ALASKA

Economic Conditions. Notwithstanding its remoteness, Alaska is making substantial progress in the development of its resources, and while, after approximately 50 years of American government, the white population numbers only about 50,000 and the native population is not increasing, there is a constant increase in the output of the mines and fisheries with a steady development of the several other industries. The outstanding development of the year 1916 was a great increase in copper production, which exceeds the gold output by several millions of dollars.

Legislation. The only legislation with exclusive application to Alaska passed by Congress during the year was an act approved June 22, 1916, authorizing the Secretary of Commerce to sell under certain conditions skins taken from fur seals on the Pribolof Islands; an act approved July 8, 1916, amending the United States homestead law in its application to Alaska; and an act approved Sept. 7, 1916, authorizing the town of Juneau, Alaska, to issue bonds for school and other purposes.

The local legislature, which meets in regular session each two years, will meet on the first Monday in March, 1917. The powers of this legislature are so limited and so many of the purely local matters are under the exclusive control of Congress that little can be expected from its labors, and the governor in his report for 1916 urges the grant of greater powers of local government to the people of Alaska and to their legislature.

Education.-The native schools are still under the U. S. Bureau of Education, which maintains 70 schools having an enrollment of approximately 4,000. Great stress is laid on elementary subjects, manual training and domestic science, and the employees of the Bureau of Education devote a considerable part of their time to the education of the adult native population in sanitation and hygiene.

The number of white schools outside of incorporated towns was increased during the year from 31 to 37, and the number of teachers employed in these schools from 40 to 50. The number of pupils increased from 961 to 1,407. The white schools in the incorporated towns show an increase over, the preceding year from 65 to 68 teachers and the total enrollment of pupils was increased from 1,542 to 1,693.

The governor complains in his annual report of the continuance of the control by Congress of the Alaskan schools and urges that this control be transferred to the local government, without which, he reports, satisfactory progress in education cannot be made.

Health. The Bureau of Education, charged with looking after the health of the natives in Alaska, had available for this purpose during the year $44,000. Small hospitals in charge of physicians were maintained at several points and such work as was possible was also done through the schools. The Bureau of Education has also secured the aid and coöperation of the U. S. Public Health Service. The health of the white population has continued excellent.

Railroads and Roads.-The construction of the government railroad from the coast to the interior is being pushed by the commission in charge thereof and is progressing on the coast and in the interior. Fifty miles of track have been completed from Anchorage and 13 miles graded and made ready for the track, and an additional 49 miles is under construction and will be completed early in 1917. A short line of railroad is also being constructed from a point on Controller Bay to the Bering gold fields by a private corporation. This road will be about 15 miles in length. The total railroad mileage in the territory, government and private, now being operated is 516 miles.

The Alaska Road Commission during the last fiscal year expended approximately $300,000 on highways. The total mileage constructed by this Commission was, on June 30, 1916, 922 miles of wagon roads, 627 miles of sled roads, and 2,210 miles of trails. This is an increase in the total mile

age of about 64 miles for the year, while some of the trails have been improved into sled and wagon roads. Though these are not fine roads such as some of the newer roads in the United States, they meet satisfactorily conditions in Alaska and no development in that territory is more appreciated than the work of the Road Commission.

Industries. The only striking industrial change of the year was the great development in copper mining, the result of which is shown in the increased exportation of that metal. The fisheries have continued, as in the past, to employ about 22,000 persons, with a total production varying little from the past few years. The reindeer herds continue to be the principal wealth of the natives.

Commerce. This year has been a record year in the trade of Alaska. The following table gives the shipments from Alaska to the United States for the last three fiscal years, ending June 30:

GUAM

Administration. Several changes have taken place during the year in the governorship of the island of Guam. On April 29 Capt. W. J. Maxwell was relieved from duty on account of illness and was succeeded by the senior naval officer present, Lieut.-Comdr. W. P. Cronan, who assumed charge until May 9. Capt. Edward Simpson acted as governor from May 9 to 30, when he was relieved by the present governor, Capt. Roy C. Smith.

Agricultural and Economic Conditions. No improvement in the agricultural conditions was apparent during the year. As a means of rectifying these conditions and relieving the food shortage, the governor recommends the breeding of cattle and the raising of staple crops by the Government until such time as these industries can be taken over by the natives. Experiments during the year estab

2,550,663

lished the fact that white potatoes could not be grown profitably, but that cotton could be produced to advantage.

On Jan. 3, 1916, there was opened the Bank of Guam, with a capital of $15,000, the first banking institution of any kind ever established in the island.

During the year $4,817.04 was spent on new public works; 5,036 yds. of new roads and streets were constructed, but the present road system of the island is quite inadequate for the needs of the people and the governor recommends its immediate extension.

The native population is 13,285, an increase of 317 over the preceding year.

Education.-In November a new school building was opened at Yona, a district hitherto without school facilities. Additional buildings are urgently needed, especially one at Agana, where there are 985 school

children. Expenditures for education, exclusive of new buildings, were $7,363.95.

Instruction in agriculture and domestic science has continued. The average daily attendance is 1,674, and the number of teachers employed is 33. The number of illiterates is decreasing and the knowledge of English is increasing, but it is estimated that only about 20 per cent. of the native population over 10 years of age can read or write, and only about 10 per cent. speak and understand English.

