The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-19
ALASKAN TRADE is
GROWING HEAVIER
Figure for Fiscal Year VIII
Reach s2o,o0o,Ooo and
Make New Record
Globe Special Washington Service

1417 G Street
WASHINGTON, D. c., July 1S@The
value of the Alaska trade surpassed
$2o,oOO,o0O in the fiscal year 1904-a
new record in commerce for that ter
1ltory. The official figures for June
are wanting, and it will be impossible
10 give anything better than a close
estimate until next month. The rec
ord for the first eleven months of the
fiscal period, however, is complete,
and the June report of the harbor-
master of Seattle-through which port
the bulk of the Alaska commerce
pasSes-has been published.
1t is a pretty close estimate, prob
ably, to say that the total domestic
commerce of Alaska for the year
closed June 80 amounted to $40, $3.50. 905.
Last years actual record was $19,454,-
"a, ana the Improvement this year is
all the more noteworthy from the fact
that the salmon pack was much smaller
IMAM usual last season, and the ship
ments of fish from Alaska consequently
smaller than in the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1903.
Foreign Commerce Is Small
These figures refer to the domestic
commerce only-that is-to the ship
ments passing between the United
States and Alaska in both directions
and they do not, of course, include the
foreign commerce of the territory
which. although small, is growing all
the time. The figures do not include,
either, the large shipments of gold and
silver, but refer to merchandise alone
The estimate of domestic merchan-
dlse shipped from the United States to
Alaska in the fiscal year just closed is
Sl0,53l, 497, and of merchandise shipped
frem Alaska to the United States, $10,-
Z99,4 0S. 1t is seen, therefore, that the
balance of trade is slightly in favor
OF the United States; that is, Alaska
shipped out less than she received. Last
year the condition was the reverse,
but the short salmon pack of 1908 more
than accounts for the change.
Shipments Are Heavy
The shipment of goods to Alaska in
the first eleven months of the fiscal
year amounted to $8,109,997. June,
however, is always a big month in the
Alaska trade, and it is estimated that
the northbeund shipments to the terri
tory in June amounted to $2,421 500.
This is the largest June record in the
history of the territory, with the pos
Slble exception Of June, 1900, which
was the month of the excited rush to
the Nome gold fields. The estimate of
$2,421.5 as the June record of this
year is obtained in this way: The
Seattle harbormaster reports that the
June shipments from Seattle were ST.
573, 964-and this alone is enough to
bring the whole years commerce be-
yond the record for the fiscal year 1903.
But experience has shown that the
largest shipments from San Francisco
and other ports not on Puget sound
are made in June. Last year and the
year before, the June shipments to
Alaska from ports other than Puget
sound were from 35 to 81 per cent as
large as those from the sound If the
Seattle shipments last month, there
fore, were $1,573,964, it is fair to sup
pose that the shipments from all ports
combined were $2,421, 500.
The gain in the Alaska trade during
the fiscal year as compared with the
year before was according to this es-
timate) 1872 per cent. Last year (19o3)
it was estimated at 10 per cent over
the year before. Walter E. Clark