INVESTIGATION OE THE EUE-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 627 



The instructions for the years preceding 1905 are not at my com- 

 mand, but it is confidently asserted that if they were to be exam- 

 ined an instruction similar to the above would be found to be embodied 

 therein, which would clearly demonstrate that they were intended for 

 guidance during the period only for which they were issued and were 

 not to be taken as applying to the subsequent years unless in the 

 failure of receipt of instructions for that later year, which contin- 

 gency never occurred. 



It is fallacious for Mr. Elliott to contend that because instructions 

 were issued specifically applying to the year 1896 only, forbidding 

 in that year the killing of seals having skins weighing less than 6 

 pounds, the taking of skins of less weight in any year subsequent 

 to 1896 was a violation of existing regulations. 



I should like before closing to recapitulate briefly the charges 

 which Mr. Elliott has made before this committee and to call the 

 committee's attention to the question whether or not the result 

 of the investigation of them which the committee has been making 

 for the last three years shows them to have been proved. 



Disregarding as immaterial and irrelevant the personal charges 

 which Mr. Elliott has indulged in, three main charges are found to have 

 been made by him and to have formed the basis of most of this pro- 

 longed investigation. These main charges are — 



(1) That large numbers of female seals were killed by the lessee of 

 the sealing right contrary to law and regulations, with the connivance 

 of the GoA r ernment officers, both on the island and at the department 

 in Washington. 



C2) That large numbers of yearling seals and seals less than 1 year 

 old were killed both by the lessee and by the Government officers 

 after the leasing period contrary to law and regulations. 



(3) That the killing of male seals has been so close that a sufficient 

 number of males for breeding purposes has not been reserved, thereby 

 causing great injury to the herd of seals in general and decreasing 

 the birth rate. 



It might be of advantage to discover from the testimony adduced, 

 both in the previous hearings and in the reports recently submitted, 

 whether any of these charges have been proved or, at least, how these 

 charges now stand with regard to the evidence submitted with re- 

 spect of them. In regard to the first charge, that thousands of 

 female seals have been surreptitiously killed in contravention of law, 

 the only evidence adduced to support it was the relation of a visit 

 of a senatorial committee to the islands 11 years ago. 



The Chairman. No, just one moment, there. Did he not speak 

 of the killing of yearling female seals? 



Mr. Lembkey. He speaks of them, yes. I was speaking of the 

 evidence which was produced to support the charge. 



The Chairman. That is at least my recollection of it. That is what 

 he charged, that thousands of yearling females were killed. 



Mr. Lembkey. I know that that was included in Mr. Elliott's 

 charge, but I am speaking now of the evidence which had been 

 produced to support the charge. 



Mr. McGuire. I understood you, Mr. Lembkey, to state that the 

 charge was that large numbers of females had been killed, without 

 designating the ages. Would it not be proper to let Mr. Elliott speak 



