COMMERCE IN 1917 DESPITE UN
SETTLED C ONDITI O N S
AMOUNTED TO $438,000,000.
SLIGHT DECREASE FROM 1910
Articles Imported into United State:
From European .Muscovite Terri
tory Show Wide Fluctuations ii
Various Kinds and Quality.
WASHINGTON, D. C„ March 19.
In spite of the unsettled conditions
the total American trade with Russi:
amounted to $138,000,000 in 1917, i
decrease of only $39,000,000, as com
pared with 1916, according to an an
nouncement issued today by bureau oJ
foreign and domestic commerce, de
partment of commerce. This decreas<
was in the trade with Asiatic Russi;
and is attributed to congestion and im
port restrictions at Vladivostok.
Trade with Russia in Europe, on the
other hand, increased in spite of al
obstacles. Imports from Europeai
Russia were larger than for any othei
war year, amounting to $12,000,00(
over half of the normal imports o1
1913 ($22,323,000) and 177* per coni
more than the llgures for 1910 <$-!,
471 ,000). Exports to European Rus
sia showed a slight increase, from
$3 9,000,000 in 1910 to $313,000,000 ir
19’7. The 1917 total represents little
mi re than the first eleven months ol
th year; trade was practically sus
pended in December, the exports
amounting to only $810,000, as coin
pared with $23,000,000 in December
1916. The exports for the year 1917
were only $26,000,000 but most of tin
sudden and abnormal expansion ha;
been due to shipments of war sup
plies; explosives, firearms, and coppei
together accounted for $228,000,000 ii
1917.
Show Wide Fluctuations.
The articles imported from Eur
opean Russia in 1917 show wide fluc
tuations from the pre-war list. Calf
skins, which were imported to th<
value of $7,500,000 in 1913, were pul
on the embargo list after the wai
started and failed to appear in th(
1915 and 1916 returns. In 1917, how
eevr, American firms succeeded in oh
taking >i.u.j4tuuu worth by special h
cmise. Since other hides and skins
imports of which in 11)13 amounted tc
about $8,000,000, have ceased to figure
in the trade, the total decrease in this
cla-s of goods alone was about $14,
000,000. Another item that was lost
to the 1:>17 trade was carpet woo!, of
wf cii about $2,500,000 worth was sem
to tii e< untry*in 1913. On the othei
ha; several articles showed remark
able increases, which indicate, not
nece-sarily that larger quantities of
these Russian goods are coming ink
the United States but that purchases
are being made,direct from Russia in
stem 1 of thiough othei- countries. Flax
furs, bristles, and sugar-beet sce(
were formerly handled through Ger
mane and England. The direct im
port- into tiie United States from
Ru.-ia were comparatively small
amounting in 1013 to $866,000 for flax
$2'*2,000 for furs, $24,000 for bristles
and $40,000 for sugar-beet seed; the
1917 figures were $3,058,000 for flax
$2,370,000 for furs, $407,000 for bris
tles, and $2,442,000 for sugar-heel
seed. Potassium carbonate was an in
signilfcant item fapfore the war ($3,
7-1 in 1913) and did not appear in the
returns for 1915 and 1016, but in 1017
American imports of this article from
European Russia amounted tc
$800,000.
Practically No Manganese.
In the trade with Russia in Asia
manganese is the principal prewai
import that has dropped out of sight
during the war period. Sausage cas
ings. however, rose from $99 in 101$
to $906,000 in 1017, sugar-beet see<
from $7,423 to $242,000, furs from
$127,000 to $188,000 and carpets anc
rugs from $107,000 to $240,000; while
purchases of grass seeds, which were
not imported in 1913, were valued af
$138,000, in 1917. The decrease of
nearly $2,000,000 in the 1917 total foi
Asiatic Russia from the figures for the
preceding year represented greatly
diminished shipments of sugar-beet
seed, licorice root, and grass seeds,
j which were at their maximum in 1916
with the following values: Sugar-beet
seed, $1,058,000; licorice root, $1,475,
000; and grass seeds, $331,000.
