760 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUB-SEAL INDUSTEY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. McGuiee. You do that in face of the fact that a number of 

 men have been there, employed by the Government of the United 

 States, year in and year out studying and experimenting with those 

 seals ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuiee. The length of time that Mr. Lembkey and others 

 have been on the island in active Government work is far in excess of 

 the^time that you have spent there? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuiee. That is true of Mr. Lembkey? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuiee. It is true of Mr. Clark? 



Mr. Elliott. No. 



Mr. McGuiee. It is not? 



Mr. Elliott. Xo. 



Mr. McGuiee. It is true of Mr. Chamberlain ? 



Mr. Elliott. No; he has not been there on his feet but a few days 

 and then he was flat on his back from illness. 



Mr. McGuiee. It is true of a number of representatives of the Gov- 

 ernment that they have been there, and that their experiments have 

 been, so far as length of time is concerned, far superior in opportunity 

 to yours? 



Mr. Elliott. I do not acknowledge that at all. 



Mr. McGuiee. Well, they were there longer than you? ' 



Mr. Elliott. That does not make any difference. 



Mr. McGuiee. They were there engaged in the seal business? 



Mr. Elliott. But they never published results from original work 

 like mine. Look at my monograph published before they were born, 

 some of them. And at that time, 1872-1874, there were millions of 

 seals there; that gives me a sense of proportion in the premises which 

 none of them possess. 



Mr. McGuiee. Now then these gentlemen were there, some of 

 them, and they asked you — that is, they were there in 1913, and they 

 requested you t<> go with them and count the pups. 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuiee. You refused to go? 



Mr. Elliott. Certainly I did, and for good and sufficient reasons. 



Mr. McGuiee. You left the day before the pup-counting began? 



Mr. Elliott. I did; there was no pup counting when I went away. 

 If I had known of it, I would have made an effort to have gotten in- 

 structions from Washington to have it stopped. 



Mr. McGuiee. You made no count of the pups whatever? 



Mr. Elliott. No ; because it was futile. 



Mr. McGuiee. You paid absolutely no attention to them? 



Mr. Elliott. Certainly not, and I declared to them that it was 

 futile and injurious to the herd. 



Mr. McGuiee. And in that particular you differ from the repre- 

 sentatives of the Government who were there in 1913 — do you or do 

 you not ? 



Mr. Elliott. I differ from them; of course I do. I am very glad 

 I do, because it is sensible. It is lucky for me that I am sensible 

 enough to differ with them for my credit and reputation. I should 

 hate to be in the same boat with them. 



