408 rUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



THE SEAL ISLANDS. 

 [Extract from special report of the governor of Alaska for the year 1888.] 



Section 5 of the act providing a civil government for Alaska provides that the gov- 

 ernor " shall from time to time inquire 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 between the United 

 States and said company." In view of this provision I have considered it my duty to 

 inquire into the operations of that company — or rather of the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany, as was undoubtedly the intention of Congress— generally, instead of confining 

 my inquiries merely to the question of whether or not it had violated its agreement 

 with the Government. 



The result of my inquiries into the operations of the company, aside from its sealing 

 business, together with my views as to how they affect the best interests of the Ter- 

 ritory and the welfare of its people, I have embodied as plainly and succinctly as 

 possible in the foregoing pages. In doing so I have been governed by no other 

 motive or desire than the good of the Territory, whose interests and welfare I have 

 esteemed it a paramount dutj' to guard and promote to the best of my understand- 

 ing and limited ability. 



So far from having been actuated by any personal feeling, I wish to say that if the 

 system of leasing the seal islands, without restriction as to trade in other parts of the 

 Territory, is to be continued, very little in the way of reform is likely to be accom- 

 plished by dispossessing the present lessees in favor of some other individual or cor- 

 poration. It is the system or principle that most merits coudemuation ; any other 

 corporation granted the same exclusive privileges would naturally strive to make 

 the most of the opportunities presented, and I can see no prospective good to accrue 

 to the Territory through the dispossession of one monopoly merely to make place for 

 another and, possibly, worse one. 



So far as its operations on the seal islands are concerned, it affords me pleasure to 

 be able to report an altogether satisfactory condition of affairs — one which is wholly 

 creditable, at least to the company. I am perfectly satisfied that the company is, and 

 has been all along, faithfully complying with ail the terms and conditions of its 

 agreement with the Government ; in fact, it is doing even more in the matter of pro- 

 viding for the wants and comfort of the natives than its contract requires. 



I do not believe, as has frequently and persistently been charged, that it has ever 

 taken in any one year more than the number of seals authorized by law, for the 

 simple reason, if there be no other, than that is has not been and is not now to its 

 iuterest to do so. That could only be done by and with the connivance of the Gov- 

 ernment agents and the customs authorities at San Francisco, and in the absence of 

 any evidence it would not be right or proper to question the honesty of those officials. 



The provision of the lease restricting the number of seals that may be killed to 

 100,000 annually is its most valuable feature, as a moment's consideration will con- 

 vince any person who is possessed of the slightest appreciation of the law of sup- 

 ply and demand. While I can not aver a positive knowledge in the premises, I 

 nevertheless feel quite safe in asserting that the company has never violated either 

 that or any other express provision of its lease or contract. It is true, I did not 

 have an opportunity of visiting St. George, owing to the then prevailing bad state 

 of the weather, but I spent the best part of two days on St. Paul Island, where the 

 principal rookeries are located, and where seventeen-twentieths of the seals are 

 killed. 



I was here afforded every facility by the company's general agent for acquiring 

 such information as I desired, the books of the company as well as those of the Treas- 

 ury agent being open to me, while there was no restriction or espionage whatever to 

 prevent me from obtaiuing any information the native people might wish to impart. 

 I conversed freely with many of the most intelligent Aleuts and Creoles, and as all 

 the killing is is clone by them, for which they receive a compensation of 40 cents 

 per skin, it is fair to assume that they would know of it had there been any viola- 

 tion of contract in regard to the number killed; their accounts, however, show pay- 

 ment for the legitimate number only, and it is far from reasonable to suppose that 

 the company would hazard the possession of so valuable a franchise by entering into 

 collusion not only with the Government agent, but with a hundred or more natives 

 for the purpose of defrauding the Government. 



While I could find no evidence upon which to base even a suspicion of fraud in the 

 number of skins taken, careful observation and inquiry forces upon me the conclu- 

 eion that the company was not only hones.t in its dealings with the Government, but, 



