New-York tribune., 1910-07-24
Naturalist to Watch Killing.

Under the new law the government has
arranged to send a naturalist up to the
islands to take charge Of the killing and
treat the rookeries just as a forester does
a grove of valuable trees The super1uous
young males will be weeded out, just as
the underground and young trees which
crowd the others too much are eliminated
from the forest The North American
Company killed on an average fifteen thou
sand seals a year The government natu-
ralist will kill probably about ten thou
sand.
1T Is far within the limits of safety to
leave one male for every fifteen female
seals. / never saw the time when more
than one for every thirty females could
get into the rookery. and over on the Rus
sian side they have a herd of fifteen hun
dred females and only Ave males But that
means garnering every available pelt.
though I can't see that 1t has hurt the
herd any.
But if pelagic sealing could be pro-
hibited the American herd in twenty years
would be producing annually two hundred
thousand saperhuous males
DIR. Jordan sailed from this city yesterday
morning for England. to spend several
months abroad in the first real vacation
he has had in thirty years But while on
the Continent this summer he will attend
the Worlds Congress of Liberal Religions
in Berlin. where he will speak on August 8.
and the Geological Congress at Gratz, Aus
tria. which he will address on August Is.
The Berlin congress will give up the en-
tire day of August s to a discussion Of
International peace. and DR.. Jordan's ad-
dress will deal with the physiological re-
suits of war along the same lines as his
book on the effect Of the Napoleonic wars
on the French race. But at Gratz he will
have a definite proposal to make to the
different nations represented in the con-
gress-the establishment of an information
al game law for the protection of the mann
mails of the sea.
DR.. Jordan is a seal expert Beginning
in 1896, he has made an exhaustive study
of the seal rookeries on the islands of st.
George and ST. Paul, of the Pribylov group
in Bering Sea, belonging to the United
States He is chairman of a board of ex-
perts which presented a plan last No
vember TO Secretary Nagel OF the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor contemplat-
ing an international conference to draw
up an agreement for the protection not
only of fur seals, but OF all mammals of
the sea, including whales, walruses, sea
lions and sea elephants The conference
was TO include representatives of the
United States, Great Britain, Russia and
Japan. The suggestion has not been acted
upon as yet. The Geological Congress at
Gratz is an international affair, which
meets every three years, and is attended
by delegates of the powers named, among
others.
In brief, DR.. Jordan's proposition is that
the nations should band together to make
the open sea a haven, allowing the killing
Of sea mammals only within the three-mile
limit of national Jurisdiction. This, he
contends, would allow each nation TO pro-
tect its seals and other sea mammals from
determination. and so regulate their killing
as to perpetuate the supply. a corollary
to this international game law which he
will suggest to the congress is the restric-
ton OF naval operations to the three-mile
limit.
Favors Killing Young Bulls.
DR.. Frederic A. Lucas, director of the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences,
who was member with DR.. Jordan Of the
investigating board of 1s96-'s7, and is also
a fellow member Of the advisory board