paid into the Treasury, and consequently the
debit side of the account was a blank. When the bonds were paid the
payment became a credit on the loan account. In after times bonds were
issued and sold below par. The account was charged with the receipts
and upon payment the loan account was credited with the full amount
paid. In some cases the discrepancy was augmented by the purchase of
bonds and the payment of a premium, as was done in the second term of
General Jackson. The investigation showed that the discrepancy was
only apparent, and the criticisms and complaints ceased.

During my administration of the Treasury Department, the government of
the Territory of Alaska was in my hands. The legislation of Congress
was brief and indefinite and the only officers were collectors of
customs, treasury agents and the revenue cutter officials. The
principal topics of thought were the exclusion of liquors and firearms
and the protection of the fur seal fishery. During the session of the
Forty-first Congress a bill was passed which required the Secretary to
lease the seal fishery to the best bidder, with a preference to the
company which was then engaged in the fishery. On the question of the
nature of the preference I took the opinion of the Attorney-General in
advance of the contract. At that time I was opposed to any system of
leasing and I so advised the House of Representatives in a report upon
the subject. Congress, however, adopted the system of leasing and upon
experience that system was shown to be more advantageous to the
country. The value of the fur seal fishery depends upon the market for
the dressed furs, and the value of the dressed furs depends upon the
fashions, and the fashions are manipulated by the producers of the
varied competing goods. The Government could never engage in the
business of promoting fashions and training the markets. Fur seal
skins have only a moderate commercial value when the fashion is not
with them.

The question of the claim on Behring Sea was not then much considered.
By the law of nations it is difficult to maintain the position that
that vast body of salt water can be treated as a closed sea, but there
are peculiarities which distinguish it from other bodies of water as
the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, which are partially
enclosed.

Russia for a long time was the possessor of the adjacent mainland and
of the islands which mark the limits and in a degre