16 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. McGuire. That is another proposition on which you differ. 



The Chairman. Let me ask you whether the skins were reported 

 by Lembkey and his agents by weights and not by sizes ? 



Mr. Elliott. Not by sizes, but hj weights; but they are all classi- 

 fied in London by sizes, by measurements. 



The Chairman. What does the London classification show as to 

 these 7,700 that you just mentioned ? 



Mr. Elliott. It shows that not one of them exceeded in length — 

 not one of them was more than 33 ^ inches long. 



Mr. Watkins. Did it show anything about the weights? 



Mr. Elliott. The weights were put down, and I am going to bring 

 that in. 



The Chairman. But the London people did not go by weights ? 



Mr. Elliott. No. 



The Chairman. But they reported them by weights to the Bureau 

 of Fisheries ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir. 



The Chairman. What did it show there as to — ■ — 



Mr. Elliott (interposing). It showed they were all big skins. 



The Chairman. How did they happen to be large skins ? 



Mr. Elliott. By putting blubber on the little skins. 



The Chairman. But I have always understood you to say that the 

 blubber did not make any difference. 



Mr. Elliott. I said it does increase the weight; that is, according 

 to the blubber and salt used. 



Mr. McGuire. We have those London sheets here. 



Mr. Elliott. Yes ; we have them right in the testimony. 



The Chairman. I wish to say that I have made it a point to look 

 into that matter and I found that it is the best way to determine the 

 ages of these seals, or as to whether they were killing undersized seals, 

 and I found out how they had been making their reports as to the 

 killing of seals to the Bureau of Fisheries by reporting so many skins 

 that weighed, we will say, 6 pounds and 6 ounces, and so many other 

 skins as weighing 7 pounds and 8 ounces, and so on, but never by size. 

 Then, when the bureau sells the skins in London, they find out that 

 skins that have been marked here as weighing about the same vary 

 in size. When the blubber is taken out, one skin is found to be a 

 large one and another skin is found to be a small one, while, according 

 to the report to the Bureau of Fisheries, it is made to appear that, so 

 far as the weights are concerned, they are of the same size. When 

 the skins are tested in London as to size, it will be found that a certain 

 skin was taken from a small seal, although a person looking at the 

 report in the bureau would suppose that the skin was taken from a 

 seal between 2 and 3 years old. You see, they leave the blubber on 

 the skin, thereby adding to its weight, and the record here would 

 indicate that it was taken from a seal between 2 and 3 years old. 



The record here would show that the skin weighed over 5 pounds 

 so as to conform to the regulations. Now, if that is so, it looks to me 

 like a deliberate attempt to make the skins appear as though they 

 were taken from large seals, when, as a matter of fact, they are small 

 skins and their weight is increased by reason of the blubber being 

 left on them. Is that the result of your investigation ? 



