The herald., 1897-04-12
THE FUR SEAL
Again Becomes a Burning
Issue
AN EFFORT TO BE MADE
TO AVOID FURTHER CAUSE OF
FRICTION
Unless Some Agreement With Eng
land Is Reached, determination
of the Herd Is Imminent
AN EFFORT TO BE MADE
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
WASHINGTON April 1.-THE recent
appointment of ex-Secretary Foster and
ex-Assistant Secretary Hamlin by the
president to assist in the negotiations
now in progress with Great Britain re-
specting the Bering sea seal fisheries,
is indicative that this long standing dip
lomatic issue has at last assumed grave
Importance and that an earnest effort
is to be made to end the present unsat-
isfactory state of affairs or to place the
ginning of the approaching open sea-
son as will prevent it from passing into
a more serious phase. The diplomatic
correspondence of the past year makes
ii evident that severe strain was
placed upon the patience of the officials
of both the United States and Great
Britain and the warming given quietly
yet firmly, by the British premier that
further proceedings by the American
revenue cutters in the line of last years
program would not be tolerated, and the
intimation from Secretary Olney that
there would be no change unless addi-
tional restrictions were imposed upon
the British sealing vessels, hold out la
tent possibilities of a serious entangle-
ment for the two friendly powers unless
some arrangement can be made before
the end Of May. For the reason that
ex-Secretary Foster was familiar with
the early stage of the negotiations lead
ing up to the Paris arbitration, while
to ex-Secretary Hamlin is due to large
measure the credit for the conduct of
the negotiations of the last administra-
ton on this subject, they have been
chosen to assist now in composing this
threatened difficulty
The trouble appears to have begun
principally through the refusal of the
British authorities to renew last year
the regulations requiring British ves-
sells 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 regulation was laid down on evil
dence that large proeartion of the
seals killed with guns sank and were
never reached, involving wasteful NOR
tality. The British having refused to
seal up thHr arnG the United States
government adopted the plan of making
a most thorough search of every sealing
vessel in Bering sea- There was justi-
fication for a search in the regulations.
but again the British government pro-
tested, claiming that British vessels
were thereby subjected to unnecessary
and most vexatious detentions, and that
their catches were overhauled and
thrown into confusion, and that the only
result was the discovery of one skin in
which the American boarding officer
thought he saw a shot wound, and OF a
log book a few days in arrears in en-
tries Yet for this twenty-six out of
twenty-nine British vessv., IN the seal
waters were searched eighty-two times,
one vessel being boarded six times in
twenty-four days.
Secretary Olney, on the other hand,
justified the course of the revenue Of
ficers by pointing out that all of the
three seized vessels were convicted in
British courts. He also gave some
startling figures to show the need of ad-
dit1onal restrictive regulations which he
invited the British government to ac-
cept, From actual count he showed that
in 1895 no less than $4,000 dead seal pups
were found on seal islands which had
persisted from starvation because their
mothers had been killed at sea by seal
ing vessels. Also 1t was stated that in
the same season the vessels had taken
44.169 skins, as against 31,5S5 in the
previous year, and Secretary Olney az
serted that If the killing was to go on
at this rate the total destruction OF the
seal herd would be accomplished in the
course of about two more seasons. To
make the showing worse from our point
of view il was stated that the lawful
catch of the seal islands had largely fall
len off. Efforts were made to devise a
way of ensuring the seal 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 further indiscriminate search OF
British vessels and Secretary Olney
standing on our right to make il. Mean
while an expert commission sent ont by
both governments made an exhaustive
report tending TO sustain Secretary
Olney's assertions regarding the prob
able determination of the seals under
present conditions. and IL must be upon
this basis that negotiations will now pro-
ceed.