FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 33 
Mr. Watson. Then, what is the difference whether it is a suspension 
by the Treasury or the agent of the Treasury, or by Congress? 
Mr. Faurtxner. No, sir; there is no provision for suspension. 
There is a provision 
Mr. Wrutiams, of Mississippi. There is a provision that they shall 
be taken under limitations and restrictions to be prescribed by the 
Secretary of the Treasury. 
Mr. Fautxner. Yes; it isin substance. Yes; I will read it. It is 
a very short clause of this contract. 
The Cuarrman. We give your company the exclusive right to kill, 
do we not? 
Mr. Fautxnrr. Yes; but here is a limitation of the rights of the 
company and a provision that protects the Government, in my judg- 
ment, in the limitation of the annual catch. It has acted under this 
clause and prescribed yearly the number of seals that shall be taken 
by the company: 
The said company also agrees faithfully to obey and abide by all rules and regula- 
tions that the Secretary of the Treasury has heretofore or may hereafter establish or 
make in pursuance of law concerning the taking of seals of said islands, and concern- 
ing the comfort, morals, and other interests of said inhabitants, and all matters per- 
taining to said islands and the taking of seals within the possession of the United 
ates 
I think there is no question of the right of the Secretary under that 
clause of the contract to limit and provide by regulations what shall 
be the annual catch. What I can not understand, and I have never 
understood, is why if a limitation is necessary in the judgment of Con- 
gress, and that it should be limited to 5,500 a year, why is it that you 
want to abrogate the contract instead of allowing the lessees to take 
the 5,500. There can be given no satisfactory reason for it. 
You invited the entering into this contract in good faith. We 
obtained the contract under a bid in which we offered three times more 
than our competitors were paying. We have lost by it. From 
100,000 a year we have been reduced to 7,500 two years, and the aver- 
age for twelve years has been only 17,506 a year. We have therefore 
made no great profit, as you can see, in this matter. 
;What can be the object in abrogating a contract when you have the 
power through your Secretary to control the number of every annual 
catch and still preserve the good faith of the Government with the 
lessee ? 
The Cuarrman. I think you stated your position on that very well 
yesterday. Mr. Hitchcock is here from the Department of Commerce 
and Labor. He came here upon a letter from me written at the sug- 
gestion of one of the members of the committee, and we will now hear 
Mr. Hitchcock. 
REFERENCES TO JORDAN’S REPORT, 1898 (PRESENTED BY SENATOR 
FAULKNER). 
As authorized by the committee, I append to my remarks the fol- 
lowing references to the pages where the subject mentioned will be 
found in part 1 of the Report of David Starr Jordan on the Fur 
Seal and Fur Seal Islands, 1898. 
1. The causes which led to the depletion of the herd on the Pribilof 
Islands in 1834, page 25. 
