est ibiidiaif r?F)
CTONAnOM.
school
Lesson ,
(By E. O. SELLERS, Director t)t- Even
Ing Department, The Moody Bible In
stitute of Chicago.)
LESSON FOR APRIL 7.
EASTER LESSON.
s
lug
HE fifteenth of December,
1911, was the time set for
the formal adoption of ono
of the most important inter
national conservation meas
ures that has ever been ef
fected. Pursuant to a con
vention or treaty concluded
at Washington on July 7,
1911, by the United States.
Great Britain, Russia, and
Japan, the fur seals of the
north Pacific Ocean will re
ceive for the first time a
form of protection that has
been shown to be absolutely
necessary, and is guaran
anteed by these four great
powers for a term of 15
years.
The agreement prohibits
absolutely pelagic sealing, or
the killing of fur seals while in the water, and
places the legitimate killing of surplus male
, seals on land under the direct control of the
governments interested.
This convention insures the rescue of the
depleted fur-seal herds from commercial ex
tinction; prohibits the citizens or subjects of
the contracting powers from engaging In a
wasteful, cruel occupation, and removes a
long-standing disturbance of international good
will. . '
Fur 6eals inhabit certain parts of both the
northern and. southern hemispheres, but the
most .important, herds live in the north Pacific,
represent three distinct but closely related spe
cies4 and are known, as the Alaskan, Russian
and, Japanese fur seals, respectively. Although
the northern . seals roam widely on the high
seas, they always resort for breeding purposes
to certain definite bits of land, and it is this
habit 'which gives particular nations property
rights In them and has created several inter
national complications.' '
The Japanese seals visit' no land except Rob-ben-Island
and certain islands of the Kurile
chain;' the Russian seals never go to other
chores than those of the Commander Islands,
off the coast of Kamchatka; and the Alaskan
Bealsv after distributing themselves over the
eastern part of the Pacific Ocean as far south
as southern California, make an annual pil
grimage to islands in Bering Sea.
Of all the fur seals, the most numerous and
Important are those of Alaska, which came to
the United' States with all the other resources
of the' territory when Russia ceded her juris
diction. The Alaskan fur seals have for many
years been the subject of protracted national
and international discussion, and during the
years 1910 and 1911 came in for an unusual
amqunt.of attention. In addition to the con
sideration, received during the diplomatic nego
tiations resulting in . the treaty already men
tioned., Congress has enacted a new -law re
lating to the seal, islands, a new dispensation
has come. In the. administration of the islands,
and the , government as represented by the
Bureau of .Fisheries has for the first time en
gaged, in . the business of taking and market
ing seai skins.
The "new dispensation" includes permanent
scientific observation and control of the herd,
discretionary authority to suspend all killing,
and ' discretionary power to lease the sealing
privileges or to exploit them as a government
monopoly.
The only land to which the Alaskan fur seals
ever resort is the group of small, rocky islands
lying in Bering Sea 215 miles north of Una
laska Island, the nearest land. These bits of
bleak land have come- to be popularly known
as the Seal Islands, from their most conspic
uous ' feature; but among geographers they
are called the Pribilof Islands, in honor of the
Russian navigator -who, in 17S6, while In the
employ of a Kamchatkan trading company,
followed the migrating seals and ascertained
for the first time where they resorted.
At the time of the discovery of the Pribilofs
there were no human inhabitants. As soon
1 as the Russians began to take sea skins they
transferred thereto from the Aleutian Islands
a number of natives to do the manual labor,
Rnd from time to time established small colo
nies at various convenient points.
The present population numbers about 300
on the two islands.
When the seal islands came into our custody
the fur seals thereon constituted the most val
uable aquatic resource that any government
ever possessed. Owing to the immense body
of animals present and the difficulty of count
ing with any degree of accuracy, estimates of
the size of the herd at that time necessarily
differ widely, the extremes being two million
and seven million. It is safe to assume that
the number was between 'two and a half and
four million, distributed on 20 to 30 rookeries.
At the close of the season of 1911 the
1 Alaskan seal herd consists of not more than
150,000 individuals of all ages.
1 This appalling dwindling of the herd has
occasioned much concern and has subjected
I the government to much unfavorable criticism,
because the government has exercised full and
I continuous control aunng an tne intervening
years up to tne present date, it will te seen,
however, that the criticism is not justified, for
the reason that the decline and decimation of
the herd came through causes operating when
!the seals were on the high seas and beyond
the protecting care of their foster father.
