INVESTIGATION OE THE EUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 791 



Mr. Elliott. I made no recommendation. 



Mr. McGulre. You were in favor of it ? 



Mr. Elliott. I saw no objection to it. I had no interest in it; 

 no interest any more than you had. I was, however, deeply inter- 

 ested in the biology of the seals, and my whole testimony, if I re- 

 member, related chiefly to the seals. 



Mr. McGutre. That was when the Alaska Commercial Co. had 

 the islands ? 



Mr. Elliott. Oh, yes; they had the lease of the islands all right. 



Mr. McGutre. In 1888 and 1889 ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. . 



Mr. McGutre. That was the company that gave you the money? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir. It would have been just the same, if they 

 had not. 



Mr. McGutre. You had no objection to the re-leasing? 



Mi*. Elliott. At that time, no. 



Mr. McGutre. Do you say to this committee that you did not 

 make any recommendation in your testimony or evidence that they 

 should be re-leased? 



Mr. Elliott. No; I did not. I never had any thought of such a 

 thing; it did not come up. 



Mr. McGutre. Did you object at any time to the Government 

 taking over the islands ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. At the very beginning I did. According to 

 my first idea in 1872-1874, I thought it would be a bad idea for the 

 Government to manage the business, and so thought up to 1890 and 

 till I saw the changed order of affairs due to pelagic sealing in that 

 year for the first time. 



Mr. McGuire. When was that ? 



Mr. Elliott. That was before I knew much about it; that was in 

 1872 and 1874. Here it is in my report of 1874. That was before I 

 had experience. Everything looked lovely in 1874, and so when I 

 made my report of 1874 I considered that the settlement of the 

 question as to whether the Government should take control of the 

 islands or should be leased to a private corporation was best settled 

 by having a private corporation take charge of it. I went into an 

 extended analysis of that reason. But after going up there 16 years 

 later I saw that that thing would not work any longer. 



Mr. McGuire. You never at any time, Mr. Elliott, made a state- 

 ment to a committee in which you objected to the Government taking 

 over the islands and in which you stated, hi substance, that it would 

 be disastrous ? 



Mr. Elliott. Well, no. I can not think of my making that state- 

 ment before a committee. I may have repeated some of this before 

 -a committee; that is, from my report of 1874. It is possible I did 

 read extracts from my report of 1874; but in 1890 I revised that 

 opinion and acknowledged my mistake, since pelagic sealing had 

 reversed the whole ground of my opinion in 1874 to 1888. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you appear before the Committee on Mer- 

 chant Marine and Fisheries on June 8, 1888 ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; that is the one I am talking about. 



Mr. McGutre. Well, that is what I am asking you. 



