Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-23
END OF THE SEALS
The Practical Results of the Bering
Sea Arbitration.
MIR. STANLEY BROWNS LECTURE
Suffering and Death Of the North
ern Herds.
OUR REPRESENTATIVES,

The weekly meeting of the National Geo
graphic Society was held at the audience
room OF the Cosmos Club last night, the
session being occupied by an address by
Mr.. J. Stanley Brown, upon THE Practical
Results of the BerinE Sea Arbitration.
Mr.. Gardiner Hubbard. in introducing the
speaker. referred 20 his having spent three
seasons upon the Pribilof or Seal Islands
the last one being the season just closed
that he had assisted in the preparation
OF the material used before the Paris tri-
bunaI, before which body he appeared as
the expert Of the United States, and that
probably no one was better qualified to-
day TO discuss these matters.
Mr.. Stanley Brown began by saying that
a friend had asked him what justification
there was for presenting such subject
as the practical results of the Boring sea
arbitration before society which has to
do with geogra~hic matters and he mad
replied that this was simple enough. FOR
the seals were agents or topographic
change; that seals. and sea lions also, fill
their stomachs with rocks 1.-THE sailors say
for ballasO. and that IL the arbitration
should result I'm millions OF them dying
there In the future. as they had done In
the past, ii was self-evident that further
contributions in the form of large quanti-
ties of powders and pebbles would be
fiers of geography.
Matter of History.
Continuing. Mr.. Stanley Brown said:
Until recently all opinions offered to the
public as to the value of the regulations
formulated by the Paris tribunal for the
preservation of the fur seals were neces-
sarily speculative in character and hence
more or less unfair to the tribunal, but
now by reason of the data obtained during
determine with close approximation TO
exactnesS the usefulness or the concur
sons reached by that body. Everything
connected with the fur seal arbitration, Tor
Il was naught else, Is now matter OF MS
tory and not Of sentiment. and by the
strength or weakness of its achievements
1t must be judged frankly. without bias,
justly.
practical results Of the arbitration We
must know something OF the creature with
which 1t had to do. and also the terms anu
limitations Of the task assigned the 'ri-
bunal."
The speaker gave q brief but vivid pic
ture of seal life in all Its phases. ana even IN
this concise resume showed now strons
was the contrast between the enects OF
killing on land, where selection can be ana
IL exercised, and the effects of killing at
sea, where no discrimination Is possible
In the former only the young. immature
males were taken. and the females pro-
tected by law from death or disturbance,
while In the latter pups less than q year
old the young males OF all ages, the old
bulls and the mothers faithfully bearing
through thousands of miles of sea the
burden which the laws Of nature laid upon
them-all alike fell before the weapons of
their destrcyers. He next rapidly sketcned
the causes which led to the arbitration.
and called attention to the fact that the
treaty assigned the representatives OF the
two nations the tasks they were to perform
and Indicated the limits within which they
h< cd RI a
EnglanIs AvOwals.
From the time Of the first diplomatic
protest against seizures In 1886 to the last
utterance of her attorneys at Paris in
1893 Great Britain insisted that 1t was her
earnest desire to preserve this useful crea-
ture. Expressions of this desire run as a
cool and refreshing rivulet through the
entire diplomatic correspondence, and II
fell as soothing, reassuring music from the
lips of every one Of her advocates before
the tribunal, and these desires on the part
Of England were doubtless genuine, for
London Is the sealskin market of the world,
and thousands of it's citizens derive great
pecuniary advantage from that fact; but
Canada saw to II that every actual effort
accompanying those endlessly repeated pro-
testations should be directed toward pre-
serving the seals-for the pelagic sealers.
But, despite the demands for preservation.
II seemed as though the fetch Of indirec-
ton had hoodooed this question of the fate
Of this animal at every stage of Its con-
sideration, when once the United States
swerved from that direct and effective
method Of protection-the seizure Of seal
ing schooners."
Our Representatives.
Before taking up the question Of the
findings" of the tribunal the speaker beg
ged to make a slight depression. He said:
cit is customary to see in the public press
and to hear from the mouths of individuals
condemnation of our representatives and
Of their conduct Of the case. 1t Is we'll
known that the United States was worsted
In the contest. and the impression mas been
widely disseminated. probably unintention-
ally. that the disaster was due to fmper-
feet mastery Of the case, and faulty pre-
sentation on the part of those to whom 1t
was intrusted. The object of my digres-
sion Is to recite I'm few paragraphs the
history of our case and to obtrude my
Views of the merits of Its preparation and
presentation.
when the question of selection Of at
torneys arose. President Harrison, as was
becoming In a statesman, did not permit
himself to be swayed by any considera-
lions of craftsmanship. 1t is of no moment,
but of interest, to know that of those Sc
lected, four were democrats and three re-
publcans. Party feeling was thus. and
very properly. eliminated from the case.
"Mr Phelps, President Cleveland's min
lister to England, was the first lawyer
chosen. To Mr.. John w. Foster. who later
became the representative or the united
States before the tribunal, was intruSted
the stupendous task of preparing the case
and counter case of the United States. To
the execution of this trust he brought not
only his unexcelled knowledge of diplo-
matte matters and of international law
but his wonderful powers of keen insight
and forecast. his great capacity for the
analysis of facts, and, best of all, his per-
sistent industry.
THE period between January, 1892 until
the 4th of March, 1893, was one of fnces-
SAINT activity. Under his immediate guild
ance scores of helpers of all kinds were
busy in many fields of research near and
far. Investigations as to facts of aquatic
seal life must be carried on in Boring sea.
The systematic and thorough manner in
which that was done was shown by the
map upon which the results were plotted
a. looked like a spider web.
AN expedition must be made to the
Guadalupe 1slands-a former seal resort
Months must be devoted to the study of
modern seal life upon the Commander and
Pribilof groups of islands. Trained agents
must be sent along the entire Pacific coast
and In many other directions to gather
data. All published and manuscript matter
upon seal life must be critically examined
and elaborate TRANSACTIONS made of all Rus
sian documents bearing the subject. A