The Seward gateway daily edition, and the Alaska weekly post., 1920-03-05
TRADE DECLINE SHOWN
 LAST YEAR IN BUSINESS
 FROM ALASKA TERRITORY


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 The total commerce of Alaska for 1919 was valued at Sl09,652, ,239,a de- crease of Sl7,3O6,793 from the total oS 1918, according to the annual report of the collector of customs for the district of Alaska, which has just been completed. The total for 1913 was Sl27,049,l32.
 The total exports from Alaska for 1919 were valued at $7O,695, ,0S0, q ie. crease from the previous year os Sl4,72S,4SS. The imports to the ter ritory in 1919 were S3S,957 ,259, 5a de- crease from 1918 of S2,66S, 1905.
 Explanatory and in review of the years developments the report says:
 "While the record of the commerce of Alaska for 1919 showed contln- ued decline, being the smallest since 1915 in the total value of shipments to and from the United States, the situation disclosed is by no mears discouraging, and there are features which carry the promise of better conditions. The volume of commerce is still very large, perhaps larger per capita than that of any other section of the world. The balance of trade in favor of Alaska was more than S31 ,O00,000- approximately $l,00O for each white man, woman and child in the territory indicating a very healthy commercial and industrial condition.
 Immigration Shows Gain
 The figures which tell of the com ing and going to and from Alaska show that the preponderance of emi- grafton over immigration, which was the marked feature of conditions Tn 1917 and 1918. has at last been stopp- ed. The balance was on the side of im- migration. The record shows that during the calendar year 24,27S per- sons came to Alaska, while those de- parting numbered 3,902-- a net ge.r- of37i. The record for 1917 %as 23SS' O3O arrivals and 31,259 departures, and that for 1918 showed l9,040 arriv- als and 27,732 departures net loss in two years of nearly 1S,000.
 "The shrinkage in the value of tho shipments to the United States for 1919 from the value of those for 1918, approximately fourteen and half million dollars, was due mostly to the S7,951 ,000 decrease in copper ship ments and the S6,495,000 decline in the canned salmon shipments.
 "The reduction in the value of the canned salmon shipped from Alaska in 1919 was due wholly to the fact that the run of salmon last year in practically all parts of the territor7 was very light and the salmon pack was the smallest it had been for five years.
 "The reduction in the quantity of copper shipped from Alaska in 1919 was due to the collapse of the copper market early in the year, which caus- cd copper producers to curtail the pro- duction in Alaska as elsewhere in the country for a considerable portion of the year, and resulted in much lower prices for the product. The year end cd. however, with conditions more satisfactory, and shipments approxi- mately up to the 1918 average. Ire average monthely shipments for the last two months of the year was 6,O5O, ,OOO pounds, as against a month ly average for 1918 of 6,lS70oO pounds. For six months of 1919 the average monthly shipments amounte to 2.4l1 ,O00 pounds, and in May they reached the low level of 1,134,0O0 pounds. The quantity of copper shipp- ed during 1919 declined approximate ly A per cent less than the previous year.
 The only really distressing feature of the years business in Alaska i* that indicated by the continuing de- crease in the shipment of gold, duo, of course to continued, decrease IF production. The cause for this IS tte still prevailing labor shortage and the abnormally high cost of mining gol1 without corresponding increase in the value of the product. The vast areas of unworked low-grade gold placer fields and the great number of only
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