CEREAL PRODUCTION BY COUNTRIES IN 1920 AND 1921 OF WHEAT, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, AND MAIZE IN BUSHELS (Preliminary Returns for 1921; revised figures for 1920)

tion of ex-soldiers in the World War from the payment of poll tax for two years and a third permitted the State to lend its credit to the improvement of the port of Mobile. The first two of these amendments were passed upon favorably by the voters but were declared unconstitutional by the supreme court because of a faulty enactment by a previous session of the legislature. The legislature passed much more drastic laws regarding picketing and boycotting, this having been brought on as a result of the miners' strike of 1920. A law was also enacted in this connection making unincorporated associations responsible for their acts. This was directed at labor unions, against which heretofore causes of action could not be brought because they were not incorporated. These measures were fought vigorously by organized labor. Among the measures recommended by the governor which failed of passage were: Permitting the manufacture and sale of cereal beverages, stricter Sunday observance and directing the supreme court to pass upon the constitutionality of laws suggested by the governor before their enactment.

HISTORY. The strike of coal miners in Alabama which began in September, 1920, was called off Feb. 22, 1921, after one of the most bitter industrial conflicts in the State's history. The miners were defeated and the mines of the State continued to operate on an open-shop basis. The National Guard of the State was on duty in the strike zone for nearly five months. It was estimated that the expenditures of the United Mine Workers of America in the effort to unionize Alabama amounted to approximately $3,500,000. During the week of October 24 Birmingham celebrated the semi-centennial of its history. On October 26 President Warren G. Harding and Mrs. Harding were guests of the city to participate in the celebration. The entire week was made notable by a series of events upon which much money and effort were spent. One feature was the bringing of the most beautiful girl from each of Alabama's sixty-seven counties as queen of her county. From these in turn was selected the queen of the semi-centennial. Pageants, parades, fêtes, and expositions were arranged for each day of the week. Upon his trip to the city President Harding was accompanied by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior and Senator Underwood. During the latter part of the year new hope was infused in the Muscle Shoals (q. v.) project by the offer of Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer, to take over and develop the electric power plant and nitrate plants built by the government. negotiations were still under way at the close of the year. Work was completed to raise the height of the dams on the Warrior river so that a navigation depth of eight feet is now assured the entire year from Mobile to the Birmingham district. The Alabama Power company began work on its new dam at Duncan's Riffle on the Coosa river which will develop 120 thousand horsepower in addition to that now available. The company also put into service another unit of the Lock 12 power plant on the Coosa adding 20,000 horsepower. Demand for power became so great that the company leased from the government the emergency war steam plant at Muscle Shoals which develops 90,000 horsepower. This lease, however, may be terminated by the government upon sixty days' notice.

The

A notable feature of water power development

during the year was the hitching up of Alabama power lines with those of Georgia between Gadsden, Ala., and Rome, Ga. By this connection Alabama rivers supplied power for the mills of North and South Carolina during low-water periods in those States. When the rivers are low in Alabama power from the Carolinas is brought into the State. At Anniston, Ala., the manufacture of high-grade phosphoric acid by use of electric power was developed on an extensive commercial scale. With the completion of the fourteenth steel ship at the plant of the Chickasaw Shipbuilding and Car company at Mobile the plant built chiefly to meet war needs was closed. This company's activities were centred on the construction of steel freight cars at the Fairfield plant.

OFFICERS. Governor, Thomas E. Kilby; Lieutenant-Governor, Nathan L. Miller; Secretary of State, William P. Cobb; Auditor, H. F. Lee; Treasurer, R. L. Bradley; Attorney-General, Harwell Davis; Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries M. C. Allgood; Superintendent of Education, John W. Abercrombie; President, Public Utilities Commission, A. G. Patterson.

ALABAMA, UNIVERSITY OF. A State institution for the higher learning situated at University, Ala.; founded in 1831. The enrollment for the fall 1921 was 1650 and for the summer session of 1920, 1300. There were 75 members in the faculty in the fall of 1921 of whom 15 had been added in the course of the year. The productive funds exclusive of State support were $1,025,000 and the total income was $285,000. The library contained 50,000 volumes. President, George H. Denny, Ph.D., LL.D.

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CAL. See MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

ALASKA. War and economic conditions have paralyzed the development of this Territory of vast resources and potential wealth. The year 1921 discloses decrease of population, increase of taxes, closing of mines, deficiency of transportation, unsatisfactory mail service, and stagnation of business. The spending of fifty millions of Federal funds to build a railway connecting Tanana valley with the ocean has failed as yet materially to improve affairs. In part these conditions are due to the uncoördinated methods of thirty-eight Federal bureaus. The late Secretary Lane officially pointed out that in unopposed cases it had taken from three to ten years to obtain a town site; once it took nine years and $700 to secure a homestead, and nine years for a manufacturing site. To correct these delays under executive authority the Federal affairs of Alaska have been intrusted for administration to an inter-departmental committee (1920). By its action matters have improved, and certain powers have been given to local officials, by the establishment of Federal offices at Juneau where they are in touch with the governor and the legislature.

Meanwhile, recognizing the inefficiency of governmental control and to facilitate development, Mr. C. F. Curry, Chairman of Committee on Territories, House Reports introduced bill H. R. 5695 to coordinate such Federal activities as relate to the natural resources and public utilities of Alaska and administered by Federal bureaus. An extended public hearing was held, which is printed in a report of 666 pages, the most complete Alaskan information ever collected in a single volume.

Urgent need of action on this bill is unquestionable, but the subject is non-political and its fate is uncertain.

