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



mercial Co., had great difficulty in obtaining their first quota in June and July, 1890, 

 and commenced to kill female seals and yearlings, which is now, and was then pro- 

 hibited by law, and by the regulations oi' the department, dated May 14, 1896. This 

 unlawful killing of seals was reported July 31 and September 7, 1890, to Hon. William 

 Windom, the Secretary of the Treasury, who died January 29, 1891, and to his suc- 

 cessor, Hon. Charles Foster, who took no steps officially to prevent a recurrence of 

 such loss to the Government; but, on the contrary, immediately removed the agent 

 who reported it, and assigned him to another position in the service. (See pp. 304- 

 314, hearing No. 1.) 



'That the conduct of the lessees, the North American Commercial Co., through its 

 officers and agents, coupled with the work of and the interest they had in pelagic 

 hunting, so reduced the seal herd of about a million seals that in August, 1910, the 

 number of seals on the islands did not, as officially reported, exceed 133,000. That 

 the lessees had killed in 20 years 343,356 seals, from which they derived a net profit 

 of approximately $5,000,000 and by reason of which the Government, after paying 

 the expenses incident to the management of the fur-seal herd during said period, 

 derived no profit, but, on the contrary, suffered a cash loss of more than $1,350,000. 

 That the record of 40 years of leasing of the seal islands of Alaska (1870-1910) dis- 

 closes the fact that the Government has suffered a property loss of not less than 

 $80,000,000, caused by the almost complete commercial nun of the said seal herd, 

 while the net revenue received by the Government under both leases amounted to 

 but $3,914,000, approximately. (See pp. 176-178, hearing No. 1.) 



III. Your committee finds that the second lease which the Government entered 

 into — namely, with the North American Commercial Co. — was obtained by fraud, in 

 part having consisted in the filing of a false affidavit on the part of Isaac Liebes, presi- 

 dent of said company. Testimony discloses the fact that the said Liebes, as president 

 of said company, did, on March 12, 1890, declare under oath in the form of a written 

 affidavit, which was placed on file in the Treasury Department with the papers in 

 the case, to the effect that neither he nor any of bis associate lessees were engaged 

 in the business of pelagic sealing or in any violation of law, when in truth and in fact 

 be, the said Isaac Liebes, was at the very time of the filing of said affidavit in full 

 knowledge of the fact that his associate lessee, Herman Liebes, was the owner of the 

 schooner James Hamilton Lewis, and that she had been outfitted by him, illegally 

 cleared January 10, 1890, for hunting fur seals at sea and for the very purpose of com- 

 mitting depredations on the high seas and in American waters and on the seal islands 

 of Alaska during the summer of 1890. That on September 17, 1890, he, the said Isaac 

 Liebes, president, as aforesaid, became part owner of said vessel James Hamilton 

 Leu-is. That the said Herman and Isaac Liebes, officers and stockholders of the said 

 North American Commercial Co. and as owners of the said James Hamilton Lewis, 

 corresponded, combined, confederated with one Alexander McLean, known as a 

 notorious British pirate, for the purpose of committing, and in fact did commit, dep- 

 redations on the high seas in American waters, and on the Pribilof Islands,- by way 

 of unlawfully killing fur seals belonging; to the Government of the United States. 

 (See pp. 224,' 225, 285, 290, 294, 295, hearing No. J. I 



Your committee is of the opinion that the conduct of the officers of the North Amer- 

 ican Commercial Co. during 1890, 1891, and subsequent thereto, was such that the 

 officials of the Government should have promptly revoked the lease, and prevented 

 this great loss of property. In this connection it may be stated that the following is a 

 clause which appears in the lease: 



"The Secretary of the Treasury reserves the right to terminate this lease and all 

 rights of the North American Commercial Co. under the same at any time on full and 

 sal isfactory proof that the said company has violated any of the provisions and agree- 

 ments of this lease, or any of the laws oi" the United States, or any Treasury regulation 

 respecting the taking of fur seals or concerning the islands of St. George and St. Paul 

 or the inhabitants thereof." 



That the said North American Commercial Co. gave a bond, dated March 12, 1890, 

 in the sum of $500,000. conditioned for the faithful observance of all laws and regula- 

 tions of the Treasury Department, said bond being signed by I. Liebes, president; H. 

 B. Parsons, assistant secretary; and Darius O. Mills, attorney in fact, and Stephen 

 B. Elkins. as sureties, and approved by William Windom, Secretary of the Treasury, 

 and which said bond is on file in the department, as part of the record in the case. 



IV. Your committee further finds that, in spite of the ruinous record made during 

 the last 20 years, by the North American Commercial Co. under the supervision 

 of the Government agents of the seal islands of Alaska. H. H. Taylor, the president 

 of said company. C. H. Townsend. a member of advisory board on fur-seal service, 

 Department of Commerce and Labor, and George M. Bowers, Commissioner of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, did recommend to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the 