11
l In the sales to European Russia,
other than war supplies, it is interest
ing to note that the value of exports
of mowers and reapers alone ($5,403,
000) surpassed in 1917 the 1913 ex
! ports of all agricultural implements
•'($5,312,000) and exports of binder
twine were almost twice the normal
1 figures ($945,000 in 1913 and $1,806,
000 in 1917) and almost nine times the
1 1916 figures ($212,000). Exports to
Asiasitc Russia of both these items
were less than in 1916. Locomotives
worth $11,281,000 and railway track
■ material valued at $5,865,00 were sent
[ to European and Asiatic Russia to
; gether in 1*417 as against $3,727,000
and $4,407,000, respectively, in the
preceding year.
Decline in Exports.
There was a marked decline, how
ever, in exports of freight cars, which
were valued in 1916 at $4,112,000 for
European Russia and $7,994,000 for
Asiatic Russia and in 1917 at only
$763,000 for Euroupean Russia and
$1,264,000 for Asiatic Russia. This
trade in railway equipment, has or
iginated since the war started.
Raw cotton shipments to European
Russia in 1917 were valued at $2,
168,000 as against $9,217,000 in 1916,
the latter surpassing the normal di
rect shipments of 1913 ($7,520,000).
The falling off was even greater in ex
ports to Asiatic Russia, which
. amounted to $12,819,991 in 1916 and
$1,939,000 in 1917. Even the record
figures in 1916 did not approach the
i actual normal shipments of American
cotton to Russia, most of which was
sent by way of Germany and was
credited to Germany in the statis
tics. Exports of sole leather to Eur
opean and Asiatic Russia together in
5917 ($7,930,000) almost doubled the
figures for the preceding year ($4,
074,000). Before the war this article
was sent to Russia only in insignifi
cant quantities.
In December, 1917, platinum to the
value of approximately $2,000,000 was
brought over from Russia, but as it
was till in bond when taken over by
the government it is not shown in the
statistics.
‘PRUSSIANS’ PURPOSE IN WAR.
Editor Times:—The church and
Sunday school, in these modern times,
which do not stand strong for God and
home and native land, are not living
up to their privilege. For this reason
the First Presbyterian* church and
Sunday school of Anchorage are
breaking away from some of the old
ideas, and using the means at hand to
foster ideals and principles which will
make for stronger Christians, better;
homes and more loyalty to native i
I
land.
fhe talk last Sunday morning at the
Sun nay school by J. H. Dunn on “The j
Prussians’ Purpose in the Present!
War,” was most timely and good and!
was enthusiastically received.
1 he strong point in the talk was |
the fact that human beings are mere
material ;n the hands of the Prussian
rulers whereby to make for a strong
er Prussia, and that otherwise they
are of no value. Also that America
is in this world struggle, sacrificing
her sons and daughters that after the
victory and peace has been establish
ed—the humanity of the east may
take its rightful place in the affairs of
government, and may enjoy some of
the blessings their God intended them
to enjoy.
When the speaker mentioned the
great part our country is to play in
the breaking of shackles that bind to
servitude the peoples of the Piussian
dynasty, he was cheered to the echo.
At the conclusion of Mr. Dunn’s ad
dress the school joined heartily in
singing “America.”
C. W. PALMER,
Sunday School Superintendent.
HOLLAND ACCEPTS TERMS.
AMSTERDAM, March 16. — The
Dutch government has accepted the
^ allies’ demands relating to the use of
! Dutch ships in the danger zone.
SHIPMENT OF BULLION WEIGH
ED 2,500 POUNDS AND WAS
VALUED AT $500,000.
IL I). MENZIE WAS IN CHARGE.
Unusually Heavy Snow Was Encoun
tered on Trail and Two Months
Elapsed Before Treasure Reached
Its Destination in Seattle.
SEATTLE, March 19.—Details of
the shipment of $500,000 in gold bul
lion, weighing 2,500 pounds, through
snow barriers from Iditarod, Alaska,
to Seattle, a distance of 1,045 miles,
have been announced by the Alasu .
