SEALSKIN INDUSTRY IN FRANCE. 589 



That this industry, wliicli has produced duriiii>- twenty 

 yea.rs nearly 25,00(),000 of francs annually, will h.ive rtu'si'Jfto'Fr'mJ^ '"" 

 disappeared, owing to this cause, to the detriment of a 

 very great number of persons. 



Emin Hertz, 



Sworn before me this 2od day of June, 1802, 



[seal.] Augustus Jay, 



Scco)id Secretary of the Legation of the 



United States at Faris, France. 



Deposlton of Leon EeviUon, member of the firm of Bcvillon Freres^fur^ 



general sealskin industry. paris market. pelagic sealing 



City of Paris, 



Beimblic of France, ss : 



Leon Eevillon, being' duly sworn, doth depose and say as follows: 

 That he is 49 years of age and a citizen of the French llepubli(!, and 

 lives in the city of Paris, and carries on business at No. 71) Rue de 

 Kivoli, in the said city, and is a member of the lirro of lievillon Freres, 

 which tirm is composed of Theodore Eevillon, Leon Eevillon, and Auatole 

 Eevillon. 



That the said firm of Eevillon Freres is engaged in the business of 

 buying, dyeing, and selling sealskins; that they have j;^,^,^ 

 been engaged in the said business for upward of twenty '^penence. 

 years, and the said deponent has been in the habit of purchasing fur- 

 seal skins during the whole of that time; that he has personally handled 

 many thousands of said fur-seal skins and that he has a general and 

 detailed knowledge of the history of the business of dealing in fur-seal 

 skins in the city of Paris, and the character and difference which dis- 

 tinguish the several kinds of skins which come on the market. 



That the said firm of Eevillon Freres have bought during the last 

 twenty years upwards of 400,000 sealskins; that nearly 

 all of these skins have been dressed in London, where Lomion. '^''^^'^'"^ ^° 

 there are special facilities therefor ; that the firm of Ee- 

 villon Freres have tried several times to dress the skins themselves, 

 but in very small quantities. 



That all the skins bought by the said firm of Eevillon Freres are 

 dyed in France, and therefore the skins pass under our eyes in the fol- 

 lowing conditions: (1) in salt when we buy them in London; (2) 

 dressed; (3) dyed. That deponent believes that the firm of Eevillon 

 Freres is by far the largest firm of furriers and fui*- 

 dealers in France; that the greater part of the skins yj^ncf?'* '^"''■^"''^ ^ 

 bouglit by Eevillon Freres are made up into garments, 

 cloaks and mantles, but that some of the skins after having been dyed 

 are sold to other manufacturers. 



That the sales of sealskins by the said firm of Eevillon Freres have 

 amounted for the last twenty years to about 4,000,000 frances per year. 



That the number of persons emijioyed by the said firm for the dyeing, 

 scrax)ingj manufacturing, lining, and for the sale of the sealskins, la 



