The Sealing Monopoly Judge Swan Called a ‘Monumental Humbug’
A federal report from Port Townsend shows Puget Sound sealers thriving while a Smithsonian expert blasts the Alaska Commercial Company’s grip on the Pribilof Islands.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Port Townsend, Jan. 6.—Special.—The treasury department recently requested the collector of customs to transmit a compilation of Puget Sound sealing data to the secretary. It is to be used, it is supposed, in connection with the proposed settlement of Canadian sealers' claims. The report shows that during the last three years vessels hailing from the Sound have taken more than 37,000 skins. In 1894 sixteen or eighteen vessels were engaged in sealing, and the combined catches aggregated 5,022 skins. Each season's catch shows an increase over the preceding year and indicates that the industry is growing, though somewhat slowly. The Indians at Neah Bay have caught large numbers of the animals, and their proficiency appears to have increased each year.
Judge James G. Swan, a representative of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington City, who is probably the best authority on sealing matters on the Pacific coast, says:
'I consider our laws regarding fur seals a monumental humbug system, inaugurated solely for the benefit of the Alaska Commercial Company, and their successors, the present lessees of the Pribilof Islands, and not for the public good. It is true that the government derives a rent from the lessees of these islands, but when we look at the expense of maintaining a fleet of armed vessels as a police patrol in Bering Sea and the expense of litigation and the sum of money to be paid to Canadian vessels for unlawful seizure, all the vaunted benefits of the lease of the Pribilof Islands dwindle into insignificance and the credit side of the government presents but a sorry sight.
'We are told that the seals are decreasing in number and will be exterminated, as they were said to be at Cape Horn, and the facts are cited as parallel cases. The seals were driven from the Cape Horn Islands by the greed of the hunters as they are being driven from the Pribilof Islands by the actions of the company themselves, but the fur seals have not been exterminated at Cape Horn nor will they be exterminated when the last one leaves the Pribilof Islands; they will simply go to some other place. The Cape Horn fur seals have multiplied in incredible numbers on the southern islands, and the Pribilof Island seals are returning to Copper Island and the Japan grounds will be as numerous as ever, but they will simply be driven from the Pribilof Islands.'
“I consider our laws regarding fur seals a monumental humbug system, inaugurated solely for the benefit of the Alaska Commercial Company.”
The fight over who owns and profits from marine resources is still with us—from Pacific salmon to Bering Sea crab. Swan’s critique of a private monopoly leasing public waters foreshadows modern debates over fisheries management and Indigenous harvesting rights.
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