INVESTIGATION OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 425 



Jordan asserts that the benefits 

 of his work in 1896-97 "as a 

 trained naturalist" have been 

 lost by Lembkey. 



The essential point is the expert study 

 and inspection. After our exhaustive 

 investigations of 1896-97, I made what I 

 considered the one important recom- 

 mendation — that the herd be placed in 

 charge of a competent naturalist. Now, 

 after eight years, during which much of 

 the value of our work has been lost 

 through failure to follow it up properly, I 

 again make the earnest recommendation 

 that the fur-seal herd be placed in charge 

 of a trained naturalist. (D. S. Jordan to 

 President Roosevelt, Jan. 16, 1906, Ap- 

 pendix A, pp. 328-334, June 24, 1911. 

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



But Lembkey proves that noth- 

 ing was lost, except for the gain 

 of the public interests at stake. 



3. The branding of female pups: As 

 the catch of the pelagic sealers consists 

 mainly of females, especially in Bering 

 Sea, it was thought by the Jordan com- 

 mission that any means adopted whereby 

 the value of the skins so taken could be 

 impaired would ser^e to deal the sealing 

 industry a heavy blow. 



From this idea the practice of branding 

 female pups was evolved. 



It consisted in herding the newborn 

 pups on the several rookeries, segregating 

 all females therein, and so searing their 

 hides with red-hot irons that the hair 

 follicles under the brand would be 

 destroyed and the branded area be 

 denuded of fur. During the year 1896 

 branding operations were carried on with 

 vigor. Thousands of nurslings were 

 branded with at least one brand, and a 

 large number with two and sometimes 

 three brands. They continued, but with 

 less rigor, until 1903, when stopped by 

 order of the department. 



The main reason why branding fe- 

 males was not a success was that if the 

 animal were seared so thoroughly as to 

 destroy the commercial value of the pelt, 

 the animal would die from the effects of 

 the branding; if not branded in this 

 wholesale manner, the value of the skin 

 was not affected materially. In either 

 case no appreciable injury to the pelagic 

 catch resulted. 



How many pups were permanently in- 

 jured through branding, and thereby lost 

 their lives in the water through inability 

 to withstand the hardships of their first 

 migration can never be known. The In- 

 dians along the Aleutian chain reported 

 numbers of pups as being so injured by 

 branding as to render their capture by 

 bidarki hunters an easy matter. These 

 reports, while creating a deep impression 

 among outsiders that great injury to the 

 herd through branding was being wrought, 

 were not susceptible of confirmation. 

 Complete statistics of the number of 

 branded skins contained in the catches 

 of the pelagic schooners are not obtain- 

 able. The number of such skins in the 

 whole catches for 1899 and 1900 did not 

 approximate over 75 skins each year. It 

 was reported that the brands on these 

 skins did not injure the value of the pelt 

 over the amount of $1. ( W. J. Lembkey 

 to Secretary Com. and Labor, Feb. 8, 

 1906, Appendix A, pp. 338, 339, June 24, 

 1911. H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com. and 

 Labor.) 



