Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-09
TO SAVE THE SEALS
Efforts to Be Made to Pass
the Beidler Bill.
REPORTEDTO THE HOUSE
AUTHORIZES NEGOTIATIONS
WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
A Modus Vivend Proposed to Prevent
determination by Subjects of the
Two Countries Interested.
REPORTEDTO THE HOUSE

Efforts will be made at this session to
obtain the passage Of the Beidler bill, now
pending in the House, to stop the slaughter
Of seals in Alaska.
This bill was originally drawn by Mr..
Dingley, the late Speaker Reed and Mr..
w. L. Wilson in 1894; passed the House
unanimously February o. 1895, but too late
for action in the Senate before the sine die
adjournment of March 4. Again Mr. Ding
ley and Mr.. Reed introduced the bill, and
again 1t was unanimously passed by the
House February %, 1895, and made spe-
cial order for the Senate on March 16,
1896. but action was postponed pending dip
lomatic negotiations which eventually
failed to accomplish the purpose the bill
designed.
Bill Reported to the House.
The bill was reported from the ways and
means committee last session by Mr..
Tawney Of Minnesota.
"In order to prevent the determination of
fur SEALS" the report said, (which will soon
occur unless prompt measures are taken to
prevent pelagic sealing, this bill authorizes
the President to negotiate and conclude ne
gotiations with the government of Great
Britain for a review of the conditions af-
fecting seal life on the seal islands and in
to determine what further regulations may
be devised and adopted that will restore
and preserve the fur seal industry of Alaska
for the good of all mankind and put an
end to the cruel and wanton practice Of
killing seals now permitted and carried on
under existing regulations.
Pending this investigation and review
the President is authorized to conclude and
proclaim q modus vivendi with the govern
ment of Great Britain whereby the killing
Of any or all fur seals on the land or in
the sea by the subjects of the respective
high contracting parties shall be suspended
and entirely prohibited, except a few hum
dred young male seals annually on the seal
islands for the food of the natives; this
modus vivendi to continue in force until
abrogated by mutual agreement of the
parties thereto.
If ALI Effort Fails.
eff however. the President fails to Sc
cure the modus vivendi authorized by this
bill prior to the opening of the sealing sea-
son of 1903 then. and for the sole purpose
of preserving the fur seal species from full
and complete determination on the seal is
lands. and In the waters of Alaska, the
Secretary Of the Treasury is authorized in
his discretion. with the approval of the
President. to take all of the seal life on
said islands. except 10000 adult female
seals and 1000 young male seals.
This action on the part of the Secretary
OF the Treasury cannot be taken until all
effort to secure from the government of
Great Britain the modus vivendi authorized
by this bill has failed, and will be taken
then only because the government of Great
Britain declines to enter into negotiations
with us for the preservation Of the seal
herd referred to. In that event the pelagc
hunter will continue the ruthless and in
human destruction of the fur seal in the
ocean until their determination is complete.
For that reason the discretionary author
ity given by this bill to the Secretary Of
the Treasury to take the seals on the Pribi-
lof Islands is justified.
IF this authority is exercised it will end
the business of the pelagic hunter and at
the same time enable us to stop sensibly
and properly the work of killing of young
males on these islands, thus saving from
the Canadian hunters and our own people
the right proportion of male and female
life to preserve the species from utter de-
struction.
Must Stop Pelagic Sealing.
unless we stop the pelagic hunter in his
work Of destroying the female seals in
Alaskan waters outside of the sixty-mile
zone, which entails the starvation of their
pups left on the Pribilof Islands awaiting
their return from the feeding grounds,
there is no justification in our trying to
preserve the seal herd for him to destroy
at sea.
I'VE cannot reasonably ask our people
to expend their money to preserve the seals
on the land or on the seal islands in order
that the Canadian pelagic hunter may ulti-
mately destroy them in the ocean. Yet, If
some regulation is not adopted to govern
our own people in the killing of young
male seals upon the island, the young male
life will be completely destroyed by 1905,
and the birth rate cease the breeding
grounds almost Immediately thereafter
Mr.. Beidler and Mr. Tawney will resume
their efforts to get the bill through early
this session.