624 INVESTIGATION OP THE EUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OE ALASKA. 



inferred that this new charge has some connection with the less recent 

 charge made by Mr. Elliott, th at the weights of skins were manipulated 

 on the islands by the attachment of more blubber to some than others, 

 and that the Government and the public at large thereby were induced 

 to believe that many skins were taken from older seals than they 

 really were. As the skins for those years have been sold and gone 

 into consumption, there is no exact method of determining whether 

 they were or not properly taken off the animal; the best evidence on 

 that point that can be obtained, in my opinion, is that of the auction- 

 eers in London who sold the skins and of the principal dresser of these 

 skins, both of whom have handled and carefully examined all of the 

 skins composing the catches named. The auctioneers, as the com- 

 mittee knows, were Lampson & Co.; the dressers were George Rice 

 (Ltd.), both of London. I, of course, know that these skins were 

 removed from the animals in the same manner that they had always 

 been removed, and that no change occurred in the practice of skinning 

 between the years in question and that of prior years, and that no 

 attempt whatever was made to have the skins taken in these years or 

 in any year weigh more than ordinarily they should. However, as 

 the committee may desire further evidence than my own statement on 

 the subject, and for the purpose of providing the committee with the 

 best evidence as to how the skins of the years mentioned compared 

 with the catches of former years, I addressed a letter to Mr. Alfred 

 Fraser, of New York, the representative of Lampson & Co., on the 

 subject. I ask permission to read that letter and to introduce it. 



Mr. McGuire. You may read it. 



Mr. Lembkey. I have several copies of that letter. 



Mr. McGuire. Just go ahead and read it. 



Mr. Lembkey. My letter to Mr. Fraser was as follows: 



1101 Woodward Building, 

 Washington, D. C, January 21, 1914- 

 Mr. Alfred Fraser, 



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



Dear Sir: Statements have been made recently before committees of Congress to 

 the effect that the Alaska fur-seal skins of the catches of 1910, 1911, and 1912 were 

 "improperly skinned," and that, by reason of such improper skinning, the Govern- 

 ment suffered a great money loss. 



I have respectfully to request that you favor me with an expression of your opinion 

 as an expert, and, if not too inconvenient, with a similar expression from Lampson & 

 Co., based upon their experience in handling these and other skins, whether or not 

 the Alaska sealskins of the years mentioned were improperly skinned, and whether or 

 not they were skinned in any manner dissimilar to those of former catches. 



I will state that any reply hereto may, unless you object, be used as evidence before 

 a committee of Congress considering the matter referred to above. 

 Respectfully, 



W. I. Lembkey. 



To that letter I received the following reply : 



64 Queen Street, E. C. 

 London, 3d February, 1914. 

 W. I. Lembkey, Esq., 



1101 Woodward Building, Washington, D. C. 



Dear Sir: We have received a copy of your letter of 21st January, addressed to Mr. 

 Alfred Fraser in New York. 



In reply, we take pleasure in stating that the Alaska fur sealskins of the 1910, 1911, 

 and 1912 catches, received by us from the United States Government were, in our 

 opinion, well handled, and in no respect differed from those received by us from the 

 islands in previous years. 



