516 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Those were all "small pups," and those weights are all below the 

 weight of the small pups in 1893. That was the first thing that 

 struck me in this designation. If you average these weights the 

 average is 5 pounds 9 J ounces, so that in this 1910 interpretation of 

 the London trade designations the average weight of skin was given 

 as 5 pounds 9^ ounces, whereas in the previous one it had been 

 6 pounds 2 ounces. Now, in that same 1910 list there were "extra 

 small pups" designated; 1,266 of them were given a weight of 

 5 pounds 5 ounces and 



The Chairman (interposing). Where was this weight given? 



Mr. Clark. It is given in the early hearings. It is republished at 

 page 130 of this book, for example [indicating hearings No. 1, 63d 

 Cong.]. 



The Chairman. I know, but were these weights recorded any- 

 where ? 



Mr. Clark. They were recorded in the hearings and, I believe, 

 published over and over again. 



Mr. Elliott. A large per cent of them. 



The Chairman. Wait a minute. I am going to ask him where 

 those recorded weights come from simply to clear it up. Were they 

 taken from the records of the Bureau of Fisheries ? 



Mr. Clark. My only information is from the hearing, which says 

 that this category is "Assortment of Alaska salted fur-seal skins for 

 account of United States Government, Department of Commerce 

 and Labor." It is headed "C. M. Lampson & Co., London, Novem- 

 ber 19, 1910." But 1,266 of these were extra small pups, and they 

 weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces; 88 of them weighed 5 pounds even, and 

 75 weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces. Then a lot of 81 which were noted 

 as extra-extra small pups were given a skin weight of 4 pounds 15 

 ounces — no, I beg your pardon. These 81 animals were extra small 

 pups, just the same, and were given a weight of 4 pounds 15 ounces. 

 Now, if 3 t ou average those four categories of the extra small pups 

 you get 5 pounds If ounces as against 4 pounds 15 ounces of the 1893 

 schedule. Then there was left in the category of the 1910 skins 11 

 skins at a weight of 4 pounds 10 ounces. That, of course, threw my 

 views regarding the London weights into some confusion, but follow- 

 ing that there came the investigation of 1912, in which we studied 

 the effect of salting on sealskins, and in that year we found that 

 sealskins decreased in salt. For 205 skins which we treated, they 

 decreased 6.4 ounces per skin. Now, that, of course, jarred my 

 knowledge of the weights entirety, because it forced me to add to 

 the London weights an appreciable amount which would bring them 

 all above the rnmimum fixed in the regulations of 5 pounds. But, 

 of course, I am not able to measure exactly w T hat that correction 

 would be back in past times. It meant this to me: If you take the 

 London weights at all you must add to them a considerable weight 

 for depreciation in skins through salting. Therefore the London 

 weights are normally less than what we would expect the London 

 weights to be. 



Mr. Stephens. Are you well acquainted with the green weights 

 and salted weights '. 



Mr. Clark. To the extent that I have seen a great many taken 

 and salted, and then I studied 205 skins that were taken, measured 



