INVESTIGATION OF THE FUK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA: 111 



Mr. Elliott. That is the official list of the natives' houses. 



Mr. Young. I was somewhat confused by this list of houses for the natives. The 

 law on the subject is contained in section 9 of the act approved April 21, 1910. which 

 reads as follows : 



" Sec. 9. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have authority to appoint 

 such additional officers, agents, and employees as may be necessary to carry out the 

 provisions of this act and the laws of the United States relating -to the seal fisheries of 

 Alaska, to prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation; he shall likewise have 

 authority to purchase from the present lessee of the right to take seals on the islands 

 of Saint Paul and Saint George, at a fair valutation to be agreed upon, the warehouses, 

 salt houses, boats, launches, lighters, horses, mules, wagons, and other property of the 

 said lessee on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, including the dwellings of 

 the natives of said Islands; he shall likewise have authority to establish and maintain 

 depots for provisions and supplies on the Pribilof Islands and to provide for the trans- 

 portation of such provisions and supplies from the mainland of the United States 

 to the said islands by the charter of private vessels or by the use of public vessels of 

 the United States which may be placed at his disposal by the President: and he shall 

 likewise have authority to furnish food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other necessaries 

 of life to the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands and to provide for their comfort, 

 maintenance, education, and protection." 



I believe that ought to be inserted in the record in connection with what we have 

 gone over. 



The Chairman. I understood from Mr. Elliott's statement that it was his theory 

 that the buildings had to be accounted for by the lessees and should not have been 

 purchased by the Government. 



Mr. Elliott. Certainly; they do not come into the "plant" at all. 



The Chairman. So that I think perhaps it is well enough to have that in. 



Mr. Elliott. The native dwellings that belong to the " plant" should be purchased. 



The terms of this lease which bound the lessees to furnish these 

 native houses to the natives free of all cost to the United States, and 

 also keep them in repair during the period of the lease free of all cost 

 either to natives or the United States, are found as follows in the 

 body of the contract signed March 12, 1890, to wit (see p. 467, Hear- 

 ing No. 10, House Committee on Expenditures of the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor) : 



That it will also furnish to the said inhabitants 80 tons of coal annually, and a suffi- 

 cient number of comfortable dwellings hi which said native inhabitants may reside; 

 and will keep said dwellings in proper repair; and will also provide and keep in repair 

 such suitable schoolhouses as maybe necessary; and will establish and maintain dur- 

 ing eight months of each year proper schools for the education of the children on said 

 islands, the same to be taught by competent teachers who shall be paid by the com- 

 pany a fair compensation, all to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury; and 

 will also provide and maintain a suitable house for religious worship; and will also 

 provide a competent physician or physicians and necessary and proper medicines 

 and medical supplies; and will also provide the necessaries of life for the widows and 

 orphans and aged and infirm inhabitants of said islands who are unable to provide 

 for themselves: all of which foregoing agreements will be done and performed by the 

 said company free of all costs and charges to said native inhabitants of said islands or 

 to the United States. 



There is no ambiguity in this clear specific obligation of the lessees 

 to furnish these native houses to the natives free of all cost at any 

 time to the Government of the United States or to the natives them- 

 selves. That payment to them, by Secretary Nagel, of $24,000 for 

 those houses, is not warranted and should be recovered. 



In the first place, these houses are small wooden one-story frame 

 structures, 20 by 10, on the sills, and no attic, with an outer shed 

 or "calle dore" over the entrance: the entire cost, when first built 

 by the Alaska Commercial Co. in 1876 (and then given by that 

 lessee to the natives), was between $210 and $225 per dwelling. 



