Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/695

 FINANCE^ PRODUCTION, COMMUNICATIONS

573

Finance. — in the district of Alaska there is no provision for taxation of real or personal property, except in municipalities where real estate and personal property may be taxed 2 per cent, for municipal purposes only. The revenues are derived from licenses to conduct businesses, a long list of Avhich, with the cost of the resjiective licences, is prescribed by law.

The following is a statement of revenues from Alaska under specified heads from 1869 to 1911 and for the last three years : —

Years

Internal revenue i

Customs

« o:

03

XJ2

-r< 03 m

Dollars

9,555,559

Alaska fund2 and agricul- tural experi- ment station

Miscel- laneous

o

Total 18(59 to 1911

Dollars

290,242

Dollars

1,081,430

Dollars

472,622

Dollars 1,173,510

Dollars 1,919,062

Dollars 14,792,465

1909 1910 1911

18,217 20,333 20,035

67,026 79,116 56,348 131,264 45,016 ! 136,658

i

153,375 153.375 403,947

156,460 260,907 178,027

107.186 112,374 114,562

581,380 734,601 901,165

1 The territory of Alaska was attached to the District of Oregon December 27, 1872, and on September 1, 1883, Washington and Oregon were consolidated ; again on Sep- tember 1, 1902, Washington and Alaska were detached from the District ot Oregon and made a separate district.

- Act of January 27, 1905.

Alaska lias produced from 1867 until 1911, 206,813,594 dollars in minerals, and in sea and fur products the sum of 222,710,036 dollars, and has paid into the Treasury of the United States from customs, internal revenue and license taxes, and other cash items 17,117,355 dollars, making a total production and export from Alaska to the United States of 446,640,985 dollars.

On the other side of that balance sheet is the 7,200,000 dollars which the Government of the United States paid to Russia for Alaska ; then the Treasury statements for the payments made from 1867 to 1911, inclusive, and the expenses of the post office. The total moneys expended by the Governmen of the United States in Alaska from 1867 to 1911 in maintain- ing the Xational Government there, collecting customs and the revenues, maintaining the courts, the fur-seal fisheries, boundary commissions, and generally all items of governmental expense, have amounted only to 35,816,674 dollars. That leaves a difterence between the productions of Alaska and the amount the Government of the United States has expended therein of 410,824,311 dollars.

Production, Communications. — In some parts or the territory the climate during the brief summer is not unsuitable for agricultural operations. There are agricultural experimental stations which are giving valuable demonstrations. Reindeer have been introduced from Siberia, and now 33,629 are employed by the missionaries, by the Eskimo, and by Govern- ment officials.

There are considerable timber resources, mostly of the spruce hemlock and red and yellow cedar sort. The National forests in Alaska have an area of 26,761,626 acres. In 1910 there wer« 152 industrial establishments, em- ploying a total of 73,479 persor.s (3,099 wnge-earners), having a capital of 13,060,116 dollars.

The chief industries are seal and salmon fisheries, and mining. The seal