232 



FUR-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 



not tell from any official records of yours 

 what the weight of a 2-year-old skin is? 



Mr. Lembkey. What? 



Mr. Elliott. You can not tell from any 

 official records of yours what the weight of 

 a 2-year-old ekin is. You say it is 5 

 pounds. A\Tiere is the official record? 

 (Hearing No. 9, p. 436, Apr. 13. 1912.) 



Lembkey swears that the (hita 

 upon which he orders i\n<\ directs 

 the killiiio' is "verv r'.diahle." 



Mr. Lembkev. Wc luive louu'l on the 

 islands that the most reliable way of 

 gauging sealskins so as to classify tliem 

 into different ages is that of weight, of 

 weighing the skins. We have very re- 

 liable data showing that 2-year-olds sel- 

 dom if eA'er weigh le.-^s than 5 pounds, and 

 we also have data which gi^-e us the in- 

 formation that the skins of 3-year-olds 

 weigh from 6^ to 8^ pounds. Upon that 

 basis we have established our regulations. 

 Now it is absolutely impossible i:)r us to 

 proceed to any classification with regard 

 to age by means of measurements on the 

 islands for the reason that the green skin 

 is very pliable and flexible, and by a little 

 pressure could be n.iade a foot or a foot 

 and a half longer than it really is, or wider, 

 in whichever direction you wish to apply 

 the pressure, so that on the islands the 

 only standard we can fix is the standard 

 of weight. ( Hearing No. 9, p. 39S. Mar. 1, 

 1912, H. Com. Exp. Dept. Cum. and 

 Labor. > 



5 to 6h pounds. (Hearing No. 9, p. 437, 

 Apr. 13, 1912.) 



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.) 



But he officially reports in 1 907 

 that he has nothing but an "ap- 

 proximate" idea of the size and 

 weig'hts of the skins. 



Mr. Lembkey. The average weight of 

 these sizes has been determined by Lamp- 

 son c^ Co., as well as by the aeents on the 

 islands. (See S. Doc. No. 98,' 59th Cong., 

 1st sess., p. 88; also proceedings Ftir-Seal 

 Arbitration, vol. 8, pp. 916 et seq.) As 

 certain of the sizes of skins do not occur 

 at all in the islands catch, the weights as 

 given by Lampson & Co. are here used, 

 although they do not correspond in every 

 respect with our idea of the average 

 weights of seals of a given age. Opposite 

 these weights I have placed the age of the 

 animals from which they were taken, 

 based on my jtidgment after having as- 

 sisted in weighing thousands of skins: 



Large wiss 



Small wigs 



Middlings 



Middlings and smalls. . 



Smalls 



f>arge pups 



Middling pups 



Small pups 



Extra small pups 



Extra extra small pups 

 Gray pups 



1 Four to live montlis. 



The ages of seals of a given weight 

 marked in the above table are based on 

 an average and are necessarily only ap- 

 proximate. They are stated here solely 

 for the purpose in hand and not as an 

 effort on my part to fix the correct weight 

 of the skins of seals of a certain age. As 

 it is, however, it is close enough to con- 

 struct an estimate such as we desire. 

 (Appendix A. p. 498, June 11, 1911, H. 

 Com. Exp. Dept. Com. and Labor.) 

 (Re])t. of W. I. Lembkey. Sept. 9. 1907, 

 to Sec. (\mi. and Labor.) 