Commercial company offices at Seat
tle.
The shipment was started from the
Riley placer holdings in the Iditarod
district. Dog teams took it to Tan
ana, and regular horse-drawn stages
to Fairbanks and Chitina. It was
then loaded on the Copper River &
Northwestern railroad for Cordova,
on the seacoast, 131 miles distant.
At Parson’s and Yost’s, stations be
tween Iditarod and Tanana, there was
one snowfall of thirty-six inches in
twenty-four hours. Because of this
it took the dogs twenty-four hours to
make twelve miles one day and fifteen
hours to make sixteen miles the next.
During the battle with this storm R.
I). Menzie, who had charge of the
shipment, dislocated his shoulder
while aiding in shifting the load. He
was forced to ride for three and a
half hours before he could obtain re
nei.
While the gold was being taken to
the horse-drawn stages the bullion
had to be cached in the snow and left
alone several times while the drivers
went to distant road houses for fresh
horses. The shipment reached Seat
tle two months after its start from
the Iditarod district.
The stage between Chitina and
Fairbanks, a distance of 310 miles, is
drawn by four horses. A single
horse stage line operates between
Fairbanks and Tanana, a distance of
161 miles.
DAMAGED HUT NOT DAMAGES.
A young Pennsylvania lawyer, prac
ticing in the south, was called on by
an old negro, who seemed to be in a
very bruised condition.
The negro, addressing the lawyer,
said: “Good morning, lawyer; I’se
come to see you to bring a suit fo’
me.”
The lawyer, seeing the negro’s con
dition and foreseeing a good damage
suit, asked for a statement of facts.
“Well,” continued the negro, “Ah
wus walkin’ on down through the field
and de brown mule was eatin’ ’long
side de paff, and jus’ as Ah passed
he hauled off wid dat lef’ foot and
lambasted me all over and nigh broke
me to pieces.”
“Good,” interrupted the lawyer;
“now has the owner of that mule got
any money?”
“Any money I” exclaimed the negro;
“why, boss, Ah owns de mule!”—
West’s Docket.
WISH TO CONTROL CEMETERY.
foreigners in Rome Urge Italian Gov
ernment to Take Over Burial
Ground Owned by Germany.
War has drawn attention to the
fact that the great Protestant ceme
tery in Home, where are buried many
distinguished foreigners including the
poets, Keats and Shelley, is the prop
erty of the German government, and
the rentals for plots therein are still
paid to German agents.
More than a century ago Prussia
was the only non-Roman Catholic
power represented at the Vatican.
Therefore, it was Prussia which ob
tained the concession for a cemetery
to be used for the bodies of those
not of the Roman faith, and the prop
erty still remains in the hands of the
German government.
Prominent foreigners now are urg
ing that the Italian government
should take over the cemetery and
place it under British protection.
MAJOR \V. A. SHIELDS, OF SUP
PLY DEPOT AT CHICAGO,
EXPLAINS SYSTEM.
VERY LITTLE WHISKY NEEDED.
Alcohol Is in Great Demand for Paths
and in Rubbing and Electricity Iu
Used to Great Advantage in Treat
ing Patients.
CHICAGO, March 19.—Nothing is
too good for United States soldiers
sent to army hospitals for treatment,
according to Major W. A. Shields, in
charge of the army’s central depart
ment medical supply depot here, who
has just given to the Associated Press
a detailed account of the methods em
ployed in safeguarding the health of
the men in khaki.
Major Shields said that medical of
ficers at the various army hospitals
have only to ask for what they want
for the treatment of the men and it
goes to them.
“An officer at Fort Sheridan re
cently asked for a special type of op
erating table,” said Major Shields. “It
was not a standard table and is used
only rarely. Although it had to be
made to order and cost considerably
more than the ordinary table, it was
lushed at once to the hospital.”
Many army surgeons, he stated, ask
for certain uncommon instruments,
sometimes for use in one particular
case only, yet the medical supply of
ficers spare no efforts to obtain them.
lnoroughness in ireatment.
