50 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



were it not that they have had the fur-seal island business, which luadeit 

 necessary for them to own two vessels, and they could use them in the 

 same trade to carry on business. And that is one reason why they 

 have been able to carry on the other business and to extend the trade 

 in the interior and through the Territory, and I look upon that trad- 

 ing business as a Godsend to those people. Without it tbe Gov- 

 ernment would be obliged to make provision to care for them— 1 mean 

 for the natives throughout the Territory; of course the same thing is 

 adapted to the seal islands, but it is the general trade I am speaking 

 of now, because if you refer to revenue reports which have been made 

 from time to time, you will find there a large number of small settlements 

 that have been found in a starving condition almost every year that 

 they have been visited, and large numbers of these people have died 

 of starvation, and they have given them supplies over and over again. 



Q. Do you mean the company ? — A, No; the Government has. These 

 supplies have been dealt out by the revenue- cutters to keep these peo- 

 ple from starving in localities where there is no trading, and in locali- 

 ties where they have trading and collecting furs, ivory, and whalebone, 

 and such things as that, and trade them to traders — the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company, I suppose, do the bulk of the business in that way — 

 they can get provisions, money, food, clothing, and all that which is 

 necessary, and can exist. Just how many people there are in Alaska 

 dependent upon that trade I am not in a position to state, but it rups 

 into the thousands. 



Q. Invoiving the main bulk of the natives ?— A. Yes, pretty much 

 all of them. I look upon that trading as absolutely necessary by the 

 Alaska Commercial Company or some company who continues to do 

 that in order to keep these people from starving. 



Q. Now, Mr. Taylor. I would like to have your opinion, based upon 

 your information and study, of the present policy of the Government; 

 that is, the leasing of the rookeries in all its bearings, as to whether it 

 is a wise policy to pursue or not. — A. That is a subject to which I have 

 given a great deal of thoughtful consideration, and without regard to 

 the Alaska Commercial Company or any other company that may be 

 competitors for that lease. It is my candid judgment that the present 

 policy is the only feasible one that should be employed in the care of the 

 seals, and I believe that any other policy which may be pursued would 

 eventually result in the entire destruction of the seal. 



Q. That would amount to the destruction of the natives also, unless 

 they were otherwise provided for — that is, on these particular islands 1 — 

 A. Yes, sir; absolutely. They would starve to death. There are about 

 fonr hundred people there dependent upon the seal business for their 

 livelihood. Now 1 will give you some reasons why I have arrived at 

 that conclusion. In the first place, if there is more than one comi)any 

 operating on these islands there would be at once a conflict. It could 

 not be otherwise. There can not be but one management of these peo- 

 ple, so far as their employment goes; but if you permitted more than 

 one company to land their supplies, or to go on the island for the pur- 

 pose of securing seal, there would be at ouce a conflict between the two 

 companies, and the comi)etition would be stronger, and one wonhl charge 

 the other with any irregularities that might occur. These irregulari- 

 ties come into a gx)od many things in connection with these people and 

 in connection with the seal business. In the first place, if these people 

 could get anything to drink, anything in the nature of intoxicants, they 

 would very soon destroy themselves. There would be no people there. 

 They would all die off. 



