FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 43 
Mr. Extiorr. Yes; from the London classification. 
The Cuarrman. Is a seal anything like a baby? We hear of differ- 
ent weights in babies. 
Mr. Exxrorr. Yes; they have well-grown babies and underdone 
babies, and all that sort of thing. The analysis of those 15,180 skins 
a that there were 13,034 44-pound skins sold. Those were year- 
ings. 
Mr. Warson. What is a yearling; does it mean a seal from 1 to 2 
years old? 
Mr. Extiorr. A yearling is a seal after he is 12 months old. He 
then begins as a yearling. 
The CHarrman. We understand that. 
Mr. Warson. The point is how many under 1 year old were killed? 
Mr. Exuiorr. ‘‘Short” yearlings, 2,302. Then there were 312 
34-pound skins; these were ‘‘ yearlings,” certainly. 
Mr. Warson. That doesn’t mean anything to us. 
Mr. Ex.iotr. That means under a year. 
Mr. Warson. What does? 
Mr. Exxiott. That light-weight skin. No man has got the sense, 
when those yearlings come up, if he kills them, say, on the 4th of 
July, to know that he is not killing a pup that was born on the 25th 
of July, the year before. 
Mr. Grosvenor. How are you going to tell ¢ 
Mr. Exxiorr. You can not tell, and therefore I say the burden of 
proof rests on the Treasury agent not to have them killed. 
‘ The Cuarrman. If it is extended to 2 years old it will help a good 
eal? 
a Exuiorr. It will. But will they extend it if they have not done 
so here? 
The Cuatrman. Mr. Hitchcock appears to bea reputable gentleman. 
Mr. Exuiorr. Yes, I agree with you perfectly. I want to make 
this point on the matter: [ want to help Mr. Hitchcock in this busi- 
ness. I want to put this entirely in his control. That is the point 
and the sense of this resolution, that all the killing up there, until the 
rookeries are in shape to kill again, should be entirely in his control. 
The Cuarrman. It already is, is it not? 
Mr. Exxtiotr. Not if he allows the lessees to make the selection 
after giving them a permit to kill so many seals. If he can so handle 
his agents as to make the selection and reservation he has announced 
as the order of the Department, then he can. 
The Caarrman. He can stop it altogether. 
Mr. Exzrotr. Not if he gives them a permit to kill 15,000 before they 
start up next May. 
The Cuarrman. I gay he can stop it altogether. 
Mr. Exriott. Yes, sir; if he does not let them have the permit to 
kill, then at the start they are checked. 
The CHatrman. Then it is entirely under his control? 
Mr. Extiorr. When the permit is given it is under his complete 
control only so far as preventing the lessees from taking more than 
15,000 seals; then the shade of salection is done up there far from his 
immediate reach or control, unless his agents are like himself. 
Mr. Warson. If you want to discuss the regulations you ought to 
discuss them with him and not with us. 
Mr. Extrorr. That is very true, but I go further here. I want him 
