Commercial Geography Part 23

=Alaska.=--The most productive industry of the insular part of the territory is the fisheries. For many years the Pribilof Islands produced practically all the seal-pelts used in the manufacture of seal-fur garments. So many seals were killed, however, that the species seemed likely to become extinct, and seal-catching has been forbidden for a term of years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PUGET SOUND]

The discovery of gold along the Klondike River and in the beach-sands of Cape Nome was followed by the development of surface mines that produced a large amount of gold. For the better transportation of products, a railway has been completed from _Skagway_ across White Pa.s.s to _White Horse_, the head of navigation of the Yukon. About twenty steamboats are engaged in the commerce of the river. _Skagway_ and _Dyea_ are collecting points for the commerce of the Klondike mines. _Juneau_ has probably the largest quartz-mill in the world.

=Porto Rico.=--Porto Rico, formerly a Spanish colony, is now a possession of the United States. The island is about the size of Connecticut and has a population somewhat greater. The industries are almost wholly agricultural, and nearly the whole surface is under cultivation. Sugar, coffee, and tobacco are grown for export, and these const.i.tute the chief source of income. The coffee-crop, about sixty million pounds yearly, is the most valuable product and commands a high price on account of its superior quality. It is sold very largely to European coffee-merchants, and is marketed as a "Mocha." Exports of fruit to the United States are increasing. In 1900 the exports to United States markets, mainly sugar and cattle products, were about six million dollars. The imports from the United States were chiefly of cotton-prints and rice, to the amount of nearly nine million dollars. The total export and import trade that year was about twenty million dollars.

The facilities for the transportation of products are not good. The railway lines have a total mileage of about one hundred and fifty miles.

An excellent wagon-road, built by the Spanish Government from San Juan to Ponce, has been supplemented by several hundred miles of roads built under the direction of the military authorities. _San Juan_ and _Ponce_ are the leading seaports and centres of trade.

=Hawaiian Islands.=--These islands were discovered by a Spanish sailor, Gaetano, in 1549, and again visited by Captain Cook in 1778. Up to 1893 they formed a native kingdom. In 1893 foreign influence was sufficient to overthrow the native government, and in 1898 they were formally annexed to the United States and about the same time organized as a territory. From an early date the geographic position of the islands has made them a convenient mid-ocean post-station, and they have therefore become a most important commercial centre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HYDRAULIC GOLD MINING--CALIFORNIA]

Of the various islands composing the group, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kaui, Molokai, Lanai, and Niihau are inhabited. About one-fifth of the population consists of native Hawaiians; a little more than one-fifth is white; the remainder is composed of j.a.panese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans.

The native population is decreasing. About ninety-five per cent. of the property is owned by the white people--Americans, English, and Germans.

The volcanic soils are the very best sugar-lands, and a large amount of capital is invested in this industry. The sugar-plantations employ more than forty thousand laborers, all j.a.panese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans.

The value of the sugar export is nearly twenty-five million dollars yearly; that of fruit, rice, and hides is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Coffee is rapidly becoming a leading product. The bulk of the imports comes from the United States, and consists of clothing, cotton textiles, lumber, and machinery.

_Honolulu_, on the island of Oahu, is the capital and commercial centre, and foreign steams.h.i.+ps and sailing-craft are scarcely ever absent from its harbor. Regular steams.h.i.+p service connects this port with San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., and the princ.i.p.al ports of China and j.a.pan. It is connected with the other islands by a system of wireless telegraphy. The city has the best of schools, business organizations, hotels, and streets.

_Pearl Harbor_ contains a large area of water, most of which is deep enough for the largest vessels afloat. It is intended to deepen the entrance and establish a United States naval station at this place. The village of _Hilo_ is the chief port of the island of Hawaii.

=The Philippine Islands= are an archipelago of about two thousand islands, the two largest of which, Luzon and Mindanao, are each nearly the size of New York State. Luzon is by far the most important.

After their cession to the United States (December 10, 1898), they were held under military control, but this has given place to local self-government as rapidly as the circ.u.mstances permitted. A general school system has been established and is extended wherever practicable.

In a considerable number of the islands civil organization is still impossible.

