PUE-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 



231 



Lembkey swears that he had 

 ''reUable data" upon which the 

 regulations were lowered to '' 5 

 pounds" minimum skin weight 

 from a 5^-pound limit. 



Mr. Lembkey. We have found on the 

 islands that the most reliable way of gaug- 

 ing sealskins so as to classify them into 

 different ages is that of weight, of weigh- 

 ing the skins. We have very reliable data 

 showing that 2-year-olds seldom if ever 

 weigh less than 5 pounds, and we also have 

 data which give us the information that 

 the skins of 3-year-olds weigh from G-J- to 

 8J pounds. Upon that basis we have es- 

 tablished our regulations. (Hearing No. 

 9, p. 398, Mar. 1, 1912; H.Com. Exp. Dept. 

 Com. and Labor.) 



Lembkey says that '^ perhaps" 

 he has published a table of skin 

 weights. 



Mr. Elliott. As much official as your 

 work. Have you published any table of 

 weights or measurements? 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not know, Mr. 

 Elliott. Have I? 



Mr. Elliott. Have you? I am asking 

 you. 



The Chairman. He has said he does 

 not remember. 



Mr. Lembkey. I perhaps have in one 

 of my reports. 



Mr. Elliott. When? 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not remember the 

 exact date. I am not evading the point. 

 I simply can not remember the exact date. 

 Perhaps you have that data. 



The Chairman. Did you publish a re- 

 port? 



Mr. Lembkey. I think in one of my re- 

 ports — I think it was in 1907, I am not cer- 

 tain which year — appeared a statement of 

 the classification of the skins in London 

 for that year, with an approximation of 

 the ages of the animals. I think it was in 

 1907. That is what you had in your mind, 

 is it not? 



Mr. Elliott. That is not a table show- 

 ing 



Mr. Lembkey. That is the only table. 



Mr. Elliott. Therefore you have never 

 published any table? 



Mr. Lembkey. If you wish to draw that 

 conclusion 



Mr. Elliott. You have been up there 

 all these years, and now, to-day, you can 



Pribilof Islands, declare- the fact that no 

 one of them exceeds in length 34 inches. 

 That fact dolevmines them — all of them — 

 to have been the skins taken from yearling 



seals (Hearing No. 14, p. 905, July 



25, 1912, H. Cora. Exp. Dept. Com. and 

 Labor.) 



But, under cross-examination, 

 Lembkey admits he had no ''reli- 

 able data" as warrant for chang- 

 ing the 5^ limit to 5 pounds — only 

 his ''opinion." 



Mr. Lembkey. 1906 is when we re- 

 duced the weight from 5^ pounds to 5 

 pounds. Please get that correct. 



Mr. Elliott. But in 1904 you made 

 that recommendation? 



Mr. Lembkey. To Mr. Hitchcock. 



Mr. Elliott. Have you any table of 

 weight measurement of your own making 

 which warranted you in making that rec- 

 ommendation? 



Mr. Lembkey. I had not. I expressed 

 that as my opinion. (Hearing No. 9, p. 

 450, Apr. 13, 1912; H. Com. Exp. Dept. 

 Com. and Labor.) 



But, on examination, he ad- 

 mits that he never has prepared 

 such a table. 



do you mean, 

 2-year-old is 5 



Mr. Lembkey. WTiat 

 that the weight of a 

 pounds? 



Mr. Elliott. No; I say you say "from 

 5 to 6i pounds." 



Mr. Lembkey. Yes; but you have got 

 to give us 



Mr. Elliott. That is what I stated — 5 

 to 6^ pounds. 



The Chairman. That is the answer to 

 your question. That is fair. You ought 

 not to assume to know more about it than 

 he does. 



Mr. Elliott. No; I can not find his 

 statement about it before. I wanted to 

 get it into the record. 



The Chairman. Is his answer to your 

 question? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; that is there. You 

 have no official record of the weights of a 

 3-year-old skin, have you? You have 

 never published any? 



Mr. Lembkey. Yes; I published the 

 weights of a 2-year-old and 3-year-old 

 skin. I made the statement in my re- 

 ports to the effect 



Mr. Elliott. You said it was an ap- 

 proximation. 



Mr. Lembkey. I have made a state- 

 ment in my reports giving an approxima- 

 tion of the weights of skins from seals of 

 different ages. Now that I recollect, it 

 was not in the form of a table. I have 

 stated repeatedly in the text of my re- 

 ports that a 2-year-old would weigh from 