Sanitation.-The number of medical officers is still insufficient to perform properly the duties necessary for the medical treatment of the people and the sanitation of the island, and the governor recommends a large increase in the appropriations for these purposes. Treatment of gangosa and yaws has been continued; 468 school children were given hospital treatment for hookworm and intestinal parasites. One case of leprosy was discovered during the year and two more cases are being investigated. The death rate increased from 19 per thousand in 1915 to 21.3 per thousand, largely due to an epidemic of whooping cough which caused the death of about 60 children.

Commerce and Industries.-The total imports for 1916 amounted to $329,503.23, an increase of $35,938.88 over the preceding year. The greatest increase was in those from the United States, while there was a noticeable decrease in those from Manila and Japan. The exports amounted to $66,568.20, mainly copra, which shipped in almost equal quantities to Japan and the United States. These figures show that the balance of trade is still largely against Guam.

HAWAII

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Economic Conditions.-The territory of Hawaii has been unusually prosperous throughout the year. While there was a decrease in the sugar exported from 640,459 tons in 1915 to 568,584 tons in 1916, due to the higher prices there was an increase in the value of this export of approximately $1,500,000. The principal crops continue to be sugar, pineapples

and coffee. The assessable property of the territory on Jan. 1, 1916, was $206,970,229, as against $176,601,222 on Jan. 1, 1915. During this same period bank deposits increased $6,264,638.83.

Legislation.-There was no session of the local legislature during the year. Congress passed several acts ratifying acts of the legislature of Hawaii with reference to franchises and acts modifying in minor respects franchises granted in the territory. It also passed an act establishing a national park in the territory.

Population. The population continues approximately as previously reported. The question of bringing in European laborers is held in abeyance because of the European War. The principal increase in population, other than that due to the excess of births over deaths, is among the Japanese and Filipinos.

Education and Sanitation.-Steady progress is being made in education and sanitation. It is to be noted that the report of the treatment of leprosy in the islands is by no means so hopeful as recent reports from the Philippine Islands and will doubtless cause the more hopeful reports to be received with caution. Dr. Currie, in reporting to Governor Pinkham on the work of the U. S. Laboratory investigation in Hawaii, says with reference to this matter:

We have tried a number of new reme

dies and laboratory products on the patients during the year. It is difficult, at this time, to state what success, if any, we have met with in this line of work, as leprosy is a very deceiving disease, patients often improving remarkably for a long period even without treatment of any kind. It is therefore difficult to judge whether the marked improvement to the remedies administered or merely of a few of our patients has been due the improvement which often occurs during the course of the disease for a temporary period, especially when patients are given good food, nursing, and general attention such as they receive here. It would appear, however, that some of the patients that are receiving chaulmoogra oil hypodermically have improved on an average more than other groups of patients treated differently, this agent the rapid improvement and but certainly we have not secured with even cure which has been claimed for it in certain other parts of the world, although the substance administered and the mode of giving it are the same as employed elsewhere.

products shipped from the islands during the last three fiscal years:

1914

1915

Sugar. Coffee.

Fruits and nuts (mostly pineapples)

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Political Conditions.-As reported in the YEAR BOOK for 1915 (p. 250), peace and order seem so well established in the Philippines as to make unnecessary the continuance of that heading in this article. The territory included in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, so turbulent in the earlier years of American occupation, as in the entire period of Spanish sovereignty, is making rapid strides toward civilization under the sympathetic guidance of Governor Carpenter, who, in coöperation with every religious and charitable agency locally interested in such work, is turning the minds of the people from the squalid past to a hopeful future and to sanitation, education, agriculture, roads, etc.

Historically interesting and politically important was the renunciation by the Sultan of Sulu in an agreement with Governor Carpenter of his claims to sovereignty over the Sulu Archipelago. Governor Carpenter acted under authorization of GovernorGeneral Harrison and a formal agreement was drawn up and signed, being in effect a definitive statement of the understanding of the declarations of Governor-General Luke E. Wright and the Sultan at a hearing in Manila, July 19 to 26, 1904, following the abrogation of the so-called Bates treaty. The following extract gives the summary of the agreement:

The Sultan of Sulu, on his own account and in behalf of his adherents and people in the Sulu Archipelago and else where within American territory, without any reservation or limitation whatsoever, ratifies and confirms his recognition of the sovereignty of the United States of America, and the exercise of His Excellency the Governor-General and the representatives of that Government in Mindanao and Sulu of all the attributes of sovereign government that are exercised elsewhere in American territory, and dependencies, including the adjudication by government courts or its

1916

This agreement, which, as conclusively as a document can, disposes of the claims of the Sultan of Sulu to a sovereignty which had been exercised almost continually for over 400 years, has an importance which is by no means measured by the impotency of the Sultan in recent years to maintain his claim.

The policy of bringing about closer relations between the wild people of central Luzon and their Christian neighbors has been continued and was emphasized during the year by the appointment of Joaquin D. Luna, a Christian Filipino, to be governor of the Mountain Province, the home of the wild people.

The important event of the year in the Philippines was the passage of the Jones bill providing a new organic Act for the Islands, which was ap proved by the President on Aug. 29. This Act, generally speaking, changed the provisions of law of the Philippine Islands in the following respects: (1) it materially increased the pow ers of the Philippine Government; (2) it gave to the Filipino electorate the power to elect the upper house of the legislature as well as the lower house which alone has been elected heretofore; (3) it materially strengthened the hands of the executive power.

The

No change was made in the judiciary of the Philippine Islands. justices of the Supreme Court continue, as heretofore, to be appointed by the President, while the lower judicial officers, as heretofore, are appointed by the governor-general.

As to form, the legislative power in