Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1897-04-15
THE SEALING PROBLEM
What the Recent Presidential
Appointments Indicate.
GRAVITY OF THE SlItAlioN
.,..,,. NJ a Serious ENHANCEMENT
Unless Matter Is Arranged
fore the Season opens


Washington, April l3.-The recent
onnointment of ex-Secretarv roster anu
ex.Assistant Secretary Hamlln by the
president to assist in the negotiations
now in progress with Great Britain re-
snectine the Behring sea fisheries Is IN
dicative that this long-standing dlpio-
matte issue has at last assumed grave
importance. and that an earnest eHort
is being made to end the present I'M
satisfactory state Of affairs or to place
the subject on such a footing before the
beginning OF the approaching session
as will prevent it from passing into
more serious phase
The diplomatic correspondence OF 'he
past year makes it evident that severe
strain was placed upon the patience OF
the officials OF both the United states
and Great Britain, and the warning
given quietly but firmly by the British
premier, that further proceedings pS
American revenue cutters IN the line
of last years programme would not De
tolerated. and the intimation from Sec
rotary Olney that there would be no
change unless additional restrictions
were imposed upon the British sealing
vessels, hold out latent possibilities OF
a serious enhancement for the two
friendly powers, unless some arrange
ment can be made before the end OF
Nav. Because Of eX.Secretarv Fosters
familiarity with the early stage OF the
negotiations that led up to the Paris
tribunal. and ex-Secretary Hamlin's
conduct of the negotiations OF the last
administration, they have been chosen
to assist now in composing this threat
ened difficulty.
The trouble appears to have begun
principally through the refusal OF the
British authorities to renew last year
the regulations requiring British vessels
going into the seal waters to place their
firearms under seal, to give effect TO the
Paris regulation. prohibiting the use OF
such weapons in killing seals. This reg
ulation was laid down on evidence that
a large proportion of the seals killed
with guns sank and were never recov-
cred, involving wasteful mortality.
Inc DfltlsH lia| llle lciuScu ~ eedl uP
their arms, the United States adopted
the plan OF making most thorough
search of every sealing vessel in Behring
sea. There was justification for
search in the regulations, but again the
British government protested, claiming
that British vessels were thereby SUBJ
jected to unnecessary and most vexa
a. H.,
were overhauled and thrown into con-
fusion, and that the only result was the
discovery OF one skin, in which an
American boarding officer thought he
saw shotwound, and Of a log-book
few days in arrears in entries. Yet for
this twenty-six out of twenty-nine
British vessels in the seal waters We're
searched eighty-two times, and one
boarded six times in twenty-four days.
Secretary Olney, on the other hand,
justified the course of the revenue Off
GERS by pointing out that all three of
the seized vessels were convicted in
British courts. He also gave some
startling figures to show the need OF adj
ditional restrictive regulations, which
he invited the British government to
accept. From actual count he showed
that in 1895 no less than 2s, 900 dead
seal pups were found on the seal islands,
which had persisted from starvation be-
cause their mothers had been killed at
sea by sealing vessels. 1t was also
stated that in the same season the YES
sells had taken A. 1875 skins, as against
81, 5S5 in the previous year, and Secre-
tary Olney asserted that, if the killing
was to go on at this rate, the total de-
struction of the seal herd would be ac
complished in the course OF two more
seasons. To make the showing worse
from our point of view, it was stated
that the lawful catch of the seal islands
had largely fallen off. Efforts were
made to devise way OF inSurinc the
seals against the use of firearms by
poachers. but they came to nothing, and
the upshot was that both sides stood
firm. the British warning against fur.
Their indiscriminate search OF British
vessels, and Secretary Olney standing
on our rights to make it.
Meanwhile an expert commission
sent out by both governments made an
exhaustive report tending to sustain
Secretary Olney's assertions regarding
the probable determination of the seals
under present conditions, and it must
be upon this basis that negotiations will
now proceed.