84 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



a visitation there, and the whole cliurcli system is maintained there as 

 it would be elsewhere where the (Jatholic or Greek Church has general 

 supervision. 



Q. The company has nothing to do with that? — A. The company has 

 nothing to do with their religion whatever. The company simply ad- 

 vanced the money for the construction of that church, which the natives 

 themselves paid as they earned it and as it was constructed. '''Iiese na- 

 tives also contributed. That was the old church [referring to photo- 

 graph]. A new one has been built. 



Q. I presume it is the Greek church ? — A. It is the Greek church. 



And so with regard to all other matters, wherever the company is 

 brought in contact with the natives, and it is brought m contact with 

 them constantly, it is for the interest of the com])any, putting aside 

 every philanthropic thought, it is for the interest of any company work- 

 ing those islands, held under a lease from the Government, so far as it 

 is possible for them, to elevate the position and moral condition of those 

 people, and every effort has been made by the company to do that. 



Mr. Jeffries. State why, please. 



The Witness. Because the labor upon those islands is performed by 

 those people, and the company is dependent upon them, for the killing 

 and driving of the seals in the first place and the taking of the skins to 

 the salt-house, and they must have operators that are competent and 

 able and willing, and if there was any friction between the com])any 

 and the people, if they were physically incapacitated, the whole routine 

 of the system would be thrown out of joint, and consequently the com- 

 pany makes no pretense of claiming in any way a goody-goody state of 

 things there. We. endeavor to live fully up to the contract, and more 

 than that to regard our own interests so far as we can by a careful re- 

 gard for the good of the people, morally and physically. For that pur- 

 pose we suppress their quass so far as we can, and for that reason pro- 

 vided them houses instead of the holes in the ground we found them 

 living in. These houses are covered outside with clapboard, and ceiled 

 inside, and the native is beginning to appreciate appearances to an ex- 

 tent that they like to get a bit of a picture to hang on the wall, say. for 

 instance, a " Harper," and they like a bit of carpet and such little im- 

 provements as grow with an advanced civilization. All these things 

 tend to show that there has been, since the laws made by Congress, a 

 decided advance and improvement in the status of the natives. 



By the Chairman : 

 Q. What is their method of dress now compared with their former 

 method of dress? — A. The former method of dress was very simple, per- 

 haps a little shirt or wrap of skins, but now they want the best that cau 

 be brought from San Francisco, and especially the women want the 

 latest style of articles that is to be had. They look over Harper's Bazaar 

 to see, perhaps, what the latest fashions are at the seaside and import 

 them. And those people have to be restrained as to their money from 

 an expenditure that would be absurd for them. They would buy a 

 whole piece of stuff in order to have a sufficiency when the quantity 

 enough for a dress is all that they have any use for, and a restriction is 

 placed on them in order that they may save money and add to their 

 funds. In regard to the schools there is this explanation to be made, 

 perhaps: When the schools first started and we endeavored to teach 

 them English it progressed somewhat, but it dawned upon some of the 

 elders that if the rising generation became instructed in English they 



