14 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA* 



of high character and a man of ability, I doubt whether it is doing 

 justice to him to let these broad and sweeping statements into the 

 record without giving him a chance at least to make a statement 

 afterwards. 



The Chairman. Oh, that right will be accorded him. 



Mr. Elliott. He ought to have come before the committee as 

 quickly as the swiftest train could bring him here when I publicly 

 charged him with it, more than a year ago (see Hearing No. 14, pp. 

 950, 951), but he did not come, and why did he not come ? Because, 

 like every one of his associates, he did not know anything about it. 

 Here is Dr. Stejneger, on page 915 of Hearing No. 14, saying that 

 he did not know anything about the length or the weight of a year- 

 ling seal. Here is Dr. Merriam 



The Chairman (interposing). Please read it. 



Mr. McGuire. Let him go ahead and clear that up. 



Mr. Elliott. I will clear that right up now. [Reading:] 



The Chairman. Mr. Elliott, do you want to ask him any questions? 



Mr. Elliott. I have only a few questions to ask him. Dr. Stejneger, what is the 

 length of a yearling fur seal of the Alaskan herd? 



Dr. Stejneger. I could not tell you. 



Mr. Elliott. Have you ever measured one of the Alaskan herd? 



Dr. Stejneger. No. 



'Mr. Elliott. You do not know anything about the length of a skin of a yearling 

 seal as taken from the body? 



Dr. Stejneger. Of a yearling seal? I do not know; I have never seen a yearling 

 seal killed on the American islands. 



Mr. McGuire. Have you read all of his testimony? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, all on that point; then it goes on to another 

 subject. Ihat is all he states about a yearling seal in any of his 

 testimony. 



Mr. McGuire. He does not say anything about the condition or 

 weight of a seal? 



Mr. Elliott. Nothing; not a word. 



Mr. McGuire. Do the others ? 



Mr. Elliott. Not one of them. Now, I will come to the others. 

 [Reading:] 



Dr. C. Hartt Merriam, member of advisory board, fur seal service, Department of 

 Commerce and Labor (p. 692, Hearing No. 11): 



The Chairman. Well, how long have you been on the advisory board. 



Dr. Merriam. Since the beginning. I do not remember the date; but I have been 

 absent from the city during a immber of the sittings of that committee, as I am engaged 

 in field work in the West at least half of every year, and therefore have not been in 

 Washington at the time most of these meetings were held. 



The Chairman - . Were you at the meeting of the advisory board that the previous 

 witness referred to in his testimony? 



Dr. Merriam. I do not remember any such meeting. 



The Chairman. Are you a member of the board now? 



Dr. Merriam. Yes. 



On page 99, Hearing No. 11: 



Mr. Elliott. Doctor, while you were on the islands did you ascertain the length 

 and weight of a yearling seal? 



Dr. Merriam. I did not. 



Mr. Elliott. Do you know anything about the length and the weight of a yearling- 

 seal skin? 



Dr. Merriam. Nothing. 



Mr. Elliott. One question more: I understood you to say that you had not been 

 in consultation with Mr. Bowers when he issued his orders for killing 13,000 seals in 

 1910. 



