REPORT OF J. S. MOORE, 1875. 



283 



ence in the numbers, and I should have felt more suspicious had there 

 been not a single discrepancy in five years and in a number of 403,761 

 skins. The next test was to compare the Alaska commercial shipping 

 account with the return of account of sales from Messrs Lampson & 

 Co., in London. As the company very readily placed their books and 

 correspondence at my disposal, I availed myself of the privilege, and 

 with their full consent transcribed from their books an account of sales — 

 the whole transaction of fur-seals taken, shipped, and sold — which I 

 herewith append : 



Statement of fur-seal shins from St. Paul and St. George Islands. 



The iirst column headed " Skins," represents the number of fur-seals 

 on which the tax was paid. The second column headed " Skins," rep- 

 resents the number shipped by the company to London - . The third 

 column headed "Skins," represents the number of skins Messrs. Lamp- 

 son & Co., of London, actually received and rendered account of sales 

 for. 



I am x>erfectly satisfied that these figures are correct, unless not 

 only the company, but the customs officers on the islands, the officers 

 of the ships that bring the skins, the custom officials in San Francisco, 

 and the great house of Messrs. Lampson & Company in London, are 

 one and all in collusion and conspiracy to defraud the Treasury of the 

 United States. There would, besides, be another difficulty to over- 

 come, as it would be necessary to keep false books and false entries, 

 while in fact nothing is so easily detected as false bookkeeping. 



We may therefore take it for granted that the true number of skins 

 taken from the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George is correctly given 

 in the last column of the foregoing statement, which is the receipt and 

 return of account of sales of Lampson & Company. 



I have, besides all these proofs, a copy of letter and specifications 

 from the company's shipping books to Messrs. Lampson & Company, 

 which, being very voluminous, will be found in Appendix B, the details 

 of which, agreeing perfectly with the stipulated numbers, may betaken 

 as very satisfactory proof of the correctness of the books and accounts 

 of the company. 



It is now necessary to state that the lease having been signed and 

 delivered August 3, 1870, and that year, counting for one full year in 

 the lease, the company would have been entitled to 500,000 skins from 



