122 REPORT OF ALASKA INVESTIGATIONS. 



the foxes should not have been caught, much less shipped. Their work is carried on in some instances by 

 clever manipulators and they have a vast territory over which to work, making their operations at times 

 comparatively easy. Of course, vigilance is being used to detect these violations and deceptions, but it 

 is a difficult matter with the meager personnel we have for the work. 



A number of illegal transactions are in my mind. One is of foxes that were shipped down from inte- 

 rior points in Alaska to Ketchikan. They were landed there and soon lost sight of. Later it was found 

 that these foxes were loaded at night below the town on some power boat and taken into Prince Rupert 

 and thence shipped to eastern points in Canada. This is only one of the conditions difficult to handle, 

 and only the most drastic laws and an increase in the number of wardens will make it possible to correct 

 this evil, or at least reduce it to a minimum. 



Another case is of a man who entered the business on a remote part of one of the larger western islands 

 and then set about trapping and collecting foxes. When he had enough he deliberately sold out, deliv- 

 ering them to a fictitious fox farmer, who had secured a permit to ship a number of ranch-bred foxes out 

 of Alaska. This man with a permit deliberately shipped these illegally trapped wild foxes as ranch-bred 

 stock. I happened to see some of these foxes which were afterwards shipped to the fox farmer for export, 

 and the man in charge of these isolated corrals informed me with great excitement that he was not going 

 to ship them, although I had not then asked him what was going to be done with them. I am glad to say 

 that the officials of the Bureau of Fisheries have pretty well ferreted out and located these unscrupulous 

 and lawbreaking men who have been working together more or less, and it is hoped that their operations 

 will cease, as everything possible is being done to inspect all their shipments. 



To assist in preventing violations of the law some system of branding all foxes on legitimate fox ranches 

 seems necessary and at the same time quite practicable. If every fox shipped out of Alaska bore an official 

 brand of the United States Government, it would tend to stop the attempts at illegal shipping and thereby 

 help materially to bring about a better state of affairs in Alaska. If the Government is going to protect 

 and keep the foxes in the Territory so they will be of benefit to residents, and encourage real fox farming, 

 the law must be enforced thoroughly, or it is of absolutely no use. It should either be done thoroughly or 

 not done at all. 



ALEUTIAN ISLANDS RESERVATION. 



In the regulations for the administration of the Aleutian Reservation in Alaska, regulation No. i 

 is as follows: 



In compliance with existing laws and to carry out the objects of the Executive order establishing the reservation, all matters relat- 

 ing to wild birds and game, and the propagation of reindeer and fur-bearing animals will be under the immediate jurisdiction of the 

 Department of Agriculture; all matters pertaining specifically to the fisheries and all aquatic life, and to the killing of fur-bearing 

 animals, will be under the immediate jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce; and all matters other than those specifically men- 

 tioned above will be under the joint jurisdiction of the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce . 



Can anybody conceive of a more complicated and interlocking division of authority than this case? 

 The red tape, the loss of time, and the misunderstanding resulting and accumulating from just this sort 

 of thing is appalling. When it is considered that in this island reservation of i ,000 miles in length there 

 are only two points where a steamer touches at stated intervals during the year, no worse division of 

 authority could have been made. While I was on the reservation last summer many natives who expressed 

 a strong desire to engage in fox farming came to see me. This desire had been partly inspired by the 

 superintendent of schools in the district, who had recommended the business as a legitimate occupation. 

 I investigated thoroughly a great many conditions and found there was necessity for encouraging these 

 native men to take up this new industry. I realized then for the first time the confusion and misunder- 

 standing that had arisen on account of the division of authority as set forth in the regulations in the 

 Executive order. 



The situation was this: I could recommend to the Secretary of Commerce that a native be allowed 

 to kill half a dozen foxes in order to sell their pelts, but no authority is given the Secretary of Commerce 

 to permit a native to take six live foxes in order that he might engage in an enterprise for which the reserva- 

 tion should have been in part created. I did the next best thing. I wired the Biological Survey urging 

 that a permit be granted allowing a native to take a number of foxes from one of the western islands and 

 bring them to his home near Unalaska, so that he might have some occupation and an opportunity to 

 support himself and his family. After some weeks the applicant received permission by mail, too late in 



