406 INVESTIGATION" OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Bowers swears that the skins 

 are classified by weight as sent 

 from the islands. 



Mr. Bowers. Do you have a report to 

 that effect? Have you seen a report to 

 that effect? 



Dr. Hornaday. Yes; and it has been 

 published several times. 



Mr. Bowers. I have never seen it; 

 neither have you. I think that is a mat- 

 ter of record. That is mentioned in the 

 report manufactured by Mr. Elliott, based 

 upon nothing. 



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 classifi- 

 cation of the London merchants who sell 

 the skins for the United States Govern- 

 ment. 



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; H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com. 

 and Labor.) 



to Mr. Nagel's books as a skin "not under 

 2 years of age," becasue a 2-year-old skin 

 weighs, with the same treatment that this 

 skin has received, a minimum of 6 pounds. 

 A small "runt" 2 years old may weigh 5£ 

 pounds. I have seen "runts" that would 

 not weigh 5 pounds, but we are not 

 dealing with exceptions. We are dealing 

 with broad, square averages. I am will- 

 ing to admit that a few exceptions can be 

 found. I am willing to admit that a man 

 might knock down a "long" yearling here 

 and there; but when he deliberately says 

 to Mi. Nagel that a 5-pound skin is a 

 2-year-old seal I will take Mm to the seals 

 themselves and they will confound him; 

 and you gentlemen can easily go with me. 

 I would like to submit this as an exhibit. 



Mr. McGillicuddy. Professor, these 

 classifications here are before they are 

 salted? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir; they are "green" 

 skins. (Hearing No. 1, p. 14, May 31, 

 1911.) 



Lembkey, who takes the skins 

 on the islands, denies his chief, 

 Bowers. 



Mr. Young. Let me, before you pass 

 from that, ask this: You weigh these green 

 skins on the islands, and then measure 

 them in the markets in London. What 

 is your purpose in weighing, and what is 

 their purpose in measuring? 



Mr. Lembkey. Our purpose in weighing 

 the skins on the island is to get them 

 within the weights prescribed by the 

 regulations. Our regulations prescribe 

 maximum and minimum weights. Those 

 weights are 5 pounds 



Mr. Young. Does that relate to the 

 question of age? 



Mr. Lembkey. Five pounds and eight 

 and one-half pounds. 



Mr. Young. Passing from the weight, 

 in London what is the determining pur- 

 pose in measuring? 



Mr. Lembkey. They measure them I 

 fancy 



Mr. Young. Are they trying to arrive 

 at the question of age, too? 



Mr. Lembkey. They are trying to get 

 the size of the skin or the amount of fur on 

 the animal. ('Hearing No. 9, pp. 448,449, 

 Apr. 13, 1912; H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com. 

 and Labor.) 



