Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-05
TIE FACTS ABOUT BRANDING
Missapprehension andiMisstatement
About Coming Conference.
MANY ERRORS REMOVED

nerd Tor the government for several years
past, to The Star reporter this morning.
! Mr.. Brown has Just returned from Alaska
and talked Interestingly upon the subject
with which he is so familiar. TT is popu-
| larly supposed" continued Mr. Brown.
that if Canada and Great Britain would
permit representatives of Japan and China
| to be present at the conference, the former
| might in some way be outvoted. There
is no voting at a conference; it is simply. as
| the name indicates, meeting of interested
| persons to discuss a situation of common
| interest and to ascertain to what extent
| there is common agreement among them
| as to existing facts.
1T will be readily SEEM" he went on,
| that If i'll this informal way agreement
could be secured OH the part of the experts
| as 10 existing conditions it would clear the
way for, and greatly facilitate, more formal
| negotiations on the subject. This indeed
| Is especially important at this time, in view
| OF the fact that in year the matter could
under the findings of the Paris tribunal
come up again for hearing. There is every
good reason why such conference should
De held at this time, and nothing but cap
tlous reasons can be urged against il on
| the part Of any ration. The interest OF
| any one ration should be unhesita tin gly
| sacrificed to the preservation of the great
seal herd. or to the preservation of any
| other great herd of animals, which the in
genuity of man can readily destroy, in order
| that 1t may be preserved for the benefit
of all mankind"
The Truth About Branding.
Mr.. Brown was informed of the various
reports coming apparently from Canadian
sources to the effect that the branding of
the seals last year has caused dispersion
of the herd.
The branding last year." said MIR
Brown, consisted of the branding of two
adult female seals and five hundred young
female pup seals. three months old, thai
had not yet been in the water, and Just like
calves that had not been let out of the
harn yard yet or put out on the range
Both adults came back this year with
brands in perfect condition, the hair and
FUR entirely destroyed, and the skins prac-
tcaily ruined for commercial purposes.
AT the time left the Island, early in Au-
gust, the young pups had not begun to
come in, or. that is, the yearlings that were
pups when branded hst xear 1t is simnIv
absurd to suppose that the branding of a
pair OF female seals ard five hundred puns
ill., ~ nave an the habits of the herd
IKE this The branding this year, when
was On very mucfgmofe extensive scale
old not begin until the sealing season r.
me north OF Japan was over, so that any
Statement about the dispersion of the Alas
kan herd by the branding thus far -
Is manifestly ridiculous. More than that
me me ehtlTe history of seal life thus far
SHOWN shows the lmpossiblity of dispersinr
iieid ny DTdIlOlnS.
Tried as TN EXPERIMENT.
branding, 1t must be remembered" con-
'iiueu MI Brown. WAS taken up as an ex-
pertinent along with Other suggestions in
connection with the seals Thus far # has
'ee'i SHOWN that branding on a small scale
can be done effectively without injury TO
the animal and at the So ne time nracri-
caiiS destroy the skin for commercjal mr.
poses. Ih1s experiment has now beer, tried
OH hluch more extensive scale than farm
tlIy' ana IL remains to be seen whether it
wii AUNT OF wide and effective apnlica-
non. 1t Is only one CT the many effects Inv
winch an earnest band of scientific men arc
ehdeaVorins to preserve The seal herd The
preservation of the seal herd however
sstiu mr. Brown with much earnestne,s
shouid not rest upon branding or upon amy
otner device, but should be obtained
through decent, manly and rational ar
fangement between the great nations in
tefested.
Great Decrease of the Herd
That the seal herd has steadily de-
creased is Enthusiastically true. and Ibis
year the decadence has been accurately
and definitely detei mined by the rerresen-
tatives of both nations. who counted tho
seals together and accepted each others
figures But If no other evidence was at
hand the fact that the herd yielded 70 oO0
young male skins to the lessees last year
ana less than FOOD young male skins this
year would show conclusively that the
herd was steadily decreasing in WELDING
capacity At this rate. it will be plainly
seen That the commercial value of the
nero Is rapidly diminishing and will soon
be eXtinguished."
Views of Expert f. A. Lucas
The Star reporter. after leaving Mr.
brown called OH MIR. F. A. Lucas of the
Smithsonian Institution, who has also been
investigating the seal question for a num-
Der of years and is recognized throughout
the scientific world, as well as in a practi-
cal sense, as an expert on the subject
There have been so manv mjssta.e
ments made concerning the branding of
seals, Some intentioEal and some through
ignorance. that 1t is high time they were
contradicted.' said Mr. Lucas
We have been told that branding was
not practicable. that the brand would heal
over and do no harm; that the disturbance
created would be something terrible and
finally that the Seals would be driven from
the islands.
No one has ever proposed to drive up
and braiid the females during the height
Oh OIL the breeding season in July. and any
walls over the evils of such a procedure
are quite uncalled for" said Mr. Lucas.
AS for the seals being driven from the
isldnds, the solicitude of the Canadian
sealers on this point and their fears that
the seals may suffer are truly touching
One might suppose that the Canadians
would be glad to have the seals settle on
the islands off the coast of British Co
'umbia. when by following out their the
ores that killing the females increases the
numbers. of seals they might kill all the
females and thereby cause an immediate
increase in the herd. Last June Vic
toria skipper discovered through the me-
dunn of his inner consciousness that large
herds of seals had remained near Sitka and
never entered Boring sea. To be sure, the
revenue cutters cruised over the ground
without finding single seal nor did any
of the sealers discover any of them in Au-
gust. so 1t was reported that they had fed
north of japan.
"All this is utter rubbish and we might
much more consistently. claim that the
branding of seals has the effect of attract
ing them to the localities where the work
was carried on. The two rookeries where
seals were branded in 1896 are the two
which show the least decrease this year.
while two rookeries that were little visited
and where no branding was done have suf-
fered most. The seals that have left the
islands have left them forever, and the
only true reports are those which state
that seals are extremely scarce both in
Bering sea and On the Asiatic side.