122 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Q. Who gave those orders to you — was it the Government agent 

 or the company agent? — A. (See preceding answer.) 



(Announcement was made that if the natives wished to ask ques- 

 tions of the representatives of the committee, those questions would 

 be answered.) 



The Interpreter. They want to know if the men from Washing- 

 ton got permission to paint the rocks and rookeries and to count the 

 seals. They say they disturb the seals in that way, and they want 

 to know if they have permission to do that. 



Mr. Elliott (through the interpreter) . The best answer for me to 

 make is to say that a new administration has taken charge, and that 

 until that administration knows what has been done here, nothing 

 will be done until we get back. That is the reason we are asking 

 these questions, to find out from them what they know of the past 

 work here, and that they can answer these questions without the 

 least hesitation or fear. We have a treaty now with Japan, with 

 Canada, and with Russia which will stop all sealing at sea for fifteen 

 years. We have a law which stops all killing of seals in these islands 

 for the next five years, except that needed for natives' food. 



EXHIBIT F. 



ANALYSIS OF THE SIZES AND WEIGHTS OF 400 FUR-SEAL SKINS, TAKEN 

 JULY 7, 1913, ON ST. PAULS ISLAND, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE 

 UNITED STATES BUREAU OF FISHERIES; THIS MEASUREMENT AND 

 WEIGHT DECLARES THE FACT THAT SMALL SKINS ARE SYSTEMATIC- 

 ALLY " LOADED " WITH BLUBBER, THUS GIVING THEM WEIGHTS 

 WHICH CONCEAL THEIR REAL SIZES AND AGES. 



The United States Commissioner of Fisheries tells the House 

 Committee that the skins taken by order of the department on the 

 Pribilof Islands are classified as to size and age by their weights 

 on the islands and in London. 



Mr. Patton. You mean it is a report that is sworn to by the people who do the 

 selling in London? 



Mr. Bowers. No, sir; it is the classification of the London merchants who sell the 

 skins for the United States Government. 



Mr. Patton. And they pay on that weight? 



Mr. Bowers. They sell on those weights. Their classification is made on those 

 weights. 



Mr. Elliott. Right there I want to interpose the statement that they do not weigh 

 those skins to classify them. They measure them. 



(Hearing No. 6, p. 291, July 27, 1911, House Committee on Expenditures in the 

 Department of Commerce and Labor.) 



Chief Special Agent Lenibkey affirms the same to that committee : 



Mr. Lembkev. These skins, which were sent to London during the years 1909 and 

 1910, were weighed by the factors after their arrival in London and the weights found 

 to correspond with those taken on the island. As this factor, Lampson & Co., is 

 essentially a disinterested person, being concerned not the least with the question of 

 weights or regulations, but wholly with the sale of the skins and the payments therefor, 

 their verification of these weights may be taken as conclusive of their accuracy. 



S.i far, therefore, as concerns compliance with the regulations and the law in (he 

 killing of male seals, no malfeasance can be proven, because not only the records of the 

 department but the weights of the same skins in London, taken by an independent 

 and responsible body of experts, prove that the limits of weights laid down by the 

 instructions of the department have been complied with as closely as it is possible 



