84 FUR-SEAL HEED OP ALASKA. 



5 small . 

 21 large pii])s. 

 48 middling piip«. 

 94 small pups. 

 18 ex. small pups. 

 2 faulty. 



188 average based (ni December, 1909, prices 120/. 



12,920 



Subject to recount. 



(Hearing No. 6, p. 291, July 27, 1911, Ho. Com. Exp. Dopt. Com. 

 and Labor.) 



Mr. Patton. You moan i; is a report that is sworn to by the people who do the sell- 

 ing in London? 



Mr. Bowers. No, sir; it is the classificalion of the London mercliants wIid sell the 

 skins for the United States Government. 



Mr. Patton. And they pay on that weight? 



Mr. Bowers. They sell on those weights. Their classification is made on those 

 weights. 



Mr. Elliott. Eight there 1 want to interpose the statement that they do not weigh 

 those skins to classify them. They measure them. (Hearing No. 9, pp. 374-875.) 



Mr. Lembkey. These skins which were sent to London, during the years 1909 and 

 1910, were weighed by the factors after their arrival in London and the weights found 

 to correspond with those taken on the island. As this factor. Lampson & Co., is essen- 

 tially a disinterested ]:)erson. being concerned not the least with the question of weights 

 or regiiiations, but wholly with the sale of the skins and tne payments therefor, their 

 verification of these weights may be taken as conclusive of their accuracy. 



So far, therefore, as concerns compliance with the regulations and the law in the kill- 

 ing of male seals, no malfea.sance can be proven, because not only the records of the de- 

 partment but the weights of the same skins in London, taken by an independent and 

 responsible body of experts, prove that the limits of weight laid down by the in.struc- 

 tions of the department have been complied with as closely as it is possible for human 

 agency to do so. The weights of skins taken on the islands show this, and further- 

 more these weights have been verified in London by an independent and responsible 

 body of men. 



Here is the man wlio has been |)ia('(Ml in ftill charge of this piibUc 

 btisiness, the commissioner himself, under oath, actually swearing to 

 a deliberate falsehood of his own invention. He swears that these 

 skins, which have been taken under his orders, are sold in Ijondon 

 by weight. What was this man's object in so testifying? ' 



* To conceal the fraud of taking yearling sealskins on the islands 

 which weigh only 4^ ])ounds each, clean skinned, as the W(>rk was 

 done by different men and at diflerent times, this weight was raised 

 by blubber to 5, 5-|, 6, 6^, 7, antl 8 pounds. 



The committee has under its control a series of 400 sealskins taken 

 in 1913 just as these skins were taken and sold in 1910. Their 



1 That Mr. Bowers had full knowledge of the fact that he was deceiving the committee is given by his own 

 associate and subordinate, most unwillingly, to the committee, and goes completely to declare the proof 

 of Mr. Bowers'.s possession of guilty knowledge and use of it to deceive. Chief Special Agent Lembkey 

 swears: 



Mr. Young. Let me before vou pass from that ask this: You weigh these green skins on the islands and 

 then measure them in the markets in London. What is your purpose in weighing, and what is their pur- 

 pose in measuring . 



Mr. Lembkey. Our purpose in weighing the skins on the island is to get them within the weights pre- 

 scribed by the regulations. Our regulations prescribe maximum and minimum weights. Those weights 

 are 5 pouiids 



Mr. Young. Does that relate to the question of age . 



Mr. Lembkey. Five pounds and ei.ght and one-half pounds. 



Mr. Young. Passing from ihe weight, in London what is the determijiing purpose in measuring. 



Mr. Lembkey. They measuro thein, I fancy 



Mr. Young. Are thev trying to arrive at the question of age, loo. 



Mr. Lembkey. They are" trying lo get the size of the skin or the amount of fur on the animal. 



Mr. YoiTNG. They care notiiing about the question of age there. 



Mr. IjEMbkey. Nothing at all. 



Mr. Young. That is all I care to ask. (Hearing No. 9, pp. 44S, 449, Apr. 1.3, 1912, Ho. Com. Exp. Depl. 

 Com. and Labor.) 



