392 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



The next is 

 Geokge Rice, Furrier, Loudon. 



{Case of the U. S., Appendix, vol. II, page 572.) 



Mr. Rice has had 27 years experience. He says: 



In tbe Northwest catch from 85 to 90 per cent of the skins are of the female ani- 

 mals. 



Mr. Rice's cross-examination appears in the British Counter Case, Appendix, vol- 

 ume II, page 246. He neither retracts nor modities anything contained in the above 

 quotation. 



The next is 



Emil Teichman, of the firm of C. M. Lampson and Co., Fur Dealers, London, 

 formed 60 years .ago. Probably this lirni has more expi^rience than any other firm 

 in the world. His tirm have liad cousigiimeiit of 4/5ths of all the sealskins sold 

 since 1870. They sell Alaska, Coppers and Northwest Coast skins. 



{Case of the U. S., Appendix, vol. II, page 581.) 



The most essential diftereiice between the Nortliwest skins and the Alaska and 

 Copper catches is that the Northwest skins, so far as they are skins of adult seals, 

 are almost exclusively the skins of female seals, and are nearly always pierced with 

 shot, bullet or spear holes. 



The next is 



Emil Hertz, of the firm of Emil Hertz and Co., Furriers, Paris. 

 {Case of the U. S., Appendix, vol. II, page 587.) 



The firm buys sealskins at London auctions in the undressed state and has them 

 dressed in London, and dyed i»artly in London and partly in Paris. 



That the said firm can distinguish very readily the source of production of the 

 skins when the latter are in their undressed state; that for several years besides the 

 skins of the regular companies. . . . the said firm has bought (juantities of skins called 

 Northwest coast, Victoria, etc. That these skins are those of animals caught in the 

 open sea by persons who a])parently derive then^froni large profits, and nearly three- 

 quarters of them are those of females and pups, these probably being less difficult to 

 take than the males; that these animals are taken by being shot. 



Then we have the evidence of Mr. Kevillon, which I alluded to and 

 partly read the other day, and I will read that: 



L^ON Revii.lon, of the firm of Revillon Frferes, Furriers, Paris. 

 {Case of the U. S., Appendix, vol. II, p. 589.) 



That the said firm of Revillon Frferes have bought during the last twenty years 

 upwards of 400,000 seal-skins. 



That deponent believes that the firm of Revillon Freres is by far the largest firm 

 of furriers and fur-dealers in France. 



That we have often heard, and from different sources, that these last-named (North- 

 west coast) skins are in the majority the skins of the female seal. The thinness of 

 the hair upon the fianks — 



I want to call attention to this because I will refer hereafter to this 

 evidence: 



The thinness of the hair upon the flanks seems to confirm this assertion, although it 

 is impossible for us to test the absolute truth of this statement for ourselves, for 

 when the seals have been dressed the sigus of the mamniai disappear. At any rate 

 the employment of these skins is much less advantageous to our business because 

 there is a great predominance of small skins, which are evidently those of young 

 seals which are not killed by the companies which have the concessions for the Alaska 

 and Copper sealskins. Moreover these Victoria or Northwest coast sealskins are 

 riddled with shot, which very materially dei)ieciate their value, while the seals of 

 both the Alaska and Copper companies are killed by a blow of a club upou the head, 

 which does not at all impair the quality of the skin as regards its ultimate uses. 



