INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 643 



Mr. Lembkey. I have not seen his original instructions, so far as I 

 can remember. 



The Chairman. If I am not mistaken, you stated in the former 

 hearings that branding was prohibited by an order issued in 1903. 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not believe I made a statement of that charac- 

 ter. If I did, I must have been mistaken, because as near as I can 

 remember now there were a few seals branded in the fall of 1903. 

 Branding was stopped in the year 1904 — that is to say, no branding 

 was done in the latter year — but it was not stopped as the result of 

 any explicit direction to the officer in charge of the islands. The 

 usual instructions to brand these seals or seal pups were omitted from 

 the instructions of that year. 



Mr. Bruckner. Why did they brand them ? 



Mr. Lembkey. They branded the female seals in order 



Mr. Bruckner (interposing). To distinguish the sexes? 



Mr. Lembkey. To destroy as much as possible the value of the 

 pelt in case that pelt got into the hands of the pelagic sealers. That 

 was the idea. 



The Chairman. My recollection is that you had your statement in 

 writing and submitted it to the committee, and on page 425, near the 

 middle of the page, I find this : 



Thousands of nurslings were branded with at least one brand, and a large number 

 with two and sometimes three brands. They continued, but with less rigor, until 

 1903, when stopped by order of the department. 



Mr. Lembkey. Well, so near as I can remember the last branding 

 occurred in 1903, but whether there was a direct order to stop brand- 

 ing or whether branding was stopped merely by the omission of an 

 order to brand in the general instructions to the agent I can not now 

 remember. 



The Chairman. Why was it stopped, whether it was by order or 

 otherwise ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not know just exactly why it was stopped. 

 I do not believe it met with the approval of the officers who were then 

 in charge of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and was 

 omitted for that reason. 



The Chairman. Then you do not know whether there is an order 

 about it ? I thought you knew. 



Mr. Lembkey. So far as I can remember there was no direct order 

 to stop the branding. 



The Chairman. Was it your judgment that it was a bad thing to 

 do, that is, to brand these pups ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Well, no; it was not my judgment that it was a 

 bad thing particularly, but it was my judgment that no particularly 

 good result accrued from the branding, so near as I could gather 

 information on the subject. 



The Chairman. In other words, no good would come from it ? 



Mr. Lembkey. That is the idea, exactly. 



The Chairman. Now then, in 1912 you and Mr. Clark, and some 

 others, branded small pups ? 



Mr. Lembkey. We did. 



The Chairman. You branded them on the head ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Yes, sir. 



The Chairman. Those were the seals that had just been born that 

 season ? 



