Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-09-09
EXIT OF The SEALS.
The Seal, Like the Bufalo. Is Doomed to
determination.


determination.
The present stir and excitement con-
cerning 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 as 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 popn-
| 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
ters and is an object of solicitude to
three nations. A glance at statistics
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 $50. 900 worth of seal fur was
furnished per annum. AS early as 1885
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 un-
der the American regime and the care Of
the Alaska Commercial company they
have become prosperous and civilized.
Those Aleutian Indians have 5. 900 seals
reserved every year for food.
President Jordan of Leland Stanford
university was appointed in the last year
of Cleveland's IS 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
number were treated in this way, but
the handling and capture of the mother
seal is believed to be detriment to the
perfect success of the plan. Under Pres
ident Jordan S supervision $50 seals were
branded ON the back.
In order to obtain the 5, 600 seal cubs
| for food store for the Indians it was
found necessary to handle 10, 900 of the
pups, and this suggested the idea of
! sequestrating the bachelor seals where
they would be protected from pelagic
fishing and hunting. President McKin-
ley having appointed ex- Secretary Fos-
ter and Charles Hamlin to look after
| the interests Of the seals, it is hoped
that they will find it possible to herd
/ 90, 900 bachelor seals ON st. Paul's is
land, where by system and force of
numbers in handling them they can be
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 in
that manner for season.
The club, about which SO much is
said in reports on the cruelty of club
bing the seal to death, is product of
| New London, Conn, where it is manu-
faotured for that special purpose from
hard wood, seasoned and prepared
with great care.
A bill of determination was prepared
two years ago by which the secretary
of the treasury was warranted to take
and kill each and every seal, male and
female, that could be found on the
Pribilof islands, but the bill never
passed.
Pelagic sealing-killing the seals in
/ open sea with firearms or with spear
lis considered wholesale slaughter, as
in this indiseriminate killing many
! thousands Of the animals are needlessly
sacrificed before the proper age of 8
years. Bachelor seals are legally killed
at this age, being enticed from their
haunts and clubbed to death according
to law. If, however, the killing is done
with dispatch, it is as meritorious as
any other method of death dealing
among animals.
That the queens of American society
would wear seal as a lining for sable
no one need doubt, except that it would
be feat. beyond the endurance of the
most robust. The governor of Michigan
is the owner of such a coat, but he
keeps it i'll chest. insured for several
thousand dollars against fire and
thieves. Sealskin has the merit of be-
ing mothproof, but whether from the
quality of the dye or some native pecul-
iarity is not known Perhaps one of
the surest signs of the decline of the
seal is the fact that on the recent occa-
sion of several large robberies the seal
garments were left unmolested. M. l..
Rayne in Chicago Times Herald