110 



FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Madden. And it might be 39^- inches? 



Mr. Elliott. Thirty-six inches. Mr. Lembkey, when he measured what he called 

 a "yearling," selected a remarkably well-grown one. I allowed him to take those as 

 "middling pups," and I have not charged any malfeasance in having those so taken 

 by him. Those "long" yearlings are invariably males, and no real risk of killing 

 females, when he does, is incurred by liim. (Hearing No. 14, pp. 905-906, July 30, 



1912, House Committee on Expenditures Department of Commerce and Labor.) 



The following weights of the large 39-43 inch skins, taken July 7, 



1913, show that they have been ''clean skinned," not ''blubbered," 

 and show the fair size per salt weight of skin. They are 3-year-old 

 skins, yet in Lembkey's list a large numi)er of these small 30-34 inch 

 skins weigh just as much as these 39-43-inch skins do, as shown in the 

 foregoing abstract and below, to wit: 



Here are 39 skins, which are each between 39-43 inches long, and 

 are clearly the skins of 3-year-olds. They were skinned at the same 

 time on the same field that the yearling 30-34 inch skins were. Yet 

 53 of those small yearling 30-34 inch skins are so loaded with blubber 

 that they each one weigh as much as any one of those big 39-43 inch 

 skins do. 



The 2-year-old 36i-38-inch skins in this list of 400 skins, as above 

 cited, are not so heavily loaded, but nearly all of them are so put up 

 into the 3-year-old weights, viz, 7 pounds and up to 8^ pounds. 

 There are 127 of these loaded 2-year-olds in this exhibit of 400. 

 These green weights of those skins should run from 5i pounds to 6 

 pounds each, if properly skinned; never any less. 



This showing of those 400 July 7, 1913, green skins declares the 

 fact — 



I. That the small 30-34-inch skins have nearly all of them been 

 loaded with blubber so as to weigh into the 2 and 3 year old class of 

 skin weights, i. e., into the same weights that belong to properly 

 skinned 36^-38 and 39-44 inch skins. 



II. That weight list of Lembkey thus falsely certifies 139 yearling 

 skins by this record ol killing of July 7, 1913, "as the skins of seals 

 not under 2 years of age." 



