FUR SEALS OF ALASKA, 5 
they don’t know whether they are under a year old or not—-whether 
they are 11 months old or 12 months old or 13 months old. 
Mr. Metcautr. Where do you get the records? 
Mr. Exxiorr. From the London sales, where the skins are tagged 
and weighed and prepared. 1 have my figures from the agents of the 
lessees themselves, and there is no disputing them. Therefore, I want 
to say if we can stop this killing—which this resolution will stop, and. 
stop it beyond the pore of anybody to continue—we will be able to 
save the species. J have every confidence in Mr. Cortleyou, but we 
do not know whom we may have as Secretary of Commerce and Labor 
in the future, and if we do not hold this up and make these people, if 
they want to kill, come here and give the reason, they will get in 
there again too soon and undo all the good we are doing. 
Mr. Tawnny. Isthere any evidence, except the report of the London 
sales, tending to show that the lessees are killing male seals under a 
year old? 
Mr. Extiotr. Yes; I have the evidence of the Treasury agent on 
the islands. 
Mr. Tawney. Do you know whether or not the Senate committee 
that visited the Pribilof Islands last year discovered whether the 
lessees were violating their contracts ? 
Mr. Exuiotr. Yes; I am authorized by Senator Nelson to tell you 
all about it, if you want to know. 
Mr. Favtxner. I would like to state, if the committee will permit 
me, that the Senate committee, to which reference has been made, 
stated before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that they 
had no criticism whatever to make of the lessee; that they had obeyed 
the law implicitly. 
Mr. Mercatr. I suggest that the witness be allowed to go ahead 
and make his statement and not be interrupted. 
The CHarrman. Yes; that is the best way. 
Mr. Exuiotr. I am willing to be interrupted. 
The Cuarrman. The committee is unwilling to have you. 
Mr. Tawnuy. Please answer those questions, and then go ahead. 
Mr. Wittiams, of Mississippi. The first one was whether you had 
any evidence about these seals being killed? 
Mr. Exuiotr. Yes; I have here the official reports of the Treasury 
agents. 
or. Tawney. What do they show? 
Mr. Exurort. I will read from the report of Special Treasury Agent 
Lembkey, in charge of the seal islands, made in August, 1901, to the . 
Secretary of the Treasury: 
The lessees during the season (1901) took skins ranging from a maximum of 10 
pounds to a minimum of 5 pounds. Previous to 1900 the lowest limit of weight was 
6 pounds, but a 5-pound limit was established that year, and during the past season 
(1901) as many 5-pound skins as could be found were taken. 
This official knew what he was saying in 1901, because the following 
classification was published in 1872 and 1874, and has been accepted as 
the standard unit of weight and age by all parties concerned, Govern- 
ment officers, lessees, and natives, and it has been the rule ever since. 
A 43- pound skin is the hide of an average yearling. 
A 5-pound skin is the hide of a well- “grown yearling. 
These skins are known as ‘‘eye plasters.” 
A 6-pound skin is the hide of an average 2-year-old. 
