The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1903-05-21
MODIFY COMPACT
NEW RULES ON SEALING TO RE
FORMULATED.
Joint Commission of Great Brit.,r
and America to Take Up the
Matter of Sealing--Great Impor.
lance Attached to Its Conclu.
siOns in the Matter.

WdeuluSlon, May 10. - important
questions relating to the fur seal fish.
cries of Alaska are to be considered NV
the joint commission to be appointed
this year by the United States and
British governments. It is not too
much to say that the very existence Of
the sealing industry possibly depends
on the deliberations of this body.
1t was provided in the Paris award
of 1893 that the parties to the agree.
ment might, every five years, appoint a
commission to consider changes in the
compact, it having been admitted at
the time that questions might quite
possibly arise, with the passage of
time, which would render modi6ca.
tions desirable. Neither government
moreover, cared to bind itself irrevoca.
bly, for all time without some provision
for changing the original agreement
by mutual consent at some future time.
No changes were made in the inter.
national compact in 1896-fve years
after the agreement was entered into.
Now another FIVE years have passed.
and it is possible to effect notifications
in the agreement, if both sides consent
after deliberations by joint commits.
sion.
No thought was given to the matter
this year by the state department until
congress, in one of the appropriation
bills, uthorized the expenditure of
$4,000 to defray the expenses of a
commission of seal experts and jurists,
who should meet with similar COM
mission to be appointed by Great Brit
ain. Now that the appropriation has
been made, the STATE department will
Jake steps to carry out the evident in.
tent OF congress by appointing COM
mission. When the appointments will
be announced is uncertain, but they
must be made some time this year.
Although no formal course of alton
has been determined, and although no
program will be marked out until the
commission is appointed and organized,
it is reasonably certain that the prop
osition, frequently made during the last
few years, to abolish all restrictions re-
lating to sealing will be discussed by
the commissioners.
1t is considered almost universally
that the law passed by congress in 1898
prohibiting pelagic sealing north Of
the forty-fifth parallel of latitude, in
ficts great hardship on the sealing in
dustries of this couRtry. When the
law was passed it was hoped that the
British government would pass SINH
lar law. but it failed to do so. The
somewhat absurd result is that the
United States government has bound
Its citizens to observe rules which other
nations do not observe, and to protect
the seal fisheries virtually for the profit
of other countries.
Japanese sealing schooners are con-
stntly engged in taking seals in north
ern waters nduer conditions forbidden
to citizens o the United States by our
law of 1898. This is source of con-
slant complaint, and the attention Of
the government has on several occa-
sions been forcibly called to the present
conditions by federal officers who have
been in Alaska on official business.
Many of these officers believe, as not
few members of congress believe, that
it would be better to abandon all seal
ing regulations than to continue in the
present unsatisfactory baeis.
The proposition to appoint joint
commission to consider the sealing reg
ulations is somewhat embarrassed by
the status of international affa ire affect
ing the Alaska boundary. There is
feeling of regret in official circles that
the appointment of this commission
comes at time when it is especially
desired to stir up no new controversies
or to revive old ones, between the Uni
ted States and Great Britain.