226 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 



Q. What is your present business ? — A. None at present. I am a 

 lawyer, but am not i)racticing now. 



Q. Were you subpoenaed to be here on the 7th of January "? — A. Yes, 

 sir. 



Q. How does it happen that you are here now f — A. I am going to 

 Florida and could not come at that time. 



The Chairman. State the circumstances, please. — A. I telegraphed 

 to Judge Sawyer that I could be here on the 20th of this month, and 

 he arranged it so that I could be heard to-day. 



By Mr. Jeffries : 



Q. Were you three years on the seal islands? — A. I visited St. 

 George once a year. My headquarters were at St. Paul. 



The Chairman. When the committee adjourned the other day 1 for- 

 got to state that I had arranged to have Judge Glidden appear on the 

 20th. 



By Mr. Jeffries : 



Q. Have you ever had any personal connection with the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company"? — A. No, sir. 



Q. You have had no interest in this matter except as a Treasury 

 agent! — A. None. I have never seen any of the company since I left 

 San Francisco in July, 1885. 



Q. About how many of the company's agents are there that remain 

 on either or both of these islands during the winter? — A. I think there 

 are five, including the cook. 



Q. Do they have their wives with them usually! — A. Several of them 

 do. 



Q. About how many married ladies! — A. There were five at one 

 time, including the wife of the captain of the revenue-cutter. 



Q. \Vhat wa.s the social order during the summer? — A. White peo- 

 ple and the natives have no social intercourse at all. It is business en- 

 tirely. Once in a while I would go to see Mrs. Molovedoff, who is really 

 a queen in that section. 



Q. During the three years preceding 1885 did you ever know of any 

 married lady being insulted on those islands !— A. Never. The natives 

 are always gentlemanly, and the white men are particularly so. 



Q. How do you regard the true condition of the natives, not as to the 

 houses they live in, but as to their social and mural condition ? What 

 do you say as to the effect on those people of the company opera tions ? — 

 A. I think the condition of the people is improving all the time, and 

 with some rapidity, too. Of course the natives came to see me and vis- 

 ited my wife, and we were glad to have them do so. Although they 

 could not talk Eughsb, they could use pantomime. 



Q. Did you have an opportunity of knowing w^hat the instructions of 

 the company were as to the manner of doing business ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. What were the instructions so far as the natives were concerned ? — 

 A. To treat the natives well and observe the conditions of the contract 

 all the time. I talked to the president of the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany in San Francisco, and he said he wanted the contract observed 

 strictly. 



Q. Who did the natives and other people regard as supreme author- 

 ity! — A. The chief Government agent and his assistants. 



Q. During the time you were there was your authority ever resisted 

 by the company's employes or agents ? — A. Never. 



Q. Do you know Mr. Webster, an agent of the company ! — A. Ver3' 

 well. He was in St. Paul all the time I was there. 



