TO THE UNITED STATES. 75 



In the Fiftieth Congress a committee of the „.re^*sJo^ai°^ com- 

 House of Representatives made a long and ^j,*^*^*'^^/'!;^^^^^'"^; 

 thorough investigation into all the facts attend- j^^/jierftood to have 

 ing the fur-seal industry and other interests of ^^'^^ acquire 

 Alaska, including the history of its purchase 

 from Russia. In its report, as one of the results 

 of its lengthy examination, the committee made 

 the following statement : " By referring to the de- 

 bate (in Congress) on the purchase of Alaska, 

 and the contemporaneous discussion of the sub- 

 ject by the periodicals and newspapers of this 

 country, it will be noticed that the acquisition of 

 the products of Bering Sea, its far-bearing ani- 

 mals and fisheries were regarded as an important 

 if not the chief consideration for the purchase."^ 



The committee then quoted the declaration of 

 Hon. Charles Sumner, chairman of the Committee 

 on Foreign Relations of the Senate, in the speech 

 which he delivered in advocacy of the approval 

 of the treaty of 1867, as follows: "The seal, 

 amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the 

 beaver, has always supplied the largest multi- 

 tude of furs of the Russian Company."^ 



The congressional committee, after making 

 various quotations from official and other sources, 



1 House Ex. Doc. No. 3883, Fiftietli Congress, secoud sossion, i). 

 xvii. 



-Ibid. The speecli will be found in House Ex. Doc. No. 177, 

 Fortictb Congress, second session, p. 124. • 



