FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OP ALASKA. 101 



Kow, we say in addition to the price of sending those skins we got about 

 21 shillings, which will be in round numbers $5.25. 



Now, you know there is $3.57 in cash you have to pay the Govern- 

 ment out of the $5.25, then you have got the supplementary labor, then 

 the parties who man these vessels to pay for- this transportation to 

 London ; then you have to pay the storage charges, and you can see 

 how much of that $5.25 you can get. 



Q. But say for 40,000 skins. — A. A single skin will illustrate it just 

 as well. 



Q. The more skins you had the more you made, if you made a profit. — 

 A. But the illustration is just as well on a single skin. The proposi- 

 tion is illustrated just as well by one as by a hundred thousand. As 

 a fact, if we had this tax on skins we took the first year to the extent 

 of what we have to pay the Government now, we would have been 

 losers. 



Q. You say you did lose on the first year's operation? — A. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Jeffries. You made an assessment on the stockholders ? 



The Witness. Yes, sir. I was going to say what these parties said 

 to me directly, that we had undertaken a burden we could not carry, 

 that we could not pay the United States Government that tax and get 

 anything on it. I said then, and experience has shown since, there is a 

 way in which this can be done. There had never been in the history of 

 seal skins an established market ; it had been a venture. I said that this 

 commerce should be regulated, and that in the months of October and 

 November, say, there shall be sold so many skins, and they shall arrive 

 with certainty at their destinations and in good condition ; that they 

 shall be sold from the hands of the importer, the company, without 

 speculation, that it shall be a perfectly fair and honorable transaction. 

 Then if you can so regulate the killing on the islands as to furnish a 

 class of skins most desired by the furriers, you gain their support. 

 When a man strives to work a business in that way he can enhance the 

 value of his product and get to an assured point where a regular com- 

 mercial value will be recognized like the ordinary value of any commer- 

 cial enterprise ; and so, on that basis the company commenced its oper- 

 ations, and has followed it through with the utmost care. 



By Mr. Cummings : 



Q. So, on that account, you have regulated your killing to the market 

 demand? — A. Yes. 



Q. Have you always killed the regulation number ? — A. No, sir ; in 

 one year we took only 75,000, and in another 80,000. As I think I 

 stated earlier in the day, there are times when there seems to be a 

 slackening in the trade, and it would be, so far as the policy is con- 

 cerned, unwise to force the market. There has never been a time when 

 the company felt desirous of going beyond the 100,000. 



Q. (By Mr. Jeffries.) What is the limitation under the Eussian 

 contract ? — A. There is no limitation under the Eussian contract except 

 that we shall take 1,000 skins. The Eussians are urging the taking of 

 more skins. 



Mr. Jeffries. I asked that because it is charged the company has 

 been taking an excess of skins. The company is under $500,000 bonds 

 that it will comply with the law and its charter forbids this, and the 

 risk is so great that the company would be foolish in taking an excess 

 from these islands when it could lawfully take it from the Eussian 

 islands. 



The Witness. The Government association in this matter is of such 

 value that I would not buy the seal islands for the purchase-money paid 