I It is furthermore a fact that the government
! took active steps to secure adequate protection
j for the seals when away from the Pribilofs,
and that its efforts were frustrated chiefly by
j the results of an unfortunate International
I arbitration.
I Although the seals are easily killed by the
methods adopted by man for their destruc
; Hon cm Fea and land, they are capable of with
; standing, great privation and of undergoing
extraordinary muscular exertion.
To maintain themselves during winter in the
tempestous north Pacific withcni resorting to
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rlEAw r vfcf& 4&t iJZ?
3Aj9nz
land is in itself no small accomplishment for
air-breathing animals. The females, leaving
the islands in November, go further Bouth
than any other members of the berd, and In
December appear off southern California,
where they, remain until March. They then
begin their long return journey, reaching the
Islands early in June.
Within two days of their arrival on the rook
eries the cows give birth to their pups. Not
until ten or twelve days have elapsed do they
return to the water or take any food. Then,
after washing and playing near the islands,
they make their first long trip to the feeding
grounds, coming back to the rookeries after
three or four days. Thereafter throughout
the season the cows make regular feeding
trips at intervals of five to ten days.
The seals subsist chiefly on squid, but also
on herring, smelt, salmon, pollock, and other
kinds of fish, which are caught and eaten in
the water. They have prodigious appetites
and gorge themselves whenever the opportu-,
nity comes.
On the approach of cold weather, the cows
and pups leave the Islands together. Up to
that time the pups have subsisted solely on
milk, and they then have to learn to catch
their own food, consisting of fish and squid.
Inasmuch as the natural mortality among the
pups In their first year Is fully 50 per cent, it
is evident that they experience many vicissi
tudes In the tempestous seas to which they
commit themselves. The males follow shortly
after, but some remain about the islands
throughout the winter in mild seasons, and
the natives always depend on seals for food in
December and January.
Fur seals and bair seals have always been
regarded as legitimate objects of exploitation,
and all governments having real or assumed
property rights in herds of seals have sanc
tioned their killing, under restriction, for fur,
leather, oil, food, etc.
Beginning in 1786 and continuing until the
sale of Alaska, Russians were almost contin
uously engaged in killing fur seals on the
Pribilof Islands. In the earlier years there was
a promiscuous scramble among rival compa
nies, so that to maintain order and properly
regulate the taking of seals the government
was forced in 1799 to give the privilege to a
single company, created by imperial decree
and having among its shareholders members
of the imperial family and the nobility, This
association, known as the Russian-American
company, enjoyed a monopoly of this business
as long as Russia had control of Alaska. An
ukase issued by Alexander I in 1S21 for the
regulation of the company had as one of its
features the prohibition of foreign vessels
within 100 miles of the Russian coasts and
islands. This ukas nvolve(, RusSK I- a dis
pute with the United w..ie& anu ureat Britain,
resulting in the treaties of 1824 and 1825,
which recognized Russia's claim to jurisdiction
over the whole of Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea,
and other water inclosed by Russian territory.
From the outset the company placed a ra
tional limit on the number of animals killed
each year, and in the light of later experience
it is evident that the herd would have been
fully able to sustain the annual harvest of
skins if these had been taken only from the
males. But males and females alike were
slaughtered in ignorance or disregard of the
polygamous character of the seals, arid as'
early as 1806 it was necessary to suspend
operations for two years in order to permit
the herd to recuperate.
When killing was resumed, however, It was
along the same destructive lines, and the
mighty fur-seal host continued to dwindle un-'
til by 1834 its numbers were reduced to one
fifteenth or one-twentieth of those present in
the first years after the discovery . of the,
islands. The suspension of all killing for a
term of years then ensupd, and by the time
operations were resumed the company officials
had come to realize that the females should bo
protected, and later the sacrifice of old bulls
and young pups was stopped.
The result was a remarkable recuperation
ard increase In the herd that afford a valid
basis for the belief that speedy recovery of the
decimated herds cf Alaska, Russia, and Japan
may follow the elimination of the factor re
sponsible for their present condition, namely,
the indiscriminate killing of males and females
at sea. When Russia ceded her jurisdiction
over Alaska, the Pribilof fur-seal herd had at
tained a degree of prosperity closely approach
ing its condition at the time of its discovery,
and we thus came Into possession of a re
source but little impaired and had a knowl
edge of its significant history to guide us in
its treatment.
