n 4 REPORT OF ALASKA INVESTIGATIONS. 



fur-bearing animals; but in coast towns and in the western part of Alaska, Bristol Bay, and in the waters 

 around the Aleutian Islands Reservation they feel keenly the fact that they are forbidden to hunt sea 

 otter and are restricted in respect to the taking of fur seals for their own livelihood. There are two or 

 three instances that are worthy of being cited in this report. 



The Sitka Indians feel keenly the injustice of the present seal law, and they appealed to me. Since 

 prohibitions were placed upon their shooting fur seals, they felt they should have been reimbursed for the 

 boats and guns they had bought just before and which are now practically of no value to them. 



The Aleuts on Akutan Island are suffering because of laws that have been made, not through their 

 fault, but on account of the white man's exploitation of the natural resources. These people for gener- 

 ations have made their living by hunting the sea lion, the walrus, the sea otter, and other fur-bearing 

 animals. To-day the stricter laws that are in force have largely deprived them of their only trade and 

 occupation. 



A case in Bristol Bay deserves sympathy as well as thought. Last winter natives in this region 

 killed three sea otters and took the pelts to a near-by town in order to sell them. This in itself indicates 

 that they were absolutely innocent of any knowledge of wrongdoing. When they arrived, the United 

 States commissioner, very fortunately for them, was absent, but there were enough people around town 

 to frighten them badly by telling them that they had violated the law and would be thrown into jail. 

 They returned to their homes immediately, tied rocks to these valuable skins, went out in the bay, and sank 

 them. It is a pity that such laws are deemed necessary. It would seem far better if conditions had been 

 such that these men could have been allowed to exchange these skins for food and clothing; and it is a 

 question of much seriousness to me whether, strictly speaking, this kind of killing by these natives under 

 the supervision of an agent of the Government would not be wise and commendable. 



There was another instance. Several natives living on one of the Aleutian Islands killed a number 

 of seals. These skins were brought into Unalaska for sale. The commercial agent refused them on 

 account of their having bullet holes in them. They were later disposed of in some manner and taken to 

 some ship that happened to be in or near the harbor. 



It strikes me most forcibly that the Aleuts and Indians have a certain just and prior right to the 

 natural resources in the country that they inhabited before the advent of the white man, and surely the 

 scarcity of sea otter and other animals is not due to them but to the greed of the newcomer. Something 

 should be done under Government supervision to allow definite privileges to the Indians and Aleuts. 

 They might be allowed to take a certain number of these animals which are necessary for their comfort 

 and well-being, even though it is against the law for a white man to kill them. This question deserves the 

 utmost thought: Is it wise to make laws which take away from these natives their principal means of livelihood, 

 until they have learned other work, or until other methods of earning their daily bread can be brought to them? 

 In other words, we have taken certain necessities from them, and have not provided ample and proper substitutes. 



PROPAGATION OF FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 

 FOX FARMS. 



A new industry in Alaska, the raising of fur-bearing animals in corrals or on island ranches, has created 

 more than ordinary interest. Owing to the fact that few of the men who have engaged in this business 

 have sufficient knowledge of the conditions necessary to raise foxes in captivity successfully, there have 

 been many failures and few successes. Because live black or silver-gray foxes have brought exorbitant 

 prices, men have been misled into thinking that all they had to do was to purchase a few foxes and soon 

 begin to reap the benefits by receiving large sums for their sale. 



The prices obtained by many who are carrying on the business in Canada and elsewhere on the 

 continent do not indicate a healthy condition. In fact, the prices that are asked and actually received 

 in many cases do not represent the real commercial value of these animals as a fox-farm business propo- 

 sition. It is a good deal like a man who has a prize-winning dog; some wealthy person conies along and 

 pays him $5,000 for it because it has won some special prize at a celebrated show. Other people immediately 

 think that dog raising is a profitable business, if they bring such enormous prices, and want to jump into 

 it without further knowledge. With foxes as with other things, an unnatural condition like this only brings 

 disaster and can not possibly work any good. 



