The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1909-12-13
NACFL SUBMITS
annual REPORT
Interesting Data Bearing on the
Habits Of Seals is Given
to Public.
BOUNDARY Line ESTABLISHED
Shows Increase in Immigrant Popula-
ton of United States Of More
Than 0,000-Foreisn Com
merce Shows Big Increase.

washington, ID. c.. Dec. 13.-About
this time every year there comes from
the government printing office host
of rather dry-looking documents-an-
nual reports, setting forth the rami-
fications and results of the activities
of hundreds of government officials In
every corner of the national territory.
Between the lines of the bare and Of
ten cumbrously written official state
ments lie stories which. If one had
time TO dig them out, would be as IN
teresting as any of the famous tales
of adventure.
Take. for instance the report OF the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor
Charles Nagel, addressed to the Presi-
dent and first made public tonight.
The following paragraphs indicate the
scope of the activities of this depart
ment, and some of the entertaining
material with which it deals.
For example. who in the world east
of the Rocky Mountains would have
suspected that some seals are mar
ried and some are bachelors. and so
recognized officially by Uncle sam?
Yet IL seems that there are at least
2, 900 bachelor seals on st. Paurs
and st. Georges island. Some two
thousand of the seals there are bene-
diets of a polygamous temperament
and have among them about 50,OoO
wives. classified by the government
experts into "harems," and spoken OF
that way when they are officially
talked about. II also appears that
there are only 100000 seals left now
on the Pribilof Islands, and the deduc-
| ton must follow that at the rate or
decrease in the last ten years, II Is only
n question of time when the seal Will
be a memory.
of Che coast OF Florida, series Of
\ experiments have proved that we can
produce our own sponges. They have
discovered that in 20 months a sponge
lcan be coaxed to grow so big 1t VIII
Fweigh an ounce and quarter when
| II is empty.
| Upon the coast or Alaska at Afognak
there is new salmon station which
has liberated more than 100000 young
red salmon to the rivers, and during
the year. all over the United states
the government deposited i'm various
waters more than 100000 fish.
/ On the northern edge of the Unit
ed states a band of explorers has cut
its way through the forests to the
peak of the Rocky Mountains, marx
ing the boundary line OF the United
states with Canada. The old stone
monuments. placed years ago ano
n pelessly buried in the tangle oi
mountain underground, have been re-
covered and new ones set In then
lplaces Wherever the line runs
through wooded sections. lane o
clearing has been chopped up one Side
and down the other.
The bureau of immigration shows II
cold figures that the longer the strang
er stays in the United States. the mor'
unlikely he is to go away. There ma
been during the year an increase II
the immigrant population of TN
United States of more than 100000.
The effectiveness of the immigration
, limitations agreed upon between tn
government and Japan Is demonstrate
: in the reports which show that
.664 Japanese who applied for admis
! sion to the country, 2,4S2 had Tn
proper passports from their nom
government and 212 were debarred.
In the division of naturalization,
: is shown that 1922 alience apple
c for citizenship papers. which wa
, more than 5000 over the number G
5 applicants during the fiscal year pre-
e ceding.
The magnitude of the foreign com
I merce Is amazing. The total vaiu
e of imports was more than s1,3OO,ooo
: 900. The value of exports was MOI
= than 81, 500, 900. 900. During the yes
n more than 100000 bulletins from tn
n bureau of Information carried the new
: of business opportunities from the col
: ners of the earth to American capiti
:. and labor.
: The bureau of navigation shows th'
d we build fewer steel ships for foreie
IS trade than we did ten years ago. %
= cause our shipbuilding is confined
V. the needs of coastwise and domest
c transportation. During the fiscal ye'
Is 1909 our shipyards built only LIZ
q. merchant vessels with tonnage
: 2ss.oso. the smallest product sin
J. 1898.
a, or 2s2 steamships that carry stee
It age passengers TO and from the Uni
ed States. half have been equipp
> with wireless, and the proportion u
,r equipped Is a small figure. The MAI
l. land of Alaska. the United Stat
ly Hawaii Porto Rico and the Panar
81 Canal Zone have been equipped WI
be wireless land stations and a ves
at sea within 800 miles of shore c
communicate.
m Secretary Nagers report calls
lxe tention 10 the fact that IL mas