INVESTIGATION OF THE PUB-SEAT, INDTJSTKY OP ALASKA. 453 



Mr. Claek. Yes; it is a fact. 



The Chairman. Do you believe that when Dr. Evermann makes a 

 sworn statement it is true ? 



Mr. Claek. I should think it would be; yes. 



The Chaieman. This is what Dr. Evermann said before this com- 

 mittee under oath and in writing, April 20, 1912: 



As a matter of fact, and as Mr. Elliott has again and again asserted the yearling 

 seals, or those which are always regarded as yearlings, are the easiest to distinguish 

 of any of the classes of seals. Mr. Elliott is, in this instance, entirely right; anybody 

 who has any acquaintance with seals can tell a seal of this class as soon as he sees it. 

 Therefore if yearling seals have been killed they have been killed knowingly and 

 intentionally. 



Is that true ? 



Mi*. Claek. Yes; I should say that is true. 



The Chaieman. Then you ought to know the difference. 



Mr. Claek. Let me tell you what that means. 



The Chaieman. But I ask you the question. 



Mr. Claek. What that means is this 



The Chaieman. Answer my question. Should you not know it? 

 If you now say that is true, why did you make the other statement 

 this morning ? 



Mr. Claek. I can make the same statement, that the easiest 

 animal to distinguish of all the animals on the island is the yearling, 

 the smallest animal you can find is a yearling. That is all. 



The Chaieman. Is that what you said this morning? 



Mr. Clark. I said this morning that you could not, and no man 

 could, distinguish a yearling from a 2-year-old, and that is a vastly 

 different tiling. I am perfectly willing to admit that. 



The Chaieman. If you can tell a yearling so readily why can you 

 not distinguish it from a 2-year-old ? 



Mr. Claek. Because they run together. An animal may be born 

 on the 12th of June in one year and another animal may be born on 

 the 25th of July. Those two animals are far apart in size. Now, 

 the 2-year-old animal born on the 25th of July may be no bigger than 

 the yearling animal born on the 12th of June of the preceding year, 

 and that is the reason you can not distinguish the yearling from a 

 2-year-old; but as to distinguishing yearlings 



The Chaieman. You must do it by sight. 



Mr. Claek. It is absolutely true, as Dr. Evermann has said, that 

 the yearling is the easiest one to distinguish, because it is the smallest 

 animal. 



The Chaieman. Then why would not people know they were killing 

 a yearling when Dr. Evermann says it is the easiest one to distinguish ? 



Mr. Clark. But they have not killed the yearlings. 



The Chaieman. Why can not a man tell if yearling -seals are killed 

 if you can distinguish them so readily? Why do you not know that 

 yearling seals were killed ? 



Mr. Claek. I do not know that yearling seals were killed. I know 

 they were not killed . 



The Chairman. You reported in your report to the Department 

 of Commerce and Labor that yearling seals were killed. Now was 

 that true? 



Mr. Claek. Sixteen of them. 



The Chaieman. One moment; was that true? 



