INVESTIGATION OF THE FUK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 537 



The Chairman. And they refused ? 

 Mr. Clark. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. On page 209 of Mr. Elliott's report there is some- 

 thing said as to the inadequacy of the yearling data. 

 Mr. Clark. At page 209 Mr. Elliott says: 



Lucas and Clark fail in their work of getting results of sense or value by not going 

 out into the field and getting the measurements of 30 or 40 specimens of these 1, 2, 

 3, and 4 year old seals' bodies. Elliott made no such blunder, which both Lucas and 

 Clark admit they have done in the following statements. 



Mr McGuire. Is that Elliott's report where he says he made no 

 such blunder ? 



Air. Clark. That is the text of this document; yes. 



Mr. McGuire. Who is the author of that statement, "Elliott 

 made no such blunder?" Can you tell from that document? 



Mr. Clark. It is the second of these documents, and I do not 

 think Mr. Gallagher's name is attached to it. 



Mr. McGuire. You may proceed. 



Mr. Clark. I want to state here that the charge of dereliction on 

 my part is due to the fact that I made a measurement of one animal 

 only. We were not allowed to kill yearlings. I could not go in the 

 field at any time and get 30 or 40 yearling seals. They were not 

 being killed in 1896 or 1897 and we had no opportunity to get those 

 specimens. What I did was to take a reliable native whose experienced 

 judgment I could trust and have him single out from groups of ani- 

 mals an animal which he considered typical of a yearling, and I killed 

 that animal only and measured it. I did not wish to sacrifice any 

 more seals than was necessary. I want to say that my estimate of 

 the animal was in a sense an average of a good many animals, because 

 it was picked out for me by some one who was, through past experi- 

 ence, expert in picking out these animals, and we relied on that 

 judgment. I want to protest that I could not, in 1896 and 1897, nor 

 could any member of our commission, go out any day and find 30 to 

 40 2-year-olds or yearlings and measure them, because they were not 

 being killed. 



Mr. McGuire. At page 416 of the same document there is an appar- 

 ent discrepancy between Dr. Lucas and yourself. What have you to 

 say about it ? 



Mr. Clark. At page 416 there is given a note attributed to D. S. 

 Jordan, under date of July 25, 1897, Fur Seal Investigations, part 2, 

 page 341, 1898. The gist of it is: 



But all were not in, and no yearlings or 2-year-olds appeared. I have never seen 

 one, and I am not sure that I have seen a 2-year-old. 



In the opposite column is a statement, under date of July 3, 1897, 

 by Mr. Lucas, and another of July 5 by myself, and a third by 

 Mr. Lucas of July 10, and a fourth by myself on July 20, in which 

 we contradict this statement and show that small animals, which we 

 describe as 2-year-olds, were present. These dates ascribed to 

 Mr. Lucas and nryself are also from the year 1897. The only thing 

 about that is that Dr. Jordan's date should be 1896, and Dr. Jordan's 

 statement was made 10 days or two weeks after we arrived on the 

 islands. Every member of the commission of 1896 and 1897 would 

 have made the same statement, because we had not been able to 

 distinguish these little animals and we were hunting for them. One 



