FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 407 



have yoii to say in refereuce to that statement ? — A. The Alaska Commercial Company 

 has constant competition in the sea-otter trade at all points in Alaska, either from 

 local traders or from itinerants, who go from point to point in small vessels, and at 

 most points from both these classes. The company must therefore pay as much as 

 any one else will pay for the same skins; and sell goods, for the same reason, as low 

 as can be afforded, including coal, which is sold at the same price to the Aleuts as to 

 the whites. 



In regard to the large number of people on the mainland, the Alaska Commercial 

 Company stands only in the relation of a wholesale trader. The goods are sold to, 

 and fnrs purchased from, retailers who go among the natives. 



Q. On the same page of the governor's report it is stated, " I have positive informa- 

 tion of flagrant violations of the law and executive orders in relation to the importa- 

 tion and sale of breech-loading fire-arms by its agents; its oppression and robbery 

 are notorious." What have you to say as to that statement ? — A. There is not a word 

 of truth in that statement. 



Q. What do you know in reference to the policy, methods, or conduct of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company as to the settleaientand development of Alaska Territory ? — A. 

 The company is decidedly in favor of the settlement and development of the Terri- 

 tory. It affords every facility for the transportation of persons and property in its 

 power. Missionaries representing nearly every Cliristian denomination are carried 

 free with their goods ; miners are carried at reasonable rates, and if unable to i^ay are 

 carried free; natives are transported from point to point by hundreds free of charge. 



It would be to the advantage of the company's trade if the Territory were more 

 densely populated ; the officers and managers of the company are stockholders and 

 iuterested in mining atOongaand Oonalaska, and in salmon fishing at Karluk, Nush- 

 agak, and Kenai, and are actively assisting iu the development of rhese enterprises. 



I was for two years United States Treasury agent for Alaska, and as such I visited 

 every point ou the sea-coast from the British Columbia border to the most westerly 

 islands, and all important points in Bering Sea, and in 1870 I entered the service of 

 the Alaska Commercial Company, and since then I have beeu its general agent and 

 superintendent of the seal fisheries, and have repeatedly visited the principal points 

 of the entire Territory, and I make this statement from personal knowledge of the 

 Territory and of the operations of the company. 



H. H. McIntyre. 



District of Columbia, 



Citi/ and County of JVasM)u/ton : 



Before the undersigned, a notary i)ublic within and for the district, city, and county 

 aforesaid, personally appeared the above-named H. H. McIntyre, and who, being well 

 known, signed the foregoing instrnment in my presence, and, being by me duly sworn, 

 says, upon oath, that the answers by him made to the foregoing interrogatories by 

 N. L. Jeffries are true. 



Witness my hand and notarial seal this 1st day of February, A. D. 1888. 



[seal.] " George W. Bagg, 



Notary Public. 



