546 TESTIMONY. 



house of C. M. Lampson & Co., to wliom the skins were consigned, and 

 to the critical acquaintance with vakie of furs, to the sound judgment 

 and unsurpassed business ability of the then head of that house 5 and 

 to the confidence assured to the buyers by his name in connection with 

 the sales the success of the undertaking in London is largely due. Up 

 to the time that this company was formed the dress- 

 Assistance rendered jng gf ggrjj -^.r^g efficiently douc ouly by the firm of Op- 



bv Lampson & Co., » . . „ „ ^ ^ , i • , • ■ i I- . i j. 



opp enheira & Co., pcnheim & Co,, but ou their liquidation there was great 



nmni?!^'''^*'° ^ ^'''''^ danger that the business would fall into weak hands 



and be so badly done as to render the manufactured 



fur-seal unpopular. Realizing this fact, Messrs. Lampson & Co. stepped 



in and by liberal inducements led Messrs. Martin & Teichmanu to 



carry on the Alaska factory. 



After a series of difficulties, such as strikes and trouble with the 



Difiicuitiea met with ^^rk pcoplc, who Avcre determined that no more or 



. ^g|.^gj. y^QYk should be done than of old, this factory has 



gradually succeeded, by continual improvement, in rendering the 



dressing and dyeing, formerly a most uncertain undertaking, a 



thoroughly reliable process. These efforts on tlie island and in 



London combined largely account for the measure of success the 



Success company has attained. In addition, however, large 



expenditure has been necessary in all the European 



centers to keep the article before the public and in their favor. The 



laws of trade take these skins to London for market. Two public sales 



^ ^ , ^ , are held each year, usually in March and November. 



London trade sales. . , , , , "^ , , ' , , '' r- r> • /-t 



At these sales attend buyers irom ilussia, Crermany, 

 France, England, and America. The company sells the entire stock on 

 hand at each occasion, and has no further connection with the skins. 

 Its rule is to meet the market, and it buys no skins for account, nor has 

 it any interest in the dressing and dyeing. That this work is done so 

 London the rinci- ^^^gcly in Loudou is the choice of the buyers, and as 

 pal place* 0/ dressing morc than half of the Alaska skins sold in London are 

 and dyeing. returned as dressed skins to America, the United 



States Government adds to its revenue from the seal islands by the 

 ited collection of 20 per cent duty on the valuation of this 

 stfter°on ^imported rctum. It is estimated that 75,000 dressed and dyed 

 siiins. skins were shipped from London to New York in 1887. 



To the intelligent inquirer as to the value of the system now in opera- 

 vernment ^^*^^ ^^^' handling aud disposing of the annual quota of 

 couid'^not" carry on^tiie skius froiii the Seal Islauds, uo doubt can remain that 

 the 'isiandl ^'^^"° ""* ^* is the bcst, indccd the only one possible to pursue 



with success. The Government itself could not enter 



into business and follow details either with propriety or hope of profit. 



To open the sea and the rookeries to the taking of seal by any who 



choose to seek them would be simply to surrender the 

 la^rsllnng*" would herd to destruction. Butadanger menaces the system 

 destroy the herd. g^j^d the scals which the Government alone can avert, 

 viz, the intrusion of foreign vessels with armed crews in the waters of 

 Bering Sea, with intent to kill seal in the water between the Aleutian 

 chain of islands and the Pribilof group. In this water the seal rest 

 and sport after their long migration; "here the females, heavy with 

 young, slowly nearing the land, sleep soundly at sea by intervals, 

 reluctant to haul out of the cool water upon the rookeries until the 



day and the hour which limits the period of gestation ;" 



K''*Eiji- sva ^^^'^' ^'^^^ ^'^"^ ^'^^^ spear and drag net, these niaraud- 



roj e ju ujuf, . . ^^^ desire to reap their harvest of destruction aud for 



