784 INVESTIGATION OP THE PUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. McGuire. Now, Mr. Elliott, what did you mean by this para- 

 graph of this letter: 



Also the time lost from the period of the lease could be made up by a special act 

 of Congress, and it would be done as all fairness and equity suggested it. 



Mr. Elliott. I will tell you just what I meant, because when I 

 first made this report, Mr. Windom said it would be impossible for 

 him to cancel that lease during these negotiations, and then renew it 

 afterwards. That the best way to do would be to get these men to 

 agree to a suspension of their work for six or seven years, as I recom- 

 mended; and then, if the Canadians in that time did agree to suspend 

 pelagic sealing, and we did get an agreement to that effect, it might 

 be that they could resume killing on land. I myself never believed 

 they could, but I was perfectly willing to let the events work out 

 themselves, assuming that if at the end of the seven years it was 

 proper to renew the killing under the leasing system, it would be 

 developed. 



Mr. McGuire. Well, you have not told me yet; you have not 

 answered my question. What was your purpose in making the 

 recommendation ? What did you have in mind when you made a 

 recommendation like this ? — 



Also the time lost from the period of the lease could be made up by a special act 

 of Congress. 



Mr. Elliott. Well, because I understood from the conversations 

 I had with Mr. Blame and Mr. Windom that if they wholly suspended 

 the lease for seven years, and then if the lessees resumed, they would 

 have to have an act of Congress to warrant them in that action. 



The C hairmax. I do not want to lead you, but I am under the 

 impression that a moment ago you either suggested or stated that 

 you were working to get a closed season and to get them to stop 

 killing altogether on land. 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; I thought that they would be willing if they 

 understood the truth in my report. You know they were strangers 

 to me; I had never seen them or heard of them before; they were 

 sudden! stopped by me, more than by any one man, in killing seals; 

 and therefore I felt, out of all fairness to them, that if they fully 

 understood the thing, they would respect me and agree with me. 

 And I asked by Mr. Windom to unofficially address these men in that 

 way and get a fair, unofficial expression of opinion from them. 



Mr. Stephens. At that time did you hold any Government position? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; but five or six months after, I separated myself 

 from the Government. When I wrote that, Mr. Windom had died. 



Mr. McGuire. You did not intend this letter to be in any way a 

 bid for employment? 



Mr. Elliott. Xo; my soul, no. 



Mr. McGuire. You were not at that time in the employ of the 

 Government? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; but a few weeks later I was not. 



Mr. McGuire. Whatever employment you had with the former 

 seal company was that 



Mr. Elliott (interposing). That was as an arbitrator. 



Mr. McGuire. What is the name of that company? 



Mr. Elliott. The Alaska Commercial Co. 



Mr. McGuire. That had ended and the company 



