THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 27 



of the skins after tliey had been brought down from the islands. It would not do to sell them up there to the highest 

 bidder, since that would license the sailing of a thousand ships to be present at the sale. The rattling of their 

 anchor-chains, and the scraping of their keels on the beaches of the two little islands, would alone diive every seal 

 away and over to the Eussian grounds in a remarkably short space of time. The government would therefore 

 need to offer them at public auction in this country, and it would be simply history repeating itself — the govermnent 

 would be at the mercy of any well-organized combination of buyers. The agents conducting the sale could not 

 counteract the eifect of such a combination as can the agents of a private corporation, who may look after their 

 interest in all the markets of the world in their own time and in their own way, according to the exigencies of the 

 season and the demand, and who arc supplied with money which they can use, without public scandal, in the 

 manipulation of the market. On this ground I feel confident in stating, that the treasury of the United States 

 receives more money, net, under the system now in operation, than it would by taking the exclusive control of the 

 business. Were any capable government oflicer supplied with, say, $100,000, to expend in "working the market", 

 and intrusted with the disposal of 100,000 seal-skins wherever he could do so to the best advantage of the 

 government, and were this agent a man of first-class business ability and energy, 1 think it quite likely that the 

 same success might attend his labor in the Loudon nmrket that distinguishes the management of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company. But imagine the cry of fraud and embezzlement that would be raised against him, however 

 honest he ndght be! This alone would bring the whole business into i)Ositive disrepute, and make it a national 

 scandal. As matters are now conducted, there is no room for any scandal — not one single transaction on the 

 islands but what is as clear to investigation and accountability as the liglit of the noonday sun ; what is done is 

 known to everybody, and the tax now hiid by the government upon, and paid into the treasury every year by the 

 Alaska Commercial Company, yields alone a handsome rate of interest on the entire purchase-money expended lor 

 the ownership of all Alaska. 



It is frequently urged with great persistency, by misinformed or malicious authority, that the lessees can and do 

 take thousands of skins in excess of the law, and this catch in excess is shipped sub rosa to Japan from the Pribylov 

 islands. To show the folly of such a move on the part of the company, if even it were possible, I will brieily 

 recapitulate the conditions under which the skins are taken. The natives of St. Paul and St. George do themselves, 

 iu the manner I have indicated, all the driving and skinning of the seals for the company. ^STo others are 

 permitted or asked to land u])ou the islands to do this work, so long as the inhabitants of the islands are equal 

 to it. They have been equal to it and they are more than equal to it. Every skin taken by the natives is counted 

 by themselves, as they get 40 cents per i)elt for that labor; and at the expiration of each day's work iu the field, 

 the natives know exactly how many skins have been taken by them, how many of these skins have been rejected 

 by the company's agent because they were carelessly cut and damaged in skinning— usually about three-fourths 

 of one per cent, of the whole catch — and they have it recorded every evening by those among them who are charged 

 with the duty. Thus, were 101,000 skins taken, instead of 100,000 allowed by law, the natives would iaiow it as 

 quickly as it was done, and they would, on the strength of their lecord and their tally, demand the full amount of 

 their compensatiou for the extra labor ; and were any ship to approach the islands, at any hour, these people.wonld 

 know it at once, and would be aware of any shipment of skins that might be attempted. It would then be the 

 common talk among the 398 inhabitants of the two islands, and it would be a matter of record, open to any person 

 who might couie upon the ground charged with investigation. (See note, 39, L.) 



Furthermore, these natives are constantly going to and from Oonalashka, visiting their relations in the Aleutian 

 settlements, hunting for wives, etc. On the mainland they have intimate intercourse with bitter enemies of the 

 company, with whom they would not hesitate to talk over the whole state of affairs on the islands, as they always do; 

 for they know nothing else and think of nothing else and dream of nothing else. Therefore, should anything be 

 done contrary to the law, the act could and would be reported by these people. The government, on its part, 

 through its four agents stationed on these islands, counts these skins into the ship, and one of their number gees 

 down to San Francisco upon her. There the collector of the port details experts of his own, who again count them 

 all out of the hold, and u])on that record the tax is paid and the certificate signed by the government. 



It will, therefore, at once be seen, by examining the state of affairs on the islands, and the conditions upon 

 which the lease is granted, that the most sciupulous care in fulfilling the terms of the contract is comi)assed, and 

 that this strict fulfillment is the most profitable course for the lessees to pursue; and that it wouhl be downright 

 folly in them to deviate from the letter of the law, and thus lay themselves open at any day to discovery, the loss of 

 their contract, and forfeiture of their bonds. Their action can be investigated at any time, any moment, by Con- 

 gress; of which they are fully aware. They cannot btibe these 398 people on the islands to secrecy, any more suc- 

 cessfully than they coidd conceal their action from them on the sealing fields ; and any man of average abiUty could 

 go, and can go, among these natives and inform himself as to the most minute details of the catch, from the time the 

 lease was granted up to the present hour, sliould lie have reason to suspect the honesty of the treasury agents. The 

 road to and from the islands is not a diflicult one, though it is traveled only once a year. 



The subject of the method and direction of the business of sealing on these islands, involving as it does a 

 discussion of the law and the action of the Alaska Commercial Company and the natives combined, will form a 

 thiisis for another chapter. 