POPULATION. The official bulletins of the Census Bureau give for 1920 full information as to the numbers, occupations, industries, etc., of the inhabitants of Alaska. The population then numbered 54,899, a decrease of 9457 since 1910. This was due largely to the conspicuous war service of its men, who volunteered in larger proportion than in any State, and in part to the unproductivity of many mines which increased costs of operation temporarily closed. While the southeastern or "panhandle" district had an increase of 2186, the interior district-upper Yukon and Tanana valleys-had the largest decrease, 6198. The Chinese, Japanese, and negroes were nearly eliminated, being reduced 1835 or 79 per cent. The mining towns lost most heavily: Nome, 1748 or 67 per cent; Fairbanks, 2386 or 67 per cent; Douglas, 803 or 47 per cent. The whites, 27,863, are now barely one-half the population, and while they outnumber the natives in the panhandle district, reverse conditions obtain along the coasts of Bering sea and of the Arctic ocean. The illiteracy of whites is unusually low, being 1.9 per cent for those over ten years, and for the native born whites is but 0.6 per cent.

NATIVE POPULATION. A surprising feature is the increase of the natives from 25,331 in 1910 to 27,883 in 1920. By linguistic stock they were: Eskimauian, 13,698; Athapaskan, 4657; Tlingit, 3895; Aleut, 2942; Tsimshian, 842; Haidan, 524; not reported by stock, 1640. Two-thirds of the natives speak English. Their improvement in education is evidenced by the reduction of illiterates from 71.4 per cent to 56.4, and among those from 10 to 25 years of age from 50 to 35 per cent. Gainful occupations are followed by 47 per cent, over 10 years, 6288 in all. The principal vocations are: Hunters, guides, etc., 2818; fisheries, 2204; reindeer herders, etc., 451; lumbering, 161; mining, 148. In professional or skilled occupations are clergyman, teachers, electricians, stationary and technical engineers, and carpenters. Among the women are bookkeepers, clerks, dressmakers, and trained nurses; despite years of domestic schooling they appear to avoid domestic service in white families, as there were only eighty-eight servants, waitresses, and laundresses. The reindeer being largely in the hands of natives have materially raised the Eskimo in standing. The herding, training, and care of 100,000 deer, which have been done with profit, were important factors in changing these natives from a migratory race of hunters to the more important stage of shepherds. The selfhelpfulness of the Eskimo as a people was strikingly shown by the adoption of 250 orphans, whose parents perished through the influenza epidemic, in the regions bordering the Arctic ocean and the north Bering sea.

GOVERMENT RAILROAD. When completed this line will connect Seward, Kenai peninsula, and Chatinika, Tanana valley, via Anchorage, Broad Pass, Nenana, and Fairbanks with a branch line into the Matanuska coal fields. During 1921 there were 44 miles of track laid, leaving 71 miles yet to be built over which right of way and grading so progressed that it was expected to be ready for track on Jan. 1, 1922. Work was

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facilitated by the purchase of the Alaskan Northern railroad, from Seward to near Anchorage, at a cost of $1,154,188, and of the Tanana Valley road,-Chena to Chatinika: both roads had to be rebuilt. The cost per mile of constructed road has been $67,630 per mile, exclusive of rollingstock. The cost of the railroad, fixed by Congress at $35,000,000, was later raised to $52,000,000. Supplementary funds and material raised the available amount to $52,450,169, of which there remained June 30, 1921, unobligated $3,727,325. In developing coal mines in the Matanuska region, and securing needed coal, there was spent $1,130,242. For the 6 months ending April 30, 1921latest data-there were carried nearly 13,000 revenue passengers, and 13,000 tons of commercial freight. Official reports indicate that the road must be operated for years without its revenues equaling the running expenses, with twice-a-week mixed trains each way-the economical method. A total of 545 miles of railroad in operation with train service twice a week in each direction, though at two river crossings temporary arrangements were used. At Riley Creek, Mile 347, a steel viaduct was to be built. The steel for this viaduct has been shipped and it was expected to have the bridge erected by the first of February. This would complete the line with the exception of a permanent crossing of the Tanana river at Nenana, about 35 miles from Fairbanks, the northern terminus now reached by through line from Seward and Anchorage. The appropriation granted by Congress for work of the Alaskan Engineering Commission for the fiscal year 1921-22 was principally to take care of this bridge. The crossing at the end of 1921 was made by means of a ferry in the summer time, and by extending a narrow-gage track over the ice in the winter time. When the bridge is built, the gage of the track from North Nenana to Fairbanks, a distance of 85 miles, will be standardized and a through line to that place secured.

ROADS AND TRAILS. Roads to serve as feeders to the railroad and to develop mining districts are of extreme importance. This system is under the Alaska Road Commission, three army officers, which administers funds appropriated by Congress, allotments from the Alaska Fund, and appropriation by the Territorial Legislature; to June 30, 1921, it had spent six million dollars. It had built to date approximately 5000 miles of wagon roads, sled roads, and trails, beside many bridges, ferries, and tramways. This year it initiated a 10-year programme for the systematic development of territorial roads. The legislature of 1921 appropriated $25,000 for a bridge across the Nizina river, and authorized negotiation for the purchase of the Seward Peninsula (Nome) railroad, to be operated as a public tram and highway.

MAILS. This service continues to be inefficient and unsatisfactory, due partly to lack of funds and in part to existing transportation facilities.

MINERALS. Complete data are available for 1920 only. High operating costs and low prices for minerals have seriously affected mining. The largest decrease has been in gold placers. Cheaper transportation and less costly fuel are essential to future general improvement. However, promising auriferous lodes in the McKinley district-upper Kuskokwim valley; in the Susitna valley; in the Sitka district; the enactment of the