248 REPORT OF BRITJSn COMMISSIONERS. 



for tlio rich, our fisliprineii and liiintcrs nro Imrriod iind worried liy reAonup-cuttt'rs 

 and other armed vessels, not lor the ])nblic jrood, not for the benefit of the poor, 

 but simply to gratify the avarice of the ^vealthy few who have secured from our 

 Goverument a mouopoly of seal-catching on Pribyloft' Inlands, which they arrogantly 

 assume gives them the monopoly of the whole ocean, as well as Alaska. 



When the Hudson Bay Comi)any. which for more than 100 years had lorded it with 

 despotic sway across the whole continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacihc, sought to 

 renew its Charter, those far-seeing Htatesmeu, Gladstone, Ijabonchere, Lord Bury, 

 and others opposed granting a renewah and Parliament refused. The course of those 

 wise statesmen against that gigantic monopoly opened to the Dominion of l!anada 

 all that great region which had been represented by tlie Company as a land of 

 177 ice and snow, of fogs and cold, fit only as an abode for wild beasts and the 

 still wilder Indian. But it has been found an agricultural region of immense 

 value, which has been opened and demonstrated by the Canadian Pacific Railroad 

 to be a fit abode for thousands of industrious white persons, who have found within 

 its borders happy homes, and have thus added to the wealtli of the Dominion. 



So, too, Avhen we can have statesmen in Congress wlio can rise above the sordid 

 motives of filthy lucre, and look into this seal question and the development of 

 Alaska, and of our great fisheries, they will see that tlie sum paid by the Couiy)any 

 for the lease of the Pribylofi" Islands is not a feather's Aveight in the scales of justice, 

 when we coinpare this amount, great as it is, with the vastly greatrr amount of good 

 the nation will derive by giving every encouragement to our fishermen to bring in the 

 rich products of the ocean, tlie whales, the seals, the fish, and to our miners and 

 others to ojien up and develop the rich treasures of Alaska. All this development is 

 retarded and paralyzed by the action of the monopolizing Companies, just as the 

 Hudson Bay Company retarded the development of British Columbia and all that 

 great region, clear through to Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic. Instead of emulating 

 the example of the British Parliament and abrogating a powei ful monopoly, we seem 

 to have gone back to feudal times and granted rights and privileges to the moneyed 

 Barons which are denied to the people. Better that every fur-seal be exterminated 

 than the United States should enter into this unholy alliance with a monopoly to 

 paralyze our industries and rob the people of their inheritance. 



On the North Atlantic Ocean the hair-seals have been hunted for more tlian two 

 centuries, and every year more vessels and larger ones are engaged in this business. 

 Yet the hair-seal is not exterminated. The habits of the fur-seal and hair-seal are 

 analogous — both live on fish, both are amphibious; but the commercial value of the 

 fur-seal is the greatest, and while our fishermen can kill all the hair-seals they wish 

 the fur seal must be reserved for those who have longer purses and can cajole Con- 

 gress by their sophistries. 



The fur-seals never will be exterminated. They may and have been driven from 

 their rookeries, but they have found others, and if they i\To, being driven from the 

 Pribyloft' Islands, as is asserted, I predict that when the wholesale butcheries are 

 stopped and the stench of the rotting carcasses no longer pollutes the atmosphere of 

 St. Paul's and St. Ceorge's rookeries, the seals will return to their old haunts, as 

 they are now returning to their former rookeries at Cape Horn and other places in 

 the South Pacific. In all the preceding years of the history of the sealing on the 

 Pribyloft Islands, the Captains of the revenue-cutters have not been required to 

 make specific Reports on their observations of fur-seals off the rookeries, and any 

 voluntary statements they may have made were eitlun* pigeon-holed or not con- 

 sidered good form, hence we have no knowledge of any such Rejiorts. This season, 

 however, the Captains have been re(|uired to make Reports on their observations of 

 fur-seals and their habits oft' of the rookeries, and their testimony, added to the 

 Reports of the Commissioners, will furnish much interesting information which has 

 hitherto been suppressed. 



If the Government will prohibit the killing of fur-seals on the Pribyloft" Islands 

 and in Behring Sea during the breeding season, and will encourage our fisliermen 

 as they are encouraged on the Atlantic, the seals will not be driven oft' nor the mar- 

 ket overstocked, and, better than all, encouragement will be given to the develop- 

 ment of our fislieries l)y furnishing a motive for a fishing fleet to congregate on 

 Puget Sound, and by the products of their labours to enrich our State. If such a 

 course is pursued one will hear no more of American vessels being driven under the 

 British flag for protection from the United States Government, which should protect 

 them. Our Government is very jealous of injuries and insults ]iut upon oiir citizens 

 by foreign nations, but not a word is said of the injuries and losses our citizens 

 have incurred by our Government in sustaining and protecting a, monopoly on the 

 seal islands. It is a disgraceful partnership biitween the United States and these 

 monopolists, which should be dissolved. It is an old adage that "when thieves fall 

 out honest men get their dues," and I hope that the present feud between the two 

 rival Companies may bring Congress to a clear understanding of this matter, and 

 our fishermen allowed the same privileges and encouragement that they have in the 

 North Atlantic. 



(Signed) James G. Swan. 



