758 INVESTIGATION" OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you not make computations in the same place 

 and at the same time when you were taking the measurements ? 



Mr. Elliott. But not under any agreement with him. I never 

 consulted him, never noticed him. Why should I ? I was the agent 

 of this committee. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you speak to him ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes ; but unofficially. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you talk to him ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; but unofficially ; personally, yes. 



Mr. McGuire. As the agent of this committee, did you not feel it 

 was your duty, as nearly as possible, to cooperate with the agents of 

 the Government ? 



Mr. Elliott. I was not sent up there to cooperate with any of 

 them; I was sent up there to get certain facts. I was sent up to 

 get certain facts without the slightest reference to anjdDody on the 

 islands, the lessees' agents, employees of the Government, the natives, 

 or anybody else. I was sent up there to use my judgment, as a "duly 

 qualified expert," as to the condition of affairs as I should see them, 

 and bring those facts down to this committee. And then, if there 

 was any argument or convincing of these men who disagreed with 

 me on the islands, or anywhere else, it was to be settled here. I was 

 not to get into an argument with these men who had less experience 

 and less knowledge than I had. 



Mr. McGuire. I did not ask you whether you were to get into an 

 argument with them. I asked you whether you understood you 

 were to cooperate with them ( 



Mr. Elliott. Xot at all. 



Mr. McGuire. With the agents of the Government? 



Mr. Elliott. Not at all. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you have any instructions from this committee 

 not to cooperate I 



Mr. Elliott. Or to cooperate with them { They were not noticed. 



Mr. McGuire. And you regard the committee as a branch of the 

 Government \ 



Mr. Elliott. Certainly I do, and the first branch. 



Mr. McGuire. And you regard the executive department of the 

 Government as being directly in control of the islands? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir; but subordinate to the legislative branch. 



Mr. McGuire. It is your position, then, that the executive is 

 subordinate to the legislative '. 



Mr. Elliott. Certainly, in this case, most decidedly; there is no 

 argument about it, in my mind. 



The Chairman. Let me make a statement there. I think I stated 

 it once before, but I think it is only fair to do it again. The com- 

 mittee passed resolutions instructing these men to go up and make 

 an investigation. I asked the Secretary of Commerce to give them 

 authority to go on the islands. While the}' were on the islands they 

 wired me and >aid that a Mr. Chamberlin and a Mr. Clark had come 

 upon the islands and whether they should cooperate with these men. 

 I wired that they should not, that they should follow the instructions 

 of the committee. At that time the chairman of this committee did 

 not know that Mr. Clark had been sent up there, or Mr. Chamberlin, 

 by the department. So it was really my doings more than anybody 

 else's, I did not know what these men were doing there. 