It is a cause for congratulation that no coun
try has dealt with its seal life in a more intel
ligent, humane, and zealous manner than the
United States, and it was a cruel fate that ftr
so many years rendered our efforts futile. The
only Occasion "when there was any laxity in
our administration of the seal islands was dur
ing the first years of our possession, when the
government was still unorganized anywhere in
the territory and various private companies
landed parties on the Pribilofs and took seal
skins without any government supervision or
restriction. It was In that year that the larg
est killing in the history of the islands was
made; the number of skins obtained was prob
ably not less than 300.000, and may have
reached 375,000; but this take was not indis
criminate, was confined to bachelors, and had
no effect on the permanence of the herd.
Although the indiscriminate killing of seals
in the sea had been going on from very early
times, this business was not extensive, was
conducted by natives using spears in their
canoes, and had no appreciable effect on the
herd.
Special inquiry made by the government
showed that in different years from 70 to over
90 per cent of the seals killed at sea, either
on the northwest coast Or In Bering Sea, were
females.
What pelagic hunting then meant to the seal
herd when so large a fleet was engaged, and
what it has meant recently when the fleet was
larger 'in proportion to the number of seals,
may be appreciated when i Is stated (1) that
for every seal killed and secured by the hunt
ers not less than two seals were killed and
lost because they sank before-. the hunters
could lay hold of them, while many that were
wounded arid escaped died later; (2) that for
every adult female killed on the way to the
Islands In spring an unborn pup was sacri
ficed; (3) that for every female killed after
the herd had reached the Islands a pup on
shore was left to die a lingering death by
starvation, and a pup to be born the next sea
son vaVlikewi8e sacrificed.
The government was not slow to realize the
damage done to the seal herd by pelagic seal
ing, and was led to assume jurisdiction over
the entire American side of Bering Sea and to
regard as poachers any persons found hunting
seals therein. The seizure of vessels flying
the United States and British' flags followed,
and there arose a controversy with Great Brit
ain, which culminated in the reference of the
case to an international tribunal of arbitration
Hiat metJn Pari'" 5" OS. The award of the
arbitrationVourt was agJJ-t the United States"
on both, of the main contentions, namely, tho
Bering Sea is a closed sea, and that the prop
erty right in the seal herd warranted the gov
ernment in protecting the seals while on tho
high seas.
Since the award . of the Paris tribunal the
case of the fur-eeaLherd has gone from bad to
worse. Ttie United States government early
B.ond . its good faith by prohibiting its citi
zens from engaging in the lucrative industry of
pelagic sealing; but the subjects of all other
countries were permitted to do so, and it was
the injection of a new factor, Japan, that con
tributed more than any other cause to the
decimation of our seal herd.
The fur-seal problem with which the United
States government now has to deal presents
several phases.1 The most important duty the
responsible officials have to perform Is to con
serve and. increase ..the seal herd. This in
volves continuous care, study, and observa
tion; the determination of the. actual condition
and needs of the herd, and the application of
the results of scientific and economic investi
gation to the welfare- of the seals.
A scarcely less important duty, and one that
is In no respect antagonistic to the first, Is to
provide a revenue and to utilize a highly useful
resource at the time when that resource pos
sesses the greatest, market value. This In
volves the judicious killing of the male seals
when they are two or three years old and the
disposal of their pelts to tho best advantage.
A third duty Is to ascertain what are the real
needs of the helpless native Inhabitants of the
seal islands, and to give them the air that is
best suited for their mental, moral and physi
cal natures.
Recent criticism of the government's policy
cf taking the skins of seals in view of the de
pleted condition of the herd is based on defi
cient knowledge. The fur seal being a highly
polygamous animal, and males and females be
ing born in equal numbers, it follows that un
der the conditions that have prevailed and
still continue the number of males produced
Is far in excess of the requircmenfs cf nature
for the perpetuation of the species.
The preservation and increase of the seal
herd is entirely compatible with judlcioua sac
rifice of a limited number of young male seals
each year, and this is quito as true when the
herd is depleted as when the rookeries are
crowded to their full capacity. When the pres
ence of a sufficient reserve 13 determined by
responsible officers of the government, tho
utilization of the surplus males for their pelta
and Incidentally for native food Is justiDed and
demanded by common sense, and fulfills the
utmost demands cf both the spirit and the
letter of genuine conservation.
It not a single male seal were to be killed
on the islands or at sea during the next five
years, not a jingle additional seal would bo
produced as a result of that course. If not a
single male seal were to be killed cc the
Islands or at sea during the next 20 years, not
a single seal would be added to the herd that
will not be added if the present policy of re
stricted killing of surplus mild la ccaUaucd.
