Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-12-14

ct IL SccIuS that LucIc die d. AcdoI
1000 bachelor" seals on st. Paul's
and St. Georges Islands? Some two
thousand of the seals there are ben
edicts of polygamous temperament
and have among them about $4,000
wives, classified by the government
experts into "harems" and spoken
of that way when they are officially
talked about. 1t also appears that
there are only 40 900 seals left now
on the Pribilof Islands, and the de-
duction must follow that at the rate
of decrease in the last ten years, it
is only question Of time when the
seal will be a memory and another
of the mammal families will have be-
come extent by the greed Of man.
The question arises, who knows
all this! Up on the barren reefs OF
the Pribilofs there is band of men
called the alaskan fur seal service"
These men counted the married seals
last year and found there were 1,O71
happy families on St. Paul Island,
where one pater familias lives In
serenity with a dozen wives. They
found 1000 little bachelor seals and
promptly tagged them as immune
from the hunters, because Uncle sam
wants to encourage every bachelor
to get a "harem" of his own.
So much for the top of the seas.
The bottoms do not escape investl-
cation. Down at Woods Hole, Mass,
and at Beaufort, N. c., there are two
seaside laboratories, where set of
experts study the mysteries Of the
deep. Off the coast of Florida, SER
les of experiments have proved that
we can produce our own sponges.
They have discovered that in ~
months a sponge can be coaxed to
grow so big it will weigh an ounce
and a quarter, when it is empty.
Somewhere between Hatteras and
Labrador, there is an expert for the
government beating his way up the
coast on nd-jammer' looking
for a very elusive fish, the mackerel.
When he learns his tricks the gov
eminent will tell the fishermen.
Upon the coast of Alaska, at Afog-
max there is a new salmon station
which has liberated more than 3,OO0,-
900 young red salmon to the rivers
and during the year, all over the
United States, the government de-
posted in various waters more than
100000 fish.
Finding their way through the tor
tuous channels in the waters OF the
Philippines, a group Of hardy men
from the coast and Geodetic Survey
are finding new lanes for commerce.
Waters hitherto uncharted and
mystery to the mariner will be easy
of navigation. Another group is
working its way up the rocky coast
of Alaska.
On the northern edge of the Unit
ed States a band of explorers has cut
, it's way through the forests to the
peak of the Rocky Mountains, mark
ing the boundary line Of the United
States with Canada. The old stone
monuments, placed years ago and
hopelessly buried in the 'tangle OF
mountain underground, have been re-
covered and new ones set in their
places. Wherever the line runs
through wooded sections, a lane OF
clearing has been chopped up one
side of the mountain and down the
other. Along the Yukon river the
civil engineers with transits and
plumb-bobs have been locating the
141st meridian of longitude. The
basis for all future land surveys in
the valley of one of the greatest riv-
ers in the world, is being laid there
now.
Each aspect of this work comes
under some one of the sixteen bur-
eaus of the department. They cover
everything. In the bureau of corpor-
atoms, the proper control of the
great Industrial and financial forces
of the country is the absorbing pro-
blem. A system of statutory public
ity by which corporations will be
required to report the essential facts
of their organization and condition,
is suggested. This must be done by
the federal government, Secretary
Nagel believes and his report says
any attempt to solve the problem
through state action will be futile,
because no number of states can ever
agree on establishing and maintain
ing one system.
The bureau of immigration shows
in cold figures that the longer the
stranger stays in the United States,
the more unlikely he is to go away.
There has been during the year an
increase in the immigrant popula-
ton of the United States of more
than 100000. More than quarter
of a million of immigrants went back
home and 100000 of them had been
here less than five years. There
were only 1000 departures of those
who have been here 20 years. The
statistics show it is the unskilled i'm
migrant who is the bird of passage
and that the mechanic and the ar
tisan stay in their new homes.
The effectiveness of the immigra-
ton limitations agreed upon between
the government and Japan is demon
strated in the reports which show
that of 1854 Japanese who applied
for admission to the country, 2,432
had the proper passports from their
home government and only 212 we're
debarred.
In the division Of naturalization, it
is shown that 1922 aliens applied
for citizenship papers, which was
more than 5000 over the number of
applicants during the fiscal year pre-