The morning call., 1894-02-28
THE SEAL CATCH.

Ladies who are deploring the high prices
which they are paying for sealskins will
be partially comtorted by the official re-
turn of the result of the seal fishing season
in 1893. The catch of that season is the
largest on record, and there is no reason
why prices at the next auction sale in Lon
don should not show material decline.
In the spring of 1888 fifty-four vessels
sailed from Victoria and two from Van
couver. These vessels caught in the sea-
son 69,741 skins, of which 28.6l3 were
taken on the British Columbian coast,
90, 173 on the Japan coast and 1855 on
the Russian coast. Besides these. certain
American schooners. sailing out of ports in
British Colum bia and Puget Sound, report
a catch of 1884 skins, and at San Francisco
IS, 366 skins were received, to wit: 2748
from schooners cleared here. 1925 from
the Pribiloff Islands, and 1888 from the
Russian Sealskin Company at Petropaul-
ovSki. Footing up all the sources of sup
ply the aggregate catch is 100. 241 skins,
much larger quantity than was ever taken
in the old days of the close fishery. The
figure will confirm the impression that it
was the policy Of the old company to
maintain prices by restricting production.
States the custom-houses al Yokohama
and Hakodsde report the receipt of some
1900 or Is, COO skins at those ports. Thus
the world was enriched in 1898 by not
much less than $40. 600 skins.
The hopes which were formed four or
five years ago. when the price of seal
skins rose, that substitute for the fur
would be found either in otter furs or in
some product OF the silk factories, have
not been realized. The sealskin main
tains its supremacy. and no lady who can
afford it is satisfied with marteu, otter or
ermine fur. or with the finest forms of
plush. Nothing is so warm, so durable,
so pleasant to the touch or 10 the eye as
the fur of the seal. And yet il is becom-
ing a luxury which only the very rich can
enjoy. Twenty years ago fine seal cloak.
coming down nearly to the ground, could
be bought for S125. Now the same cloak
is worth from $3.50 TO $3.50. Little wraps,
which are thrown over the shoulders, sell
for $50. 1t is really amazing that SO
many such costly garments should find a
market.
There are two aspects in which the sub
ject may be considered. Sealskins con-
tribute less than they should to the public
revenue. They ara essentially an article
of luxury. yet the duty on dressed furs is
only 20 per cent Raw skins caught in the
open sea or on the Pribiloff Islands pay
nothing. 1t would seem that here is q neg
lected source of revenue. If it cannot be
gotat through the tariff it nigh: be reached
through the internal revenue bureau.
But the sum annually spent by American
women on these expensive wraps is
graver subject of contemplation. The
great market for furs used TO be China. II
is now the United States. Sealskins are
sold in London, Paris, st. Petersburg and
Vienna. But the only buyers are the
wives and daughters of members of the
arstocracy or the families of milioDaires.
Here every girl wants aud generally gets a
sealskin. Her father says he can afford il.
But can the country afford the enormous
waste of money which the aggregate ex-
pendture involves? People wonder at the
hard times and ask each other what the
cause is. Need they go beyond the spec
tacle of reckless extravaganza which is
under their eyes? Every nation earns so
much money in the course of year; the
earnings are unequally distributed-some
get large share, others smaller share
but the aggregate does not vary with the
distribution, and If those who chance TO
get the biggest portion waste it there is so
much less to go to the credit of the nation
at the end of the year, and somebody must
suffer in consequence.