LESSON TEXT I Cor. 15:1-11.
GOLDEN TEXT "This Jesus did God
raise up, whereof we all are witnesses."
Acts 2:32. , , A '
St. Paul may not make direct re
ference to the virgin birth of our
Lord, though he certainly knew of the
prophecy that a "Virgin shall con
ceive," (Isa. 7-14), but what does it ;
matter? It is not greater miracle to
be born than to rise triumphant over I
death. That Paul assumes the fact
is evident from this lesson. Literally rv
he begins by saying, "Now I make
known the eosDel which I Breached
unto you at Corinth, whereby you are
saved and what you must always re
member, that Christ, who came ful
filling all that was promised in the
Scripture, died for our sins and rose
again." Paul goes on to tell ex
plicitly of many who had seen Jesus
after tho resurrection and, most im
portant of all, how he, himself, had
seen the Christ.
"Last of all he was seen of me
also. Though I am least of all the x
saints in that I persecuted the church,
yet I am what I am, and his grace was
not bestowed upon me in vain." Paul
was not such a "bad man" from the
accepted moral standards of his time,
yet he felt the truth of what Christ
said, viz., that the essence' of sin . is
that "they believe not on me."
The fact of the resurrection of Je
sus Christ is the best proven fact of
history. In the first place the dis
ciples themselves did not. expect Je
sus to die (John 12:34), hence, of
course, they never even thought of
the resurrection (Mark 9:10). In the
third place when on that Easter morn.
Mary reported the empty tomb and of
having seen the Lord, the apostles
thought it "idle talk" (Luke 24:11).
When the women. reported having ac
tually seen him, the men, and how
many men like to take instruction
from a woman, were ' unconvinced
and rather doubted those who had
conversed with him on the road to
Emmaus.
Again, when . -n by the ten, Thom
as would not accept the report till
he had seen his hands and his feet.
Arnumonto Raerl ftn Unhftlief.
All arguments to convince us that
Jesus did not rise are based upon un
belief and the answer of countless
millions throughout nearly twenty
centuries has been the words of Pau
(verse 20) but "Now is Christ risen
from the dead." To deny is to be lost
in, the fog, our preaching vain, and
we have no ground of faith. See
yerses 12-14. To accept Is to place a
firm foundation underneath our
whole Christian scheme, to set the
seal of authority and purity upon the
life of him whom all men, Jew and
Gentile alike, say was good, and opens
a vista of hope for all who die in the
Lord.
Paul goes on to show that the res
urrection of Jesus is the beginning of
a plan whereby all the human race
who are related to Christ shall like
wise be resurrected. Even as through
the transgression of one man sin
came upon the whole human race, in
like manner . by the perfect life of
obedience upon the part of one man
we may all be made alive.
Paul makes a strong contrast be
tween the death of the believer and
that of the non-believer. "If I fight
with beasts at Ephesus what advan
tage does that have? Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die." Not so,
however, with the Christian, hence be
exhorts the Christians to be awake
to righteousness and to sin not.
Only Friends Saw Him.
For the younger classes this stcry
of the first Easter is a most fascinat
ing one, dramatic, tender, inspiring.
For the older pupils we may well dis
cuss, How Easter would be observ
ed. Have we fully realized that we
are "risen with Christ?" Remember
he showed himself only to his friends,
not to Pilate nor to the Sanhedrim.
Are you his friend? Have you seen
the-risen Lord? A description of
"Holy Fire" of the Greek Christians
who gathered each with his taper in
the church at Jerusalem on Easter
Sabbath, and how each passes the fire
on to another or carries it sacredly
back to his home church, would bo
appropriate in order to illustrate the
fact that each one of us must ap
propriate Christ in his resurrection
power, and having appropriated his
life we are in duty bound to pass on
this knowledge to others. Paul show
ed his gratitude by "laboring more
abundantly."
It might be well for us to draw at
tention to the fact that the commun
ion service "shows forth his death till
he come again," and baptism Is sym
bolic of his death and resurrection
(Rom. 6:4), wherein we are to walk
In newness of life, and that at his
coming again all enemies shall be
subject to the Christ. That these are
great truths we all know, yet "even
the least" may have a part In telllngr
the glorious Easter story and that we
need not dwell at the cross but pass
on and behold an empty tomb and
worship a risen Christ who ever liv
eth and maketh Intercessions for us.
1