The Alaska daily empire., 1918-12-16

sons He estimates that there will be loss of 10000 persons during 1918, which closely coincides with the estimates of the Collector oi Customs. The Governors estimate of the population for June 30 is 2S, 900 white persons.
 Gold Mining ssss
 A large proportion of the people are dependent upon the success ol gold mining Undoubtedly this in dustry has been the hardest hit oi all Alaskan enterprises. The price of all commodities except gold has scared heavenward while the price of gold, with it's greatly increased cost of production and greatly de creased purchasing power, has re mained stationary.
 At present there are few working placer mines of the fabulous richness which drew the attention of the world to Alaska. Instead there are now the lower grade alluvial gravels with their more even distribution of gold which are worked along business principles. Such mines are shutting down as rapidly as possible, await ing the day when prices of supplies and equipment are once more normal and when labor is more plentiful. Practically all of the placer mines are found in the interior of the Ter ritory and on the Seward Peninsula, and it is these sections which are the greatest suffers in all lines.
 Lode mining is found more in the coastal district, with all of the larg- est mines in the First Division. The largest mines are those in the vicin ity of Juneau and are working on a grade of ore in which margin of prof it is very close Owing to the low grade of ore the mines are unable to pay wages such as will attract miners, with the result that they can not obtain men in sufficient num- bers to more than run the mills on one shift of eight hours, and even with only one mill shift not enough miners can be procured to break the requisite amount of ore without draw ing on the mine reserves.
 Transportation
 All transportation tariffs etfectlng the Territory have been materially increased during the year. The eff feet has not been particularly no ticeable in the matter of foodstuffs, but a great hardship on the consum- CT has been worked in the tariff ad vance on heavy commodities, such as mine and mill equipment and sup plies, coal, hay, oats, and fuel oils, etc. As transportation is vital to the growth of the Territory and even to it's very existence as conner cial factor, the Governor expresses the opinion that the Government may well suffer a comparatively small financial loss for the sake of aiding the Territory, which furnished trade during 1917 to the United States proper in excess of $131 ,O00,- 900.
 The following trade figures for the various Territories with the United States are given for the purposes of comparison, towit:
 Total Value of Exports to and From
 the United States, 1917.
 Alaska ........-..... $131 ,767 ,7S8 The Philippines ...-...-....---... 126,524,S12 Porto Rico ....................... PA, ,461 ,408 Hawaii .-.-.-....--..........-..... 123, ,139,44l
 The Fisheries
 The development of the fisheries industry as a whole was greatly ac- celerated in 1917. The enforcement of the law and regulations for the protection of the fisheries was fur thered in the season of 1917 through the use by the Bureau of Fisheries of two new patrol boats built espec- ially for the purpose. Anothed ad- vance was made in the season of 1918 when a policy was adopted of employing stream watchmen who in dividually give continuous supervis- ion to limited but important fish cry ground assigned to each.
 In the fiscal year 1918 six salmon hatcheries were operated, two by the Government and four privately, by companies engaged in canning salmon. In the season 1917-17 the total number of young red, or sock eye liberated was 155,641, ,000, of which number 72,291, ,000 were re. leased from Government hatcheries.
 The number of persons employed in the fisheries in 1917 was 9,491; 1; of these 16,043 were classed as whites, 6,170 Natives, 1,643 Japanese; :; 2,274 Chinese, 1,547 Mexicans, and 1,S14 miscellaneous, including Fiji Filipinos, negroes, Porto Ricans, etc. The total number in 1916 was 23994 or 5,497 less than in 1917.