The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1892-04-21
THE SEAL FISHERIES.
Peculiar Position in Which Our
Government Is Placed.
u Gle Sans Contract with tho Alaska
Commercial Company-Thc Justice Of
Our Claims Against England-Thep 3
Resources Of Alaska.

Especial Chicago letter.

Especial Chicago letter.
Hon. Henry e. Hayden has recently
come from Alaska. He was appointed
by President Cleveland secretary of that
distant territory in 1887, and has passed
nearly five years in that most isolated
portion of our national domain. His
position there was rather a peculiar one,
and if there be such an official as a
'pooh-b bah" in any of our territories it
certainly applied to him-under the
original act passed in designating a
civil government to the territory. The
secretary is also clerk of the United
States district court, eX-officio treas
urer, receiver Of public moneys and re-
corder for nearly two years and half
of his incumbency. Mr.. Hayden was
also acting governor.
He is thoroughly acquainted with
Alaskan affairs and the needs and de-
sires Of its people, and tells many inter-
esting stories of his daily living in that
mysterious and as yet unexplored
region. He maintains that the tales
that are continuously appearing in the
newspapers, purporting to be facts in
regard to Alaska, are most of them err
roneous and based upon those fabulous
statements made by "old timers to
visiting tourists and jotted down by the
latter in note books to be given out
promiscuously as absolute truths by
them on their return to civilization.
At this time when the Behring sea
controversy bids fair to assume alarm
ing proportions, and the state craft of
our own country and Great Britain is
called upon to adjust amicably and sat-
isfactorily the vexatious question as to
the jurisdiction of the United States in
those waters, Mr.. Haydons informa-
ton is very valuable and interesting,
because it was during his administra-
ton of affairs that the first seizure of
vessels for illicit sealing in Behring sea
was made by our revenue cutters and
the vessels and their cargoes con-
demned and forfeited to the United
States by the district court, and sold
under its DEGREES. Since then the same
policy of making seizures in Behring
sea has prevailed, and the proceedings
then had have been strictly followed.
In recent interview Mr.. Hayden
stated that in connection with these
seizures and the court proceedings there
is some very peculiar and unwritten
history.
Alaska was ceded to the United
States in 1867, by the treaty of cession
Russia conveyed to our government
all it's sovereignty and dominion over
Alaska and the waters thereof. This
placed the United States in the pos ition
originally occupied by Russia, and
guaranteed to it all the rights that per-
tanned to that imperial government.
Russia's claim to absolute dominion
over Alaska and the Behring sea was
based upon discovery, conquest and set
Element. The geography of the coun-
try demonstrates indisputably to the
careful student that the Bchring sea is
land-locked ocean.
Immediately after the transfer, a cor
poration was organized in San Fran
cisco known as the Alaska Commercial
Company. Many of it's stockholders
were men occupying high positions in
the world of finance and politics. To
this corporation lease was given by
the secretary of the treasury of the seal
islands located in the Behring sea for
period of twenty years, with the privi-
lege to kill, under certain restrictions,
100000 fur seals annually. In consid-
Grafton of this lease and the privileges
and protection guaranteed to it, the
company agreed to pay as rent 5000
annually, and in addition to this amount
S2.G4 for each skin taken; the govern
ment guaranteeing them protection in
the pursuit of their business and what
amounted to an absolute monopoly of
the immense fur trade of the western
ocean. For the further protection, and
in the interests of this corporation, a
law was enacted by congress in 1868
prohibiting the killing ''of any mink,
sea otter, sable, fur seal, or any other
fur-bearing animal within the territory
of Alaska or the acaters thereof" On this
law all the past litigation and the pres
ent international difficulty hinges.
Under this arrangement the company
and it's stockholders reaped a golden
harvest and the treasury of the United
States obtained an immense revenue.
Prior to 1884 no depredations were
committed in Behring sea by the YES
sells Of any nation that demanded the
intervention Of our government by it's
revenue or naval vessels or by the proc
ess of it's district courts-but imme-
diately after the enactment by congress
in 1884 of an organic act creating a civil
government in Alaska complaints were
made to the treasury department by
the company that American and Brit
ish vessels in defiance of law were de-
stroying and capturing fur seals within
the waters of Behring sea. This, of
course, BODIED destruction to the inter-
ests of the Alaska Commercial Com
pany, and Immediately the strong arm
of the government was called upon to
maintain them in unGisputed possession
OF the vast number of fur bearing an
imals that make those waters their
abiding place. In 1887 the matter cul-
~