108 INVESTIGATION" OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OP ALASKA. 



[Hearing No. 12, p. 780, May 29, 1912, House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Com- 

 merce and Labor.] 



The Chairman. Did you represent anybody before The Hague tribunal in the 

 dispute with reference to the James Hamilton Lewis case? 



Mr. Peirce. I did, sir. I represented the owners, officers, and crew of the Cape 

 Horn Pigeon, an American whaling vessel, arrested in the Sea of Okhotsk; the James 

 Hamilton Lewis, an American sealing vessel, arrested in the Bering Sea; the C. H. 

 White, an American sealing vessel, arrested in the Bering Sea; and the Kate and Anna, 

 another sealing vessel, also arrested in the Bering Sea; and subseqeuntly I was ap- 

 pointed, as a nmtter of formality, in order to give me a status in the court, nominal 

 counsel for the Government in the arbitration. 



The Chairman. First of all, how did you happen to be employed to represent these 

 various interests before The Hague tribunal? 



Mr. Peirce. As secretary of legation I had become very familiar with all of the 

 cases, for the Government had repeatedly instructed the legation to urge upon the 

 Prussian Government the settlement of these claims, and so I had become very fa- 

 miliar with them . They commenced in the year 1892, if my memory serves me aright, 

 and I was appointed in 1894, and then, after the cases had been brought to an agree- 

 ment to arbitrate by Ambassador Tower's convention, which, owing to his absence, I 

 signed, the attorneys for the Cape Horn Pigeon and the James Hamilton Lewis and 

 subsequently the C. H. White and the Kate and Anna, requested the Secretary of 

 State to permit me to act as counsel and requested me to so act. 



C. H. Townsend, as an " expert" of the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries, aided him. 



[Hearing No. 12, p. 783, May 29, 1912.] 



The Chairman. You finally settled. You may tell the committee what your com- 

 pensation was, if you will. 



Mr. Peirce. Certainly. My compensation in the case of the C. H. White and I 

 think also the Kate and Anna — I am not sure of that — no; my compensation in the 

 case of the C. H. White, for which I recovered an award of $52,000, was $5,000, less 

 my counsel fees, which amounted to $1,000. I received $4,000. 



The Chairman. Did anybody else receive any compensation? 



Mr. Peirce. I do not know. I presume James Embry got a large compensation, 

 but I do not know. 



The Chairman. Who went with you to The Hague Tribunal? 



Mr. Peirce. Mr. Townsend. I forget his initials. 



The Chairman. Charles Townsend . 



Mr. Peirce. He had been employed, I think, by the Treasury Department when 

 the care of the seal herd was under the Treasury Department. 



The Chairman. He was sent with you as an expert? 



Mr. Peirce. As an expert. 



The Chairman. To assist you in presenting the case? 



Mr. Peirce. Yes, sir; as a witness. 



The Chairman. Did he receive any compensation? 



Mr. Peirce. That I do not know. He received, if my recollection serves me aright, 

 his traveling expenses, which I think I paid to him, to be refunded out of the award. 



[Hearing No. 12, p. 75S, May 24, 1912, House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Com- 

 merce and Labor.] 



Mr. Madden. The question is whether Mr. Townsend is in a position to know the 

 facts. 



The Chairman. I thought he was, because he was with Mr. Peirce at The Hague 

 Tribunal. Were you in the employ of the Government at that time, Dr. Townsend? 



Dr. Townsend" I was in the employ of the Fish Commission, and was transferred 

 temporarily to the State Department. 



The Chairman. I do not want him to make a statement that he can not substantiate, 

 but I would like to know now, Dr. Townsend, in what capacity you were at The 

 Hague Tribunal in this matter? 



Dr. Townsend. In the progress of the work before The Hague Tribunal it became 

 necessary for the Secretary to produce information on various sealing matters, such 

 as the movements of sealing vessels. I carried along with me a trunk full of log 

 books of sealing vessels. We would have before us the charges made by the Prussian 

 representative during the day, and we would work all night preparing something to 

 refute the charges. I carried the los: books that had been taken from the vessels. 



