APPENDICES. 



Treasury Department, 

 Office of the Secretary, 

 UashiiKjton, D. C.,JuIy (5,1888. 

 Sir: Your letter of the lltli ultimo, in which you request to be furnished with an 

 itemized statement of all sums received by the United States from the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company as rent, tax, or duty for the privilege of taking- fur seals on the seal 

 islands of Bering Sea in Alaska, and of all exi)enditures made by the United States 

 on account of the contract with said comi)any and for the enforcement of the laws in 

 relation thereto, was duly received, and in reply I inclose herewith a statement com- 

 piled by the Register of the Treasury, showing salaries and traveling expenses paid 

 agents for each year. A detailed statement of receipts has already been prepared 

 and forwarded as Exhibit B in a letter addressed to Hon. J. G. Carlisle, House of Rep- 

 resentatives, under date of May 3, 1888. 



I also inclose copy of a letter from the acting Register of the Treasury, dated the 

 2r)tli ultimo, explaining certain items in the statements above referred to.' 



The amount expended for the protection by the revenue marine of the interests of 

 the United States in the seal islands can not be approximated for the reason that the 

 revenue-cutters cruising in the waters of Alaska were dispatched thither for variona 

 purposes, and sailed many thousand miles on business in no way connected with the 

 protection of seal life. 



Respectfully, yours, 



C. S. Fairchild, 



Secretary. 



Hon. POINDEXTER DUXN, 



Chairman Committee on Mf-r chant Marine and Fisheries, 



House of Represcntativea. 



Treasury Department, 



Register's Office, 



Jnne 25, 1888. 



Sir : The letter of Hon. Poindexter Dunn, dated June 11, in regard to receipts and 

 expenditures on account of the Alaska Commercial Company, as rent, tax, or duty 

 for the privilege of taking fur seals on the seal islands of Bering Sea, in Alaska, is 

 herewith returned. 



After much labor and research, I have tabulated, from the Comptroller's reports on 

 file, a statement of the salaries and traveling expenses paid agents for each year, 

 which is herewith tr.ausmitted. 



I am unable to furnish any more detailed statement of the receipts than heretofore 

 given. The receipts are entered on the book of this office from the covering war- 

 rants. 



During the years 1873, 1876, 1877. 1879, and 1881 the warrants covered the money into 

 the Treasury as receipts from rents for taking seals in the islands of St. Paul and 

 St. George, Alaska, but in all other years under the title of "Tax on seal skins, rent 

 for taking seals in the islands of St. Paul and St. George, Alaska." 



This irregularity in the description expressed in the warrants necessitated consoli- 

 dating, in the former statement, the receipts from this source into the one title of 

 "Tax on seal skins and rental for right of taking seal furs in Alaska," and I can not 

 seiiarate them unless the covering warrants are changed. 



I can, however, state from general information, with the exception of the year 1871, 

 that the amount of $,'i.'},000 was received and covered into the Treasury for the years 

 stated, from rental for taking seals, etc., and the remainder of the amount was from 

 tax on sealskins. 



The amounts appropriated for "protection of sea-otter hunting grounds and seal 

 fisheries, Alaska," from 1878 to 1887, were carried by counter warrants to the "ex- 

 penses of the revenue-cutier service." 



345 



