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Show tin' genuine ani:! may now l-e fca-1, in limited quantities, of course. The re-j re-j turn of the real Alaska $c-a!Uia will i no doubt be followed by a decline in tho Humorous substitutes which have been offered while the government vras nursing the seals back to health and strength during a closed jn-riod. The first .of t lie garments fashioned from tho 1019 product are bt-ing shown and saiJ to be attracting wid,: attention jand promise to be eaeer'v sought after. MILADY'S SEALSKIN. Under the fostering care of the United States, the Alaska seal herd is gaining in numbers at a reasonably rapid rate. The Pribilof island herd, when taken over by tho United States in 1896, had dwindled from more than 5,000,000 animals to scarcely 100,000. In twenty-three years of care and protection protec-tion the herd has been rehabilitated so far that it now numbers about 375,000. The American government became the guardian of the Pribilof herd under the terms of the Bering sea treaty, and the herd was put in charge of the bureau of fisheries of the department of commerce. com-merce. The Alaska seal herd is the best of all existing groups. It came into possession pos-session of the United States by reason of the fact that it occurred in American Ameri-can waters, the principle recognized, after much international negotiation, being that the government which has jurisdiction over the waters frequented by the various herds becomes the owner. Thus Russia owns the Copper island herd; Japan has a herd that frequents fre-quents the northernmost coast of that little island empire; the republic of Uruguay (South America) owns the Lobos island herd, and Great Britain the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) herd. There is a tiny herd off tho coast of Australia, but the pelts are so small and thinly furred that they are scarcely to be considered a factor in the fur seal situation. In former days the American government govern-ment leased out the sealing privileges to private interests. Under that arrangement ar-rangement the government profited about $1 each for tho sealskins taken. They were then shipped to London, there to be dyed and dressed, for the London method a secret process was long believed to be tho best there was. Our fur buyers and traders had to journey jour-ney to London, pay commissioner's expenses ex-penses there, pay ocean freight and marine insurance on the Alaska sealskin seal-skin ticlts back to the United States, and then Uncle Sam exacted a heavy duty at the port of entry, for the sealskins seal-skins had gone abroad as raw material and were returning as processed or manufactured goods. So it was that the American women had to pay a higher price than Europeans for the privilege of wearing an essentially American fur. That system, however, has been discarded. dis-carded. Instead of being sent to London, Lon-don, as heretofore, the skins are now dressed and dyed iu St. Louis, after a new process, which is said to give far better results than were ever achieved before. Under the St. Louis treatment, tho fur has a rich- and deep lustre, and the color, instead of wearing rusty, as the old-time London dye invariably did, grows richer and deeper with age. Leading furriers of tho United States are highly enthusiastic over the Tcsults obtained at St. Louis, and at the last sale of government Alaska sealskins at that place- buyers from London and Paris paid high prices in open competition competi-tion for tli.so beautiful and long-wearing pelts. With the increase of the Alaska herd, more skins havo becoma available and |