544 TESTIMONY. 



that no laboring men within the boundaries of the United States are 

 better paid or better cared for. 

 As to the manner ia which the 100,000 seals, which furnish the an- 

 nual quota of skins, are taken, Mr. Elliot says: "By 

 ciassof seals killed. r^tG^.e^j.^ ^^^ ^j^g habits of the fur-seal it is plain that two- 

 thirds of all the males that are born (and they are equal in number to 

 the females born) are never permitted by the remaining tliird, strongest 

 by natural selection, to land upon the same ground with the females, 

 which always herd together en masse. Therefore, this great band of 

 bachelor seals, or ' hollus chickie,' is compelled, when it visits land, to 

 live apart entirely, miles away frequently, from the breeding grounds, 

 and in this admirably perfect manner of nature are those seals which 

 can be proj^erly killed without injury to the rookeries selected and 

 held aside so that the natives can visit and take them, as they would so 

 many hogs, without disturbing in the slightest degree the peace and 

 quiet of the breeding grounds where the stock is perpetuated." 

 In this connection it is proper to note that the Company are not al- 

 lowed to take any seal in the water nor to make any use 

 leSees'*'*''"'^ °° ^^'^ ^^ firearms in their capture. And it will at once be 

 perceived that if the seal in Bering Sea are harassed 

 and captured by means of firearms, spears, or drag-nets the routine of 

 their lives is interfered with, their habits broken up, 

 seais^ result of.*' ^ '^^ females with young killed, and such general disturb- 

 ance caused that those not slaughtered will seek other 

 hauling places and the United States thus lose their sole source of in- 

 come from Alaska, as well as the control they now enjoy of a valuable 

 trade, and the impoverished Aleuts, who have no other means of gain 

 open to them, would become a burden on the nation instead of being 

 the self-supporting and self-respecting citizens they 

 «iSs'"!jf*mi^ration''of ^^0^ ^rc. Indeed, it was predicted by Russian au- 

 Priiiiiof iier^a to Com- thoritics couversaut with seal life, at the time of the 

 laander Islands. ecssiou of the territory, that the reckless and indis- 



criminate killing of seal by the Americans would soon drive the Pribilof 

 herd to the Russian islands, and that thus they (the Russians) would re- 

 gain and retain all that was most valuable in the ceded territory. But 

 the wisdom of Congress, appreciating the value of the islands as seal 

 rookeries, was shown by legislative acts protecting the animal and by 

 leasing the right to take skins under restrictions to a responsible asso- 

 ciation of American citizens, with the result that at the expiration of a 

 twenty years' lease the United States Government will, from its pro- 

 ceeds, be fully reimbursed for the outlay for the pur- 

 mSf^roteftUn''''" chasc of the entire Territory of Alaska, and will also 

 men a pro eo ion. j^^y^ j^g herd of scals iutact, provided the Government 

 will protect the seal in Bering Sea against unlicensed hunters and 

 foreign marauders. 



Immediately upon commencing operations under the lease it was 

 apparent that the interests of the Government and those of the Company 

 were so intimately interwoven that a policy of entire good faith between 

 the contracting x)ai'ties was the only one that could be pursued, and 

 so well has this relation been sustained in the eighteen years elapsed 

 li n e b les ^^^^^^ *^^ Icasc was made that no word of complaint has 

 8ees°™with°*'terms ^of cvcr bceu uttcrcd ou tlic part of the Government against 

 i***^**- the company, and no complaint of improper action that 



has been made by parties inimical to the Company has been in the least 

 degree sustained, though twice, because of misrepresentation, the Com- 

 pany has been subjected to most rigorous investigation by committees of 



