408 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



the charge of malfeasance can not lie 

 upon the practice of taking skins as it 

 has been carried on during the years 

 mentioned. (Hearing No. 9, p. 376, 

 Mar. 1. 1912.) 



Lembkey swears that 100 skins 

 in 1904 were lighter after salting. 



Mr. Lembkey. As a matter of fact, con- 

 trary to general belief, sealskins before 

 salting weigh slightly more than after- 

 wards. This is well known to practical 

 taxidermists. The effect of salt on skins 

 is to extract the animal juices in large 

 measure and to deter the propagation of 

 bacteria which would eventually destroy 

 the skin. That the natural juices in the 

 green pelt are extracted through the 

 action of the salt is shown by the stiffer 

 and harder texture of the skin after it has 

 been in contact with the salt for a suffi- 

 cient period. The loss of weight in a 

 pelt due to salting is perhaps small, but 

 nevertheless definite and appreciable. 



In order to test this very matter, on 

 July 26, 1904, 100 green sealskins nearly 

 dry were weighed by me on St. Paul and 

 then placed in salt. Their combined 

 green weight was 644} pounds. Five 

 days thereafter they were taken out of 

 salt and reweighed, when their combined 

 weight was 643} pounds, representing a 

 net loss of 1 pound in the aggregate 

 weight of 100 skins. (H. Doc. No. 93, 

 62d Cong., 1st sess., p. 79.) (Hearing 

 No. 9, p. 416, Mar. 11, 1912.) 



But Lembkey forgets it one 

 month later. 



Mr. Elliott. Mr. Lembkey, you say 

 you never have weighed these skins after 

 you have salted them? You have never 

 weighed them? 



Mr. Lembkey. I have never weighed 

 them after the salting on the islands; no, 

 sir. (Hearing No. 9, p. 446, Apr. 13, 1912; 

 H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com. and Labor.) 



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. 



Mr. Young. They care nothing about 

 the question of age there? 



Mr. Lembkey. Nothing at all. 



Mr. Young. That is all I care to ask. 

 (Hearing No. 9, p. 448, Apr. 13, 1912.) 



But Lembkey 's official record 

 on the island, of 1904, shows that 

 these skins were heavier. 



[Official journal of the Government agent in charge 

 of Seal Islands: St. Paul's Island, Alaska: 



Saturday, July 23, 1904.— On July 18, 

 107 skins taken on Tolstoi were weighed 

 and salted. To-day they were hauled 

 out of the trench and reweighed. At the 

 time of killing they weighed 705 pounds, 

 and on being taken out they weighed 759£ 

 pounds, a gain in salting of 54| pounds, 

 or one-half pound per skin (p . 149) . (This 

 entry was made by Lembkey himself, as 

 above quoted, and copied July 22, 1913, 

 by the agents H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com- 

 merce.) 



