REPLY OF THE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY TO THE CHARGES OF 

 GOVERNOR ALFRED P. SWINEFORD, OF ALASKA, AGAINST THE COM- 

 PANY IN HIS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR lo«7. 



San Francisco, December 13, 1887. 

 Hon. C. S. Fairchild, 



Secretary of the Treasury, WasMngton, D, C. : 



Sir: By section 5 of the act of Conn;ress of May 17, 1884, '• providing a civil gov- 

 ernment for Alaska," it is provided that the governor " shall from time to time in- 

 quire into the operations of the Alaska Seal and Fur Company, and shall annually 

 report to Congress the result of such inquiries and any and all violations by said 

 company of the agreement existing betvreen the United States and said company." 

 Treating the name of the company as a mere misnomer and that the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company was intended (a fact we do not contest), the Hon. Alfred P. Swineford, 

 governor of Alaska, has made two annual reports — one iu the latter part of 1885, 

 and the other in the latter part of 1887. 



In his first report, the honorable governor very frankly stated his belief "that no 

 definite results can be attained through an inquiry into the operations of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company directed from this quarter," meaning Sitka. 



He further said : 



" The seal islands are distant from the Territorial seat of government not less than 

 1,500 miles, and the nearest point at which that company maintains an establishment 

 is some 300 miles to the westward of Sitka. As nearly as I can ascertain from this 

 distance there is no just complaint against the Ala.ska Commercial Company in con- 

 nection with its operations on the seal islands, leased to it by the Government, and it 

 would appear, from all I can learn, that its reputed monopoly of the fur trade on 

 the main-land and islands not leased is only such as might be expected to follow 

 the employment of a sufficient amount of capital to defeat any and all attempts at 

 competition. This is a conclusion arrived at from hearsay eviderce only, there be- 

 ing no means of transportation to enable me to institute the personal inquiry seem- 

 ingly contemplated bj' the act referred to. * * * Unless a Governmeut vessel is 

 detailed for the purpose of conveying him (the governor) to the seal islands and the 

 various other points where the company maintains establishments, it will be impos- 

 sible for him to institute such inquiries as will enable him to make a report founded 

 upon personal knowledge and investigation — unless, indeed, it be through the cour- 

 tesy of the company itself, and even then he can only do so at the expense of a trip 

 of many thousands of miles by way of San Francisco. * * * To make the contem- 

 plated inquiry at all effective the person making it must necessarih' visit the scenes 

 of the company's operations. This he can not possibly do unless the Government 

 provides transportation." 



The report further proceeds to show that it was "impossible for the governor to 

 have instituted the inquiries contemplated, or to have made any report based on 

 facts secured through personal investigation of the company's operations," and he 

 claimed that he could "not be held responsible for failure to obey a law which, 

 though mandatory, enjoins upon me [him] a duty the performance of which is, and 

 has been, for the reason stated, and through no fault of my [his] own, absolutely 

 impossible of accomplishment." (Senate Ex, Doc. 115, Forty-ninth Congress, first 

 session.) 



That the act contemplated, as the governor contended, "a report founded upon 

 personal knowledge and investigation," and that "to make the contemplated inquiry 

 at all effective the person making it must necessarily visit the scenes of the com- 

 pany's operations," seem too obvious for discussion. It is equally clear as shown by 

 him "that no definite results can be attained through an inquiry into the operations 

 of the Alaska Commercial Company directed from this quarter" — Sitka. 



The suggestion that a Government vessel be detailed to convey the governor "to 

 the seal islands and the various other points where the company maintains establish- 

 ments" was not acted upon by tlie Government. The general conditions remained 

 the same, and in the latter part of the year 1887 it was equally impossible as iu the 

 year 1885 for the governor " to institute such inquiries as will enable him to make a 

 report founded upon personal knowledge and investigation." He did not visit any 

 one of the stations or "establishments" of the company, or inquire of the United 



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