FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 73 



Q. Did yon know that the prices of seal skins depend a good deal 

 upon the fashion °? — A. I should suppose so. 



Q. Do you happen to know, as an agent of the company, whether it 

 costs the company anything to stimulate the fashion in seal skins'? — A. 

 No, sir. 



Q. Is it within your knowledge that within the last ten or fifteen years 

 mink skins were worth $15 to $20? — A. Possibly twenty years ago; I 

 know mink skins were worth a good deal of money. I remember a man 

 in 



Q. Are they worth 50 cents a piece now ? — A. I do not know. 



Q. (Jan you sell them at all "? — A. I know nothing about it. 



Q. They are just as good as they were ten years ago"? — A. A good 

 class of mink woukl be, I supi)Ose. 



Q. What is the reason for the falling off in the price ? — A. Possibly 

 the change in fashion ; but I do not know anything about tliat. I was 

 only figuring that from the fisheries t should take 100,000 seal skins, if 

 protected. 



By the Chairman : 

 Q. You based your estimate upon an idea of a fixed and same 

 ownership ? — A. 1 was figuring on what the market had been. As re- 

 gards the price the Alaska Commercial Company gets for their skins, 

 that IS a part I did not consider. 1 have been taking care of the sup- 

 ply, and somebody else has been taking care of the other— the demand. 

 I should suppose so. 



TESTIMONY OF C. A. WILLIAMS. 



Mr. C. A. Williams, sworn and examined, by request of attorney for 

 the Alaska Commercial Company. 



By Mr. Jeffries : 



Q. Where do you live"? — A, In New London, Conn. 



Q. How long have you lived there? — A. Fifty-nine years?. 



Q. How long has your family been living in Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut ?— A. Since 1642, I think. 



Q. Was one of your family a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence, and if so, which one? — A. Yes, sir; my great-great uncle was a 

 signer of that document. 



Q. What is your business? — A. Shipping, generally whaling, seal- 

 ing, and allied pursuits. 



Q. How long havH you been engaged in that business? — A. I have 

 been engaged in the whaling business, personally, for forty years. 



Q. And whom did you succeed ? — A. My father. 



Q. And whom did he succeed ? — A. His father. 



Q. So that for generations you and your forefathers have been en- 

 gaged in the whaling and sealing business"?— A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Have you any vessels at sea now? — A. I have; yes, sir. 



Q. Have you ever been at sea yourself? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Have you been in the Nortli and South Pacific Oceans, and Ber- 

 ing Sea? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Are you familiar with the characteristics and habits of the fur 

 seal ? — A. I am, from reading, and from conversations with my captains; 

 not personally. 



Q. Will you state to the committee what you know with regard to 

 their habits and as to where their haunts have been hitherto, and how 



