Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-12-13
NAGEL SOLVES
MYSTER|ESOF
THE DEEP
GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
COVER WIDE SCOPE
Entertaining Account Of the
Family Life of the Fur Seal;
Facts About the Salmon and
Elusive Mackerei.
lpy Morning Journal Special Leased wireI


--
luy Morning Journal spee,al Ieas.d w,r.r
Washington. Dec. 1s.--About this
time every year there comes from the
government printing office host of
I rather dry-looking documents--annu-
al reports, setting forth the ramifica-
tions and results of the activities of
hundreds OF government officials in
1 every corner of the national territory
\ Behind the long columns OF figures,
underneath the serrled dollar marks
and other forms OF statistics, between
! the lines of bare and often cumbrous-
II written official statements OF men
whose forte is not literary, lie stories
which, If one had time to dig them
out. would be as interesting as Rob
inso Crusoe" or any other OF the fa-
nous tales of adventure.
Take for instance the report of the
secretary OF commerce ana labor,
Charles Nagcl, addressed TO the pres
ident and first made public tonight.
Some OF the more important portions
of this report are treated al some
length elsewhere. the following para
graphs indicate the scope of the nc
ilNfAtfN ~ itlEN ufIIilHltDi, anu SOfft
Of the entertaining material with
which it deals In the course of years
work.
For example. who In the world east
or the Rocky mountains would have
suspected that some seals are married
ana some are bachelors. and so recog-
nized officially Uncle SAM Yet il
seems that there are at least 1000
bachelor" seals on ~. pauls and 81.
Georges islands. some two thousnnd
OF the seals there arc bencdicis of a
polygamous tempcramcnt ana have
among them about 900 wives. clag-
sificd by the government experts into
"harems" ana spokcn Of Tint way
when they are officially talked about.
1t also npnears that there arc only
AZ .po4A ssala, len rslnri on the PflbiIof
Islands, and the deduction must fol-
low thar at the rate Of decrease in
the last ten years IL ia only O question
OF time when The seal VIII be a mem
ory ana another of the mammal fam
Hes viii have become extinct by the
greed Of man
The question arises who knows all
this2 W 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 ana found there were f,07l hap
py families on St Paul island, where
one pater familias lives In serenity
with a dozen wives. They found 1000
little bachelor seals and promptly
jagged them as immune from the
hunters, because Uncle sam wants to
encourage every bachelor Ia get n
'hnrem" OF his own
SO much for the top of the seas
rhr bottoms do not escape investiga-
ion. Down at Woods Hole Mass,
md at Beaufort, n. G., there are two
icaside laboratories, where "A set of
'xperts study the mysteries of the
lcop. on the coast of Florida "A SER
cs OF experiments have proved that
We can produce our own sponges.
rhcy have discovered that In twenty
iine months a sponge can he coaxed
@ grow so big that il will weigh an
,unce and a quarter when 1t is emp
81 Somewhere between Uatterns and
.ahrndor there Is an expert for the
government beating his way up the
oast on "a wind -tammer." looking for
very elusive fish. the mackerel
When he learns his tricks the gov
rnment viii tell the Fishermen.
Upon the coast of Alaska at Az
gnak. there Is "A nry salmon station
thich has liberated more than Z. 600
90 Young red salmon 10 the rivers
ma during the yeur. an over the INIT
Il states. tho government deposited
% various waters more than 3.0oo.-
40 fish.
Finding their way through the tor.
luus channels in the waters of the
philippines. "a eroup of hardy men
rom the coast and gcodetic survey
re- finding new lanes for commerce.
Vaters hitherto unchnrtcd and "A mys-
'ry To the mariner viii be easy of
avigation. Another group is work
* its way up the rocky coast OF
laska