612 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Lembkey (reading) : 



January 28, 1914. 

 Mr. Alfred Fraser, 



No. 20 Exchange Place, New York, N. Y. 



Dear Sir: I will be grateful if you will inform me whether, when bundled sealskins 

 arrive in London, they are weighed in the bundle or whether the bundle is broken and 

 the skins weighed separately. 



Very truly, yours, 



W. I. Lembkey. 



Office of Alfred Fraser, No. 20 Exchange Place, 



New York, January 29, 1914. 

 Walter I. Lembkey, Esq., 



Washington, D. C. 



Dear Sir: Replying to your favor of the 28th instant, I beg to state that Messrs. 

 CM. Lampson & Co., do not weigh the sealskins until after same have been sorted, 

 consequently, the bundles are opened without any record being kept as to their weight. 



You will, of course, understand that during the process of sorting, sizing, etc., almost 

 all of the salt is shaken from the skins, so that very little of same adheres to the skins 

 when they are weighed. 



The weight of each skin is not taken separately, but the different sizes are weighed 

 in lots of 50 and averaged. 

 Yours, truly, 



Alfred Fraser. 



Mr. McGuire. Are you through with the salting? 



Mr. Lembkey. With that branch of it; yes. 



Mr. McGuire. I want to ask whether there is any contention be- 

 tween yourself and other Government representatives, and Mr. 

 Elliott, as to how these skins were weighed in London? Did Mr. 

 Elliott make any statement as to how they were weighed in London ? 



Mi'. Lembkey. Mr. Elliott made a statement to me on the islands 

 that the skins were weighed in London in bundles, and that was the 

 reason he was weighing these bundles on the islands. 



Mi\ McGuire. By twos ? 



Mr. Lembkey. By twos; yes. 



Mr. McGuire. You say that Mr. Elliott was requested to experi- 

 ment by salting and then remoYing the salt and weighing them ? Who 

 made that request ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I did. 



Mi-. McGuire. Any one else that you know of? 



Mr. Lembkey. Mr. Clark was present, and perhaps Mr. Clark made 

 the same offer or request. 



Mr. McGuire. Was anyone else present that you know of? 



Mr. Lembkey. Not to my knowledge. Mr. Clark and I were there. 



The Chairman. Just in that connection, I want to ask the witness 

 whether my memory serves me right. Did I understand you to say 

 a while ago that you were there when these skins were weighed ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I was on the island, yes, sir, when these 400 skins 

 of Mr. Elliott's were weighed. 



The Chairman. Were you present at the weighing? 



Mr. Lembkey. I was not present in the sense of assisting at the 

 weighing. While the skins were being weighed, in the salt house, 

 I went into the salt house for a minute or two, but did not assist in 

 the weighing. 



