisheries other than those
belonging to oil other nations. Uncle
Sam Is beaten at every point touching
Its sovereignty over the Behring sea,
u the crum of consolation in the
matter OF protection of the seals is not
sweetened by the accompanying decla-
ration that this power of protection
does not lie in the United States but in
the ruling of the tribunal.
American Claims Rejected.
In q general way the tribunal rejects
the claim OF the United States that the
Behring Sea is q marc clausum and de.
MES to tho United States exclusive
property rights in the seal fisheries.
On the other hand, the arbitrators
sustain positively the contention Of
the United States that pelagic seal
ing should be stopped and that
the seal herds should be protected from
determination by poachers. To effect
this end the tribunal rules that there
shall be maintained aclosed season, be-
ginning May l and ending July 81,
during which no seals may be killed.
This prohibition applies not only to
Behring sea, but to the north Pa
citic ocean. To save the seals from
slaughter at their breeding places
In the Pribylov Islands o protective
zone extending sixty miles around the
Islands is established, and sealing OUT
side this zone is to be permitted only
after Aug. 1. Further protection from
tndlscriminate slaughter is provided in
the prohibition by the terms of the de-
eision of the use of firearms by seal
takers.
Uncle SANS Contentious.
The contentious of the United States
as to Its exclusive jurisdiction in Behr-
ing Sea, acquired from Russia by the
purchase of Alaska and its property
rights in the seal fisheries, are con-
tanned in the following five points Of
article 6 of the treaty creating the
tribunal of arbitration:
l. What exclusive jurisdiction in the sea now
known. as Behring Sea and what exclusive
rights in the seal fisheries therein, did Russia
assert and exercise prior and up to the time Of
the cesston of Alaska to the United States2
2. How far were these claims Of Jurisdiction
as to the seal fisheries recognized and conceded
by Great Britain?
8. Was the body Of water now known as the
Behrtng sea included in the phrase Pacific
ocean" as used in the treaty Of 1925 between
Great Britain and Russia; and what rights, IL
any,. In the Behring sea were held and exc
clusively exercised by Russia after said
4. Did not oil the rights of Russia as to ju1is-
dtctton and as to the seal fisheries in Behring
sea. east of the water boundary, in the treaty
between the United States and Russia Of the
|3nth OF March, 1867, pass unimpaired to the
united States under that treaty?
s. Has the United States any rights, and.i IL
80, what right. Of protection of property in
the FUR seals frequenttnR the islands of the
United States in Behring Sea when such seals
are found outside the ordinary three-mile
limits?
The decision as rendered is practi-
cally a knock out for the United States
and q victory for England.