FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 297 



as to the condition of the natives, or the effect which the possession of 

 this lease by the company might have upon them, and what power it 

 might enable the company to exert upon the public interests in that Ter- 

 ritory, and whether its influence was beneficial or deleterious ; but to 

 go into the details, as stated here in your letter, would exceed the com- 

 mittee's authority. You may prove the general proposition in relation 

 to the purchase of furs from hunters and natives, etc., and you may give 

 the number of persons who are employed there as agents and their loca- 

 tion, and the opportunities which the company may have by reason of 

 the possession of this lease to exert an influence over the natives and 

 over the public interests and the trade ofthe Territory. I see no ob- 

 jection to making that proof. 



Mr. Jeffries. The committee will not allow us to disprove the ac- 

 cusations made by Governor Swineford or those made by the news- 

 papers. 



The Chairman. These go into the details of the moral depravity exist- 

 ing or said to exist there, and that is a question pertaining to the Territo- 

 rial government, and is a subject which this committee is not directed 

 to investigate. The general question, showing the eflect of this lease 

 on the development of the Territory, may be asked, but further than that 

 the committee has no authority to go. 



Mr. Jeffries. There seems to be an impression throughout the coun- 

 try that the Alaska Commercial Company occupies a large portion of 

 the Territory of Alaska, and practically dominates the whole Terri- 

 tory. 



Mr. Dunn. For that reason 1 am willing that you may give a list of 

 the employes and their location, 



Mr. Jeffries. Any one who will take the trouble to look at the map 

 will see that the only parts of the Territory which we have any control 

 over or relation to are those two volcanic rocks known as St. George and 

 St. Paul Islands. That is all our contract cov^ers. The whole of the rest 

 of the Territory is as open to everybody else as it is to us. It is true we 

 have a few trading stations on the Aleutian Islands. So far as the popu- 

 lated portion of the Territory, Juneau and Sitka, and the white settle- 

 ments are concerned, we have no trading stations there and no employes 

 within 300 miles of them. We have one trading station about 300 miles 

 from Sitka, at which we have one white man ; the next is 700 miles off, 

 and that is our whole relation to the mainland, except down at Kodiak. 

 So far as the region of country is concerned to which immigration is 

 tending, and where millions are said to be anxious to go, it is a veritable 

 terra incognita to the Alaska Commercial Company, and a place with 

 which it has nothing whatever to do. We have rescued from that ster- 

 ile country miners and others who have gone there and met with dis- 

 aster. At one time we brought down thirty-five, and at another time 

 seventy-nine, and took them on our ships to Oonalaska. 



TESTIMONY OF T. F. MORGAN— Recalled. 



T. F. Morgan, recalled. 

 By Mr. Jeffries : 



Q. What are the facilities of communication between the natives of 

 the seal islands and San Francisco, and other places in the United 

 States? — A. The natives have the same opportunities for communicating 

 with San Francisco, or the world in general, as do the employes of the 

 company or the oflBcials of the Greek Church. 



