INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 819 



Office of Alfred Fraser, 

 20 Exchange Place, New York, January 29, 1914. 

 Walter I. Lembkey, Esq., 



Washington, D. C. 



Dear Sir: Replying to your favor of the 28th inst., I beg to state that Messrs. C. M. 

 Lampson & Co. do not weigh the sealskins until after same have been sorted, conse- 

 quently the bundles are opened without any record being kept as to their weight. 



You will, of course, understand that during the process of sorting, sizing, etc., almost 

 all of the salt is shaken from the skins, so that very little of same adheres to the skins 

 when they are weighed. 



The weight of each skin is not taken separately, but the different sizes are weighed 

 in lots of 50 and averaged. 

 Yours, truly, 



Alfred Fraser. 



alt. Elliott. That is entirely correct, and not different materially, 

 from what I have stated. And I only got it, as I said, the other day, 

 from a gentleman who attended those sales, and whom I named in 

 my testimony. 



Mr. McGuire. Now, you stated in your testimony that you never 

 sought employment from the Government. 



Mr. Elliott. Not "from the Government" — I must have sought 

 employment when I went up there as a Government agent. Did I 

 say "I never sought employment from the Government?" No; I 

 said I did seek employment when I went to the islands. I had to go 

 as a Government employee. 



Mr. McGuire. Do you know how many times you sought employ- 

 ment ? 



Mr. Elliott. I did not seek it in that sense. 1 sought it simply 

 for the purpose of getting these collections first, for the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



Mr. McGuire. Since your employment with the Government has 

 been discontinued have you since sought employment ? 



Mr. Elliott. No; I can not remember seeking employment since, 

 unless you would call that engagement I made with John Hay, where 

 I offered, if he would take up a certain plan of action, to cooperate 

 with him in protecting the fur seal; the treaty that is in effect to-day 

 is the result of that action, and it is authoritatively known as the 

 "Hay-Elliott treaty of mutual concession and joint control." It is 

 that to the letter. 



Mr. McGuire. Do you remember a letter you wrote to C. S. Ham- 

 lin March 6, 1895 ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; I wanted to be a member of the commission. 

 I wanted to go up there. I did not like the idea of one man going up 

 there — and he an ignorant man like Jordan — without anybody that 

 understood the question. 



Mr. McGuire. Then you did seek employment of the Government ? 



Mr. Elliott. Only in that way. I wanted to go up and get the 

 facts and come right back. I objected to the idea of one ignorant 

 man and a few clerks going up there. I wanted three men that under- 

 stood the subject. 



Mr. McGuire. You did write the letter, then ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you ever ask John G. Carlisle for employment ? 



Mr. Elliott. I never suggested it; it was never in my mind at all. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you write a letter from Cleveland, Ohio, 317 

 Detroit Street, November 6, 1893 ? Do you remember doing that ? 



