640 INVESTIGATION OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Lembkey. A herd of 4,000,000? 



The Chairman. Yes. 



Mr. Lembkey. Well, I should say that a herd of that size would 

 allow the killing each year of 75,000 or 100,000 seals without any 

 detiiment to its future. 



The Chairman. That is, if it was properly handled ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Yes, sir. 



-The Chairman. Like a farmer would take care of his cattle and 

 cull them out ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Practically so; yes, sir. 



Tne Chairman. How much would vou consider a skin would be 

 woith of the 75.000 or 100,000 ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Well, of course, I could only make a conjecture on 

 that point, but I should say thay would be worth, perhaps, $25 apiece. 

 However, with a large number of skins such as that thrown on the 

 market each year it is possible that the selling price of those skins 

 might be lowered somewhat and that they would not bring quite as 

 much money as skins bring to-day when the supply is small. But I 

 should say that $25 would be a fair estimate of what they might, 

 biirg with an annual yield of 100,000. 



Tne Chairman. I heard you say something about making drives 

 at night. Do you kill them at night or in the daytime ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not remember having touched upon that topic. 

 But the killing is done in the daytime. The drives, however, are 

 started usually at daybreak. The natives go to the hauling grounds 

 before daybreak and aim to start the drive as soon as it is light enough 

 to do so. In the summer time, of course, on those islands there is 

 very little night at all during the killing season. 



The Chairman. Mr. Lembkey, you may take up hearing No. 9, 

 and at page 434. about the middle of the page, you gave a summary 

 to the committee as follows: 



A summary of the classification of the 12,920 salted fur-seal skins of the catch of 

 1910, sold by Lampson & Co., is as follows: Smalls, 132; large pups, 995; middling 

 pups, 4,011; small pups, 6,205; extra small pups, 1,528; extra small pups, 11; faulty, 

 38. 



That is correct, is it not ? 



Mr. Lembkey. That was a correct summary of the catalogue by 

 Lampson & Co., of Alaska salted sealskins for that year. 1910. 



The Chairman. Can you tell how much money per skin the 1,528 

 extra small pups brought ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I could not tell that without referring to the sale 

 sheet for that year. I do not know at present. 



The Chairman. Is your answer the same as to the 6,205? 



Mr. Lembkey. I have not any remembrance of the selling price of 

 the skins in that year. This is 1910. and if I remember they averaged 

 ab >ut $32. That is merely an effort to remember the price they 

 brought. 



The Chairman. The smalls are 132, and how much did they 

 average ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I really do not remember what they brought. If 

 I had a catalogue I could tell. 



r l he Chairman. Smalls are large 2-year-olds, are they not ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Xo; smalls, I should say, are probably 4-year-olds. 



The Chairman. And the large pups, in what class are they? 



