PUR-SEAL FISHERIES OP ALASKA. 25 



tendency of that sort ? — A. No, sir ; not in the least. The only advan- 

 tage it gives them is that they are comj)elled by the seal business to 

 send their steamers up into that country, and in doing so, when they go, 

 they can just as well send supplies to other stations for distribution 

 with but very little expense. That is the only advantage that I can 

 see. 



By Mr. Jeffries : 



Q. I want to ask you — on one occasion you state they only took 

 75,000 seals. Why did not they take any more ? — A. The market did 

 not demand a hundred thousand. It dropped, and they only took 

 75,000 in order to allow it to go up. 



Q. It is true that the price of seal skins depends to some extent upon 

 fashion ; is it a matter of caprice? — A. Very much so. 



Q. Do you know whether or not this company has taken suitable 

 pains to stimulate the fashion for seal skins ? — A. I consider they do. 



Q. Do you know what the prices of seal skins were before the com- 

 pany came in existence? — A. I do not. 



Q. The amount of the catch, then, depends somewhat upon the con- 

 dition of the market? — A. Certainly. 



Q. Would there be auy object in taking an excess of 100,000 unless 

 there was an extraordinary demand for seal skins ? — A. No ; if they 

 would do that the market would break, and it would make seal skins 

 cheap. They could make just as much money from 100,000 as 200.000. 



Q. Did not the company furnish stoves for the houses ? — A. I do not 

 know as to that. 



Q. They are comfortable houses, are they not ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Are the houses lined ? — A. Yes, sir. The fact is, the village of 

 St. Paul, from my judgment, and what I can hear, is the prettiest vil- 

 lage in the whole Territory. People came there by a cutter, and they 

 said, " This looks like a New England village." You can not find any 

 one as good anywhere else in Alaska. 



Q. Now, I understand you to say that to throw this business open to 

 competition and allow everybody to come in and kill seals would destroy 

 the business. — A. I think so. The seal is a very sensitive animal, and 

 it does not like to be disturbed, and it must not be disturbed. If they 

 are, they will not go there at all. 



Q. I want to ask you, from your experience and knowledge of the 

 business, whether it is not necessary that it should be controlled by one 

 direction? — A. Yes, sir; there is no doubt of that. 



Q. Therefore it is not a monopoly in an objectionable sense; it has 

 to be controlled by one direction ? — A. It is a monopoly which gives 

 one individual the privilege; that is all there is in it; and it must be 

 so, in my judgment. 



Q. But it is not such a monopoly as where one company is given an 

 advantage over another that both are entitled to; not in that sense? — 

 A. No. Suppose there are two companies that bid for this, and sup- 

 pose their bids are equal, and you give it to one and not to the other. 

 That is a monopoly for that fellow. 



Q. It would have been a monopoly for the other fellow, if he had 

 had it? — A. Yes, sir; for anybody who has it. 



Q. And if the Government had it, it would still be a monopoly f — 

 A. Certainly; you must make it so. You can not have two parties in 

 there getting seals; it could not be regulated that way. 



Q. So that objection to monopoly, in an offensive sense, does not 

 apply to this ? — A. I do not think so. I have discussed that point a 

 good many times. 



