396 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



that two employes of tlie company themselves taught the native children. I have 

 been frequently in company's stores and seen trading going on between the agents 

 and the natives, as well as others. 



I have seen coin passed back and forth, but I never saw any defaced or mutilated 

 coin and never heard of any in use at any of the company's stations or stores. In 

 1886 my company sent up a teuder with supplies to meet one of my ships at Oona- 

 laska, but as she missed the ship she landed her supplies and they were taken charge 

 of by the Alaska Company's agent, and afterwards our whalebone on the ship was 

 transferred to the Alaska Commercial Company's vessels and brought to San Fran- 

 cisco. The company treated us very liberally and for the services rendered charged 

 very low rates. We saved money by the arrangement. 



They carry people on the vessels at low rates and give good accommodations. I 

 never saw anything in their conduct which showed any desire to keep out immi- 

 grants from any part of Alaska ; on the contrary, they received all new-comers with 

 a hearty welcome. 



The natives, with their wives and children, constantly travel on the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company's vessels among the islands, free of all charge, and often from Oona- 

 laska to St. Paul and the reverse. 



Lewis W. Williams. 



San Francisco, December, 1887. 



No. 10. 



STi*TEMENT OF Mli. WERNER STAUF. 



I reside at San Francisco, Cal., and have since 1872, except the portion of time I 

 was in Alaska. In 187G I went to Wood Island, near Kodiak, in Alaska, as the agent 

 of the American-Russian Commercial Company, a corporation organized to supply 

 California with ice. It also did a small business in purchasing the skins of wild animals. 

 I remained there as agent of the company from 1876 to 1881, inclusive. In 1882, I 

 went to Ooualaslia as agent for the Western Fur and Tradiug Company, a California 

 corporation, of which the old-established firm of Faulkner, Bell & Co., of San Fran- 

 cisco, were the general agents, and remained there during 1882 and part of 1883. 

 The business of the company was to purchase furs and trade with the hunters and 

 others of Alaska. Whilethere as its agent it had vessels of its own plyiug between San 

 Francisco and Oonalaska and also coasting along the Aleutian chain. It carried up 

 supplies, consisting of groceries, clothing, boots and shoes, provisions, and hardware — 

 in a word, all the variety usually found in country stores. It had numerous stations 

 supplied with these articles — in fact, at almost every point where the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company bad a station in Alaska. At each place it had a subagent. It 

 bought peltries from the hiiuters and traders, giving in return mostly goods, but 

 sometimes cash. Its business amounted to from $75,000 to $100,000 a year. 



The general plan of doing business was the same as that of the Alaska Commercial 

 Company. Both companies fitted out hunting expeditions in search of sea-otter at 

 their own expense, taking the general risk of success, for if unsuccessful the supplies 

 furnished the hunters were rarely paid for. When these excursions were successful 

 the hunters would be pail for their peltries fair prices, and would be enabled to pay 

 for the supplies furnished them or their families in their absence. A.limited credit 

 was always given to those deemed reliable, and was always eagerly sought by the 

 natives. The two companies paid about the same prices for these pelts, aud obtained 

 the same prices for their goods. The relation of the two companies was about the 

 same as that of competing establishments elsewhere. Their several agents were 

 friendly and obliging to each other, yet each strove to do the best business he could 

 for his own company. I never found the agents ot: the Alaska Commercial Company 

 unfair or unreasonable, or guilty of any dishonorable conduct. Other traders came 

 there occasionally every year, trying to buy furs and tryiug to barter their merchan- 

 dise brought there for that purpose. Purchasers of furs can hardly ever buy for cash, 

 aud always do better by bartering their goods ; that is, such supplies as are suitable 

 to the place and as are desired by the natives. 



The prices paid by the Alaska Commercial Company for peltries, whilst I was in 

 Alaska, were always fair and reasonable and at times I thought high, for my own 

 company at the same prices lost money. During my entire time there I had ample 

 opportunity to know of the treatment which the native population received from the 

 Alaska Commercial Comi)any. I know that treatment was always kind and liberal, 

 and that their relations were pleasant and agreeable. There are good and bad peo- 

 ple there as elsewhere — some of the native people are industrious, honest, aud reliable ; 

 others are just the reverse. The natives are much more likely to take advantage of 

 the company than the company is to take advantage of the natives. The company 

 always cultivates friendly relations with the natives to secure their trade, for other- 

 wise they would not be able to obtain from them the skins of the sea-otter, which is 

 the principal thing sought on the Aleutian chain. 



