198 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



plea that it woiiltl effect a monopoly of tlie seal fislieries in 

 the interests of a few. Several Companies, he stated, were 

 endeavouring for a "mere song" to obtain the exclusive 

 right of carrying on these fisheries. 



MR. FOWLER. 



"Con^CTessionai When in the month of February 18G0, the proposed lease 

 4oth"^'cong^,'^ 3rci f o thc Alaska (Jummercial Company was before Congress, 

 Sess., p r497.Mr. Fowler resisted the Bill as the first of the kind ever 

 23!i8G9. ^ '^''*^^ proposed in Congress, and stigmatized it as a most bold- 

 faced monopoly and an infamous proposition, without a 

 solitary reason in its favour. 



MR. F. N. WICKER. 



House Mis. Frank N. Wicker, United States Special Treasury Agent 

 ?ong^2u(iSetl^f (4th iSovember, 18G9), recommended the passage of a^Bill 

 voLi.' authorising the Government to asvsume sole control of the 



seal fisheries of St. George and St. Paul Islands; to 

 228 remove all traders except the natives, who shouhl be 

 employed to kill seals at fair remuneration ; and to 

 appoint inspectors at liberal salaries to carry out restric- 

 tions imposed. 



DR. DALL. 



Daira "Alas- Dall, in his work on Alaska, suggests a method of deal- 



8ources,"^p. mJ^^S witli the management of the islands in the event of a 



monopoly being considered inconsistent with the spirit of 



the United States institutions. Secretary of the Treasury 



E^'^Doc^fog Boutwellin 1870 reported that the suggestion had been made 



41st Coug!, 2nd to the Department in various forms that the islands should 



^®^^- be leased to a Company. He believed the plan to be open to 



very grave objections, in that it created a monopoly in an 



industry important to the people of the United States. 



Such a monopoly, he stated, was opposed to the ideas of 



the people; while, as the expiration of the lease approached, 



the inducements to protect the interests involved would 



diminish. He could not concur in the lease. He then 



suggested a method of Government control. 



MR. ELLIOTT. 



Professor Elliott says: 



Elliott, Censns I^ ^i'l ^^ remembered tliat at the time the question of leasing the 

 Report, p. 26. ishmd.s was before Congress mni'h o])p()sitiou to the proposal was 

 made on sevcn'al grouud.s by two classus — one of which argued against 

 a "monopoly," tlie other urging that the Government itself would 

 realize nu)re by taking the whole management of the business into 

 its own hands. 



He added, however, that as he was absent at the time 

 of the discussion, and not knowing the arguments employed 

 in it, he found liimself, at the time of Avriting, of opinion 

 that the leasing of the islands to the highest bidder was 

 the correct mode of dealing with them. 



