The daily Alaskan., 1912-01-22
NEWS FROn TIE
 NORTHLAND
SHORT BREEZY NEWS ITEMS
 FROM rHE NORTHERN PRESS

.a-ay. s3ys the Portland Evening Ter -ram. The situation with its needs
 it's possibilities was discussed eN- aasayely by business men who have ..s. .a the Far North and who a.e
 -Hsy couyorsant with all lea- ras as the problems involved.
 Io give momentum Co the cause Of
 5.. one of the days speakers
 a. Dodge. vice-president Of the F.
 Daa-e Company. lumbermeu and a5nne-. strongly urged that either 1aasue. Chamber Of Commerce or as~ commercial organizations ar
 ta send at once four trade
 aries into Alaska and defray etr expenses for a sufficient length
 ume to enable them to get fgll
 s0 of the situation and prepare
 report recommending what action rrra-d must take to secure a sub aaa1 portion of the trade. Dodge atal that the total cost of send
 taas7 commercial ambassadors
 a, the Northern field and keeping .a- there for four months would e- be more than SgOOO at most His
 --es-foa was that one of the dele a-rs s7e7a his time in Southeas.ern rlsla another cover the southwest m portion. a third study conditions
 tre Boring Sea ports. and a fourth wade the inland country along the nixon and tributaries. This would over tre orure field of trade oper-
 lions with Alaska
 tratha- suggestion made by Dodge
 na- until Portland had worked ~a considerable trade with Alaska r- pa-uaaI 5obbe-s could ship their rfz to Seattle and trausship there D the regular lines of Alaskan steam hrt he strongly advised that Port and arrange to provide it's own ton
 a for covering all three trade ones of Alaska. He said in part:
 Portland should build steamer rtrh could carry about 200 passen-
 CTS and have ample capacity for .-at package freight for the run in- Southeastern Alaska through the 7rara passage. Such vessel would 1st in t5e retchborhooi Of &SoO, ,oo0. Tyr handling business with Southwes ~r Alaska. we should construct an- .aer steamer with capacity Of say aa passengers and space for heavy rraze. This would cost from $l6o- 100 Co S200.ooo.
 "To take care of trade with Alaska rro0er an that would be necessary would }.e to charter a steamer for th four months seasons when navigation s opr0 or to engage space on some
 the rouIar liners and make Port and a port Of call
 "Do~nsaE Is much better equipped. s matter Of fact. for handling AL
 ska business than any other port rssga was opened by Portland pe7- "a. nearly all the river pilots in ne Far North are old Portland steam .,at men: the ca7neries and fisher as a-a being developed by Portland non 60 a considerable extent
 "To show what our company ha a-7 doing. I might say that we ave har our steamer. St He'ens, in the Alaska trade for four years and fr took about two years for Us to work mp satisfactory business for her. The outlook for this season is very Eood. We have more than 45O0 tons Of freight already in sight for in. te-tor points on the Yukon and we are preparing to put on another steamer Co assist the St Helens.'
 Dodge's talk was received with great enthusiasm as was that oi Frank W. Swantou. Vice-President oi the Columbia Milling Company. who spoke of present trade conditions Swarton was a resident Of Alaska for eight years. from 1898 to 1906 and is familiar with all trade sec. tons of that vast country. After go i1z into details regarding the gen e-a size. geographical and other rhystcaI features Of the country. men tioning its enormous coasuine of 26. .oao miles. and it's meager popula . .to1 Of 10000 white American cid zeus. he gave the following trade ! figures.
 "In 1880. the imports were S225, 900 . exports. S5oOOO; in 1890. imports were S2.0o0.000. exports. S5.OoO: if 1900. imports. S1s.oOo.0OO. exports ss30Ooo: 1910. imports. S2O.O0O, OOC exports. Sl2.50o. .0o0.
 There arc fewer white men il ] Alaska today than there were ter wears ago. and why? simply because ] Alaska is conserved, but when it X ] opened up as it is bound to be, predict an immediate and constan . .;., s-, t,o,,--1o+;r,r