The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-07-03
Alaska As AN INVESTMENT.

| The commerce of Alaska during the
fiscal year which ends with this month
seems likely to aggregate over twenty
millions of dollars, exclusive of gold.
| The Treasury Bureau of Statistics is
now collecting and publishing monthly
statements of the shipments Of mer-
chandise to and from Alaska. This in
| formation is now being collected under
an Act recently passed by Congress at
the recommendation of the Bureau of
Statistics. giving 1t authority to collect
statistics of the commerce between the
United States and its noncontiguous
territory. Under its operations the
value of the merchandise passing from
the United States into Alaska and from
Alaska to the various ports of the
United States Is now for the first time
presented.
The figures of shipments from the
ports of the United States to Alaska
during the ten months ending with
April, 1903. aggregate s6.S31, 070 of mer-
chandise, and s104,3 of gold and silver
coin. During the month of April the
total shipments of merchandise to
Alaska amounted to $2,5S1.7S4; and as
the opening months of the season are
those of heavy shipments to Alaska II
is quite apparent that the total ship
ments to Alaska during this first fiscal
year in which their value is measured,
VIII aggregate between ten and twelve
million dollars. A similar statement Of
the shipments from Alaska to the
United States which is also published,
shows the total value for ten months
to be $40, 101 ,O60 of merchandise In ad-
dition to this, the shipments of gold ore
from Alaska, produced in United States
territory, amount to S4,369, 496 The ship
ments of foreign" gold ore from Alaska
during the period, by which is meant
that from the Klondike (Canadian) ter
ritory reaching the United States
through Alaska aggregates for the same
period. s10,972.454.
By far the most important of the arti- |
cles shipped from Alaska to the United |
States Is canned salmon, the value of
which during the ten months ending |
with April, 1903, was s,4O1, 124, or more
In the ten months in question than the
entire sum paid for Alaska in 1867 the
sum paid for the territory having been
100000. The next largest items in the
shipments from Alaska are: other fish
and fish products, $751;. 1884; furs and fur
skins, $780,, $50; whale-bone, $115, 1884, and
copper. $10O,513. The shipments to
Alaska are naturally of an extremely
varied character. including provisions.
and materials for use of
miners and those engaged in the can
ming industry. The largest single item
Is manufactures of iron and steel, ST.
616,604, of which s73O,6ls is tin plates
and sheets, chiefly for use in manufac-
turing cans for the salmon canneries.
Next in order are: provisions, $71S,273
(of which s162%54 was hatter); manu-
features of wood, including lumber,
1862 ,454; manufactures of tin, $440,011;
1898, 292: wines and liquors,
s23S, 665; tobacco. and manufactures of,
s1SS,33O coal, ST.? 1882; fruits and nuts,
sl71, 6O1; cotton manufactures, s129,192
md eggs, sl2s,2i7.
In addition 10 the above commerce be-
.ween Alaska and the other districts of
he United States, there Is total of
'461, $40, imports Of foreign merchandise
nto Alaska during the ten months end
ng With April, of which $44S.921 was
f5iii Canadian territory, $10,776 from
England. and $1.S7S from Asiatic Rus
Tia; also 1881 1877 of exports, all of
which went TO Canadian territory.