The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-26
EXIT OF THE SEALS.
The Seal. Like the Buffalo. Is Doomed to
determination.


The present stir and excitement con-
corning the preservation of the seal
species and the opposing theory of an
inhalation as means of suppressing the
cruelties of the seal fur traffic and pc
lagic fisheries remind us of the old
maxim about locking the stable door
after the horse is stolen. Millions of
seals have been killed for the use of
their skins in Europe and in this coun-
try, the increase being due to the popu
larity of sealskin as an article of wear
ing apparel, but now, like the buffalo,
the seal is doomed, not from any law
Of determination to save it from suffer
ing but simply from the reason that
sealskin is no longer esteemed as price
| less and desirable an article of the
wardrobe as it was "a few years ago.
Beginning in 1870, when the country
was feeling the first settled confidence
in prosperity after the war, the demand
for the sealskin coat was at first made
with fear and trembling, its price being
as large as its dimensions were small.
From a small beginning it grew rapidly
to an extreme, so that the fashionable
woman was clothed in it from head to
foot, and the summer insurance of those
seal outfits became an important branch
of business.
A picturesque background supports
the seal in that far region where it dis
ports in American British Russian wa
tiers and is an object Of solicitude to
three nations A glance at statistius
shows that in 1869 $4,000 seals were
taken from the islands of ST. George
and st. Paul. In 1867 it was estimat-
ed that $75, 600 worth of seal fur was
furnished per annum. AS early as 1856
Russia sent out fur sealers, who en-
ployed the miserable native Alaskans
to do the killing, keeping those people
in the most absolute poverty and ig-
norance that could be imagined, but I'M
der the American regime and the care of
the Alaska Commercial company they
| have become prosperous and civilized.
Those Aleutian Indians have 8, 900 seals
reserved every year for food.
| President Jordan of Leland Stanford
university was appointed in the last year
of Cleveland's administration to exam
inc into the condition of the seals, TAX
, ing into consideration their decline
| and threatened determination. He sug
gested the novel plan of branding the
{ mother seals so that the pelt would be
: practically valueless to the conscience
: less hunters and the seals thus marked
would escape the general massacre. A
q number were treated in this way, but
I the handling and capture of the mother
g seal is believed to be detriment to the
perfect success of the plan. Under Pres
n ident Jordan supervision $50 seals were
$ branded On the back
: In order to obtain the 5000 seal cubs
for food store for the Indians it was
= found necessary to handle 10000 OF the
f pups, and this suggested the idea of
s seuuestrating the bachelor seals where
n they would be protected from pelagic
$ fishing and hunting. President McKin-
If ley having appointed ex-Secretary Eos.
o. ter and Charles Hamlin to look after
,. the interests of the seals, it is hoped
u that they will find it possible to hero
10 90, 600 bachelor seals on st. Paul's Is
a land, where by system and force OF
! numbers in handling them they can bC
70 counted and protected as easily as {
" herd Of sheep. Water ponds will be pro
tected by fence to keep out aquatic
+ destroyers and birds Of prey. 1t is be
, lieved that they can be safely held IL
20 that manner for a season.
h The club, about which so much II
;s said in reports on the cruelty of club
20 bling the seal to death, is a product o.
7 xphoro ~ 10
= featured for that special purpose from
70 "A hard wood, seasoned and prepared
A. with great care
20 A bill of determination was prepared
~ two years ago by which the secretar,
of the treasury was warranted to TAX
II and kill each and every seal, male ant
ro female, that could be found on thu
10 Pribilof islands, but the bill neve
o passed.
~ Pelagic sealing-killing the seals IL
: open sea with firearms or with a spea
- us considered wholesale slaughter, a
:. in this indiscriminate killing man.
= thousands of the animals are needlessl.
.o sacrificed before the proper age OF
" years. Bachelor seals are legally kille'
,o at this age, being enticed from thei
~ haunts and dubbed to death according
80 to law. If, however, the killing is don
as with dispatch, it is as meritorious a
= any other method Of death dealin
" among animals.
" That the queens of American societ
~ would wear seal as lining for sabi
=, no one need doubt, except that it woul
~ be feat beyond the endurance of tn
~ most robust. The governor of Michiga
~ is the owner of such a coat, but h
'iN keeps it in a chest. insured for severa
thousand dollars against fire an
thieves. Sealskin has the merit OF be
~ ing mothproof, but whether from tn
y, quality of the dye or some native pecu
az iarity is not known. Perhaps one
no the surest signs of the decline OF til
- seal is the fact that on the recent occs
lo sion of several large robberies the sea
a., garments were left unmolested. M. l
A0 Rayne in Chicago Times Herald.