Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8 x 10, April 16, 1897. President McKinley directs the Secretary of State to “cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to my letter appointing Mr. Charles S. Hamlin of Massachusetts, a Commission to assist Hon. John W. Foster in the matter of the protection of the fur seals in Behring Sea and the North Pacific Ocean.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by William McKinley. In fine condition.
One of the first issues to cross McKinley’s desk as president was a dire call to protect the dwindling number of fur seals in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific. While the United States sought to employ a more sustainable seal-harvesting method that was akin to the Russians before them, seal vessels from Great Britain and Ireland opposed and/or ignored these measures, which resulted in the United States Revenue Cutter Service, today known as the United States Coast Guard, capturing several Canadian sealer vessels throughout the conflict. This led to The Bering Sea Arbitration of 1893 and, for a little while, a potential war between the United States and Great Britain was in the balance.
The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 did much to curtail the seal industry. Signed on July 7, 1911, the treaty was designed to manage the commercial harvest of fur-bearing mammals (such as Northern fur seals and sea otters) in the Pribilof Islands of the Bering Sea. The treaty, signed by the United States, Great Britain (also representing Canada), Japan, and Russia, outlawed open-water seal hunting and acknowledged the United States' jurisdiction in managing the on-shore hunting of seals for commercial purposes. It was the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.
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