FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. XXVII 



From tlie stores at St. Paul and St. George— I asaumo tliat the conditions at St. 

 George are the same as at St. Paul, the same general iigeut lielug in control— the 

 natives are furnished goods and provisions, if, indeed, not us the company claims at 

 only 25 per cent, advance on San Franscisco wholesale prices, most assuredly at very 

 much lower figures than have yet obtained anywhere else in Alaska. 



There are two hundred and nineteen men, women, and children, exclusive of the 

 few whites, on St. Paul, and one hundred and twelve on St. George. These three 

 hundred and thirty-one people, of whom it is safe to say less than one-third are adults, 

 are paid by the company each year, for not to exceed three months' actual labor, 

 $40,000, which is divided among them, not exactly on a community plan, but in shares 

 of the first, second, third, and fourth class, the classes being arranged by and among 

 themselves, and founded upon the relative skill of the workmen and value of labor 

 performed. As, for instance, of the |34,000 paid the present year for killing and fiay- 

 ing the 85,000 seals taken on St. Paul, the men of the first class received $52G ©ach, 

 those of the second class perhaps $50 less, and the other two classes from $300 to $400 

 per man. These amounts, after the division is agreed upon, are placed to the credit 

 of the individual persons composing the several classes on the books of the company, 

 and can be drawn in cash whenever wanted, except that, either on its own motion 

 or at the request of the Government agents, the company insists upon retaining an 

 amount suificient to insure each individual $» per week during the long period of en- 

 forced idleness which intervenes between the close of one killing season and the com- 

 mencement of another. 



A number of the more provident natives have very considerable amounts standing 

 to their credit with the company, on whicli they are allowed 4 per cent, interest, and 

 by the means just stated the improvident ones are compelled to save enough for the 

 support of themselves and families. If they do any extra work, they are paid for it ; 

 the company likewise pays them 40 cents each for skins of the pup seals, of which 

 1he law permits them to kill as many as may be needed for food ; at least for as many 

 as they desire to sell for that price after they are neatly tanned. Many of these pup 

 skins, however, they make up into blankets, coats, caps, etc., which are eagerly 

 sought for by the oflicers of the revenue steamers ; but I was informed they were not 

 allowed to sell them except through the office, and not even then without first hav- 

 ing; obtained the Government agent's permission. 



There are a great many blue and white foxes on St. Paul Island, and of these they 

 are nermitted to trap not to exceed 5tJ0 each winter, for the pelts of which the com- 

 pany allows them 40 and 60 cents each, respectively. The people are seemingly much 

 attached to the company's general agent, who struck me as being a man of the most 

 humane and kindly feeling, and I heard no complaints from the natives concerning 

 their treatment either by the agent or any one else connected with the company. So 

 far as the relations existing between themselves and the company are concerned, they 

 are probably as well, if not better, off than an equal number of white workmen to be 

 found anywhere in the States. 



On the other hand, it seems to me that the authority exercised over them by the 

 Government agents is rather arbitrary and oppressive. While at Oonalaska, on 

 my return trip from the Arctic, I was called on by a delegation claiming to represent 

 the people of St. Paul Island, who complained bitterly of the restrictions placed upon 

 their actions by the Government agents. As I have stated, they are not permitted to 

 sell anything without permission, and the delegation in question complained that on 

 days when the store was open the assistant agent assumed the right to act as clerk 

 not only, but also to decide for them what they should and should not buy. They 

 claimed that he had discharged the second chief from the position to which he had 

 been elected for no other reason than that he had gone fishing without first having 

 obtained permission ; that no one is permitted to leave the island without consent of 

 the agent, and instanced cases where they had been refused permission to receive 

 visits from friends and relatives, though the company was perfectly willing they 

 should come, and offered to give them free transportation on its steamers. In fiaying 

 seals a few of the skins are accidentally cut, and these, together with those which are 

 pronounced "stagy," are rejected by the company. 



These skins, the delegation claimed, would be of use to the people in various ways, 

 but instead of being allowed to keep them, they are cut up and thrown away by 

 order of the Government agents. This is the delegation which I have referred to as 

 complaining that the fire-arms sold to them by the company had been taken away from 

 them, for what reason they professed not to know. I do not know of my own perscmal 

 knowledge concerning the truth of the statements made to me by the complaining 

 delegation ; but I do know that the natives of the islands are not permitted to sell 

 property, recognized on all hands as belonging to themselves, without first obtaining 

 permission of the Government agents. It would seem to me, in view of the fact that 

 none but Government vessels and officials and those of the company are allowed to 

 call at or land upon these islands, that the natives might be permitted to sell without 

 let or hinderance that which is admittedly their own ; nor does it appear to me at all 



