FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 341 



calliug bis attention to liis promises to me to keep out of tbe newspa- 

 pers It was written with tbe hope tbat it migbt call to bis mind bis 

 promises, and, iu bis own interests, keep bim from publisbing anything 

 further, which might force me to publish to the people of tbe world the 

 facts as set forth iu affidavits I have ; as be bad taken tbe public for bis 

 audience, I would necessarily have to go there with the refutation. 1 

 was iu possession of affidavits, I have them here with me, which thor- 

 oughly disproves his statements. My letter was written to him wholly 

 in bis own interests, not that it made any difference to me, except so far 

 as I am responsible for tbe acts of my assistant. Tbe letter I did not 

 consider m any sense could be construed by any person as a black-mail- 

 ing letter. 



The Chairman. Tn connection with this letter was there any infor- 

 mation or knowledge in the possession of Mr. Gavitt affecting the public 

 interests or the administration of tbe officers and the affairs committed 

 to your charge which you desired to prevent him from ])ublishing? 



The Witness. None whatever. He was not in possession of one 

 scintilla of information that could reflect upon the integrity of any Gov- 

 ernment officer, either myself or any of my other assistants. No better 

 men can be found than Captain Loud and J. P. Manchester, my other 

 assistants. There was nothing, and there has not occurred anything, 

 upon the islands tbat I would not be glad to have published to tbe 

 world in connection with my official duties and my administration. I 

 report to the Secretary of the Treasury fully everything that is of a 

 public nature affecting tbe interests of tbe people or Government. I 

 regret Gavitt did not obey the summons of the committee and appear 

 now tbat I might cross-examine bim ; he is a great coward. 



The Chairman. So, in this letter you referred and intended to refer 

 to these personal immoralities which be accused persons of ? 



The Witness. Yes. 



The Chairman. And then accusations which were purely personal to 

 him you thought would be made by tbe persons whom be accused ! 



The Witness. Certainly. It was entirely in his own interest I 

 wrote the letter, and to prevent exposure of bis immorality and unfit- 

 ness to associate with gentlemen. 



The Chairman. All of that has been brought out iu the evidence in 

 this case. 



The Witness. Some things have been brought out which I desired to 

 suppress. I refused to be interviewed by anybody from San Francisco 

 to Washington. Although news])aper men have had several inter- 

 views with me upon this subject, I have positively refused to be inter- 

 viewed, for the reason I expected to be before this committee, and what- 

 ever I had to say I desired to say to the committee alone until they 

 got through with their investigation, and after that, possibly, I might 

 l)ublisb a statement of facts or extracts from the evidence after tbe 

 report of the <!ommittee to Congress. 



Mr. Uyan, the assistant Treasury agent on the island, testified, ac- 

 cording to this newspaj)er article, that — 



He formulated rules forbiddiug females on the island visiting the company and 

 Government bouses, but Mr. Tingle, bi.s superior officer, had declared such a rule 

 nnll. It was inii)09sible to imagine what caused him to do this, as the order was 

 issued in the interest of law and decency. 



I desire to say in regard to Mr. Ryan that be was another Indiana 

 crank. He issued a set of rules that were no improvement on the rules 

 1 established when I took charge of the islands. They were not any 

 more in tbe interest of law and decency than the rules which I had 