The following are the princ.i.p.al islands and their mineral resources:

----------------+----------------------+--------------------- NAME |CHIEF CITIES AND PORTS|MINERAL RESOURCES ----------------+----------------------+--------------------- Luzon |Manila, Lipa, Batangas|Coal, gold, copper Mindanao |Zamboanga |Coal, gold, copper Samar |Catbalogan |Coal, gold Negros |Bacolor |Coal Panay |Iloilo |Coal, gold, petroleum Leyte |Tacloban |Coal, petroleum Mindoro |Calapan |Coal, gold Cebu |Cebu |Coal, petroleum, gold ----------------+----------------------+----------------------

The native population is mainly of the Malay race, but there are also many Negritos. Of the native element the Tagals are the most advanced, and are the dominant people. The foreign population includes nearly one hundred thousand Chinese, who are the chief commercial factors of the islands, and the leading industries are controlled by them. There is a considerable population of Chinese and Tagal mixed blood, commonly known as "Chinese mestizos"; they inherit, in the main, the Chinese characteristics. The European and American population consists mainly of officials, troops, and merchant-agents for Philippine products.

The princ.i.p.al products for export are "Manila" hemp, sugar, and tobacco.

The hemp is used in the manufacture of cordage and paper. On account of the great strength of the fibre it has no equal among cordage fibres.

The imports from the United States consist mainly of machinery and cotton textiles. The total trade of the islands amounted in 1901 to about fifty million dollars, most of which was shared by Great Britain and the United States.

Coal is mined in the island of Cebu and is abundant in most of the islands. Iron ore, copper, and sulphur occur, but they have not been made commercially available to any extent. Gold is mined in the island of Luzon. A stable government only is needed to make these great resources productive. An abundance of timber is found in most of the islands. Cedar, ebony, and sapan-wood are available for ornamental purposes; there is also a great variety of economic woods.

_Manila_ is the commercial centre. Manila Bay is one of the finest harbors in the Pacific Ocean, but much work is necessary to give the water-front a navigable depth for large steams.h.i.+ps. With an improved harbor the city is bound to be a great emporium of Oriental trade.

Steams.h.i.+p lines connect the city with Hongkong, Australia, j.a.pan, Singapore, and Liverpool. There is also a military transport service to Seattle. A railway to Dagupan extends through the most important agricultural region. The wagon-roads throughout the island are very poor.

_Lipa_, _Batanzas_, _Bauan_, and _Cavite_ are cities of about forty thousand population, all more or less connected with the industries of Manila. _Iloilo_ is the second port of importance of the islands, and is the centre of a considerable export trade in tobacco, hemp, sugar, and sapan-wood. _Cebu_ is also a port having a considerable trade.

=Tutuila=, one of the Samoan Islands, was acquired by treaty for use as a coal-depot and naval station. _Pago Pago_ is a port of call for steams.h.i.+ps between San Francisco and Australia. =Guam=, one of the Ladrone Islands, is a naval station. These possessions are strategic and are designed to secure the interests of the United States in the Pacific. An ocean telegraphic cable connects the Pacific Ocean possessions with the United States and Asia.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Why are mountain-regions apt to be spa.r.s.ely peopled?

Why are arid regions spa.r.s.ely peopled, as a rule?

Why are not gold-mining settlements so apt to be permanent as agricultural settlements?

From the Abstract of Statistics find the production of gold and silver of this region for each ten years ending the last half of the century.

What causes the difference between the wool clip of southern California and that of the Eastern States?

Follow the route of a grain-carrying s.h.i.+p from San Francisco to Liverpool.

What are the advantages to the United States of the accession of the Hawaiian Islands?--of the Philippine Islands?--of Alaska? What are the disadvantages?

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

Mineral Resources of the United States.

Abstract of Statistics.

U.S. Coast Survey Chart of Alaska.

Map of Hawaiian Islands.

Map of Philippine Islands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NIAGARA POWER-HOUSE (EXTERIOR)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NIAGARA POWER-HOUSE (INTERIOR)]

CHAPTER XXI

CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND

A very large part of Canada is so far north that the ordinary food-stuffs cannot be grown there; the river-valleys of British Columbia and the basin of the Saskatchewan excepted, there are but few marks of human industry beyond the fiftieth parallel. The general conditions of topography resemble those of the United States--a central plain between the high Rocky Mountain ranges in the west and the lower Laurentian ranges in the east.

Canada is an agricultural country, and because of the great skill with which its resources have been made commercially available, it is the most important colony of Great Britain. The basin of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River is the most populous part of the country. This region is highly cultivated and produces dairy products, beef, and the ordinary farm-crops.

From Lake Winnipeg westward, nearly to the Rocky Mountains, the land is a succession of prairies admirably suited to wheat-growing.[56] The wheat is a hard, spring variety, and the average yield per acre is about one-fourth greater than the average yield in the United States.

The area of forestry includes the larger remaining part of the great pine belt, together with a very heavy reserve of merchantable oak-timber. The part of the forest area in Canada aggregates one and one-quarter million square miles, and yields an annual product of about eighty million dollars; about one-third of the lumber is exported.