Carrying out the departmental pol
icy of thoroughness in *the treatment
of the men, only the most sanitary,
most modern and most efficient equip
ment is sent out. This rule applies to
everything, from the furniture used
in the institutions to the dishes from
which the patients eat. Major Shields
said that all hospitals are supplied
with high grade silver-plated knives,
forks and spoons, fine quality linens,
the best food, sleeping quarters as
pleasant as money can provide, and
that everything else is on the same
high plane.
Although the depot has to furnish
no supplies for wounded men as yet,
the hospitals of the central depart
ment have received more than 9,000,
000 feet of cloth bandages—enough
to extend from New York to the Tex
as coast. When the American forces
are actually engaged in trench war
fare in any considerable numbers, and
wounded men begin to pour into Am
erican hospitals, Major Shields said,
it is probable that the medical supply
depot will be overtaxed to supply
needed bandages. Because of this
fact officials are investigating paper
bandages which are said to be equal
ly as serviceable as the kind now in
general use. Paper bandages have
been in use in Germany for some time
almost exclusively, owing to the ina
bility of that country to got material
for cloth bandages.
No Shortage Is Expected.
Major Shields expressed confidence
that the department will not be em
barrassed because of the scarcity of
any needed drug or medicine used at
army hospitals. German drugs have
been duplicated by American medical
investigators with the result that the
department is adequately equipped to
care for its men, either wounded or
ill.
Practically no whisky is used in ar
my hospitals, Major Shields said. Its
use, he declared, is being discouraged,
because the reaction it causes makes
its use as a stimulant undesirable, ac
cording to the medical officer. He said
however, that a small quantity of
whisky is carried at the depot and
will be supplied should any medical
officer call for it. In this connection
Major Shields spoke of the Vera Cruz
expedition in 1914 when he acted as
medical supply officer for General
Funston.
“During tne month that we were
there,” he said, “I issued just one
quart of whisky.”
On the other hand alcohol is one of
the most widely used medical supplies
.ept at the depot. It is shipped to
:?ntonment camps in fifty-gallon
drums and is used in great quantities
for baths and in rubbing.
Electricity Does Good Work.
Electricity is being made to do its
share in the care of the soldiers. Many
modern hospital appliances are oper
ated by electricity in addition to the
part it is playing in the treatment of
tuberculosis. X-ray photographs of
lungs of soldiers suspected of being
tubercular are taken at the rate of
fifty a day at each of the cantonment
hospitals. By the use of these “lung
pictures” the treatment of tuberculo
sis has been greatly simplified. Fif
ty thousand X-ray plates have been
used at the central department camps
in the past two months, Major Shields
said.
To menu fractured limbs, splints in
various sizes, made of steel, tin or
wood, are carried at the depot, for
shipments to hospitals as needed. At
each hospital there is a carpenter who
adapts the splint to the individual
need of the patient.
The medical supply depot at Chi
cago supplies hospitals at Camps
Grant, Custer, Sherman, Dodge and
Taylor, in addition to ail aviation
fields and smaller camps in the cen
tral department of the army. In ad
dition to these the depot supplies fur
niture to all army hospitals in the
country.
Among the hundreds of articles
sent out from here Major Shields list
ed scalpels, thermometers, hot water
and ice hags, invalid chairs, cots,
chairs, tables, silverware, operating
apparatus, plumbing supplies, band
ages, operating gowns, attendants’
and nurses’ clothing, pajamas, towels,
linens, settees, plaster for casts, every
known drug used by physicians, an
aesthetics, toxins and serums, with
the contrivances necessary for their
application.
ATTACHE FOR ARGENTINA.
__
Virginian Appointed to Commercial
Post at Buenos Aires.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 19.—
\ Robert S. Barrett, of Alexandria, Va..
has been appointed commercial at
tache to the American embassy at
Buenos Aires, according to an an
nouncement made today by the bureau
of foreign and domestic commerce,
department of commerce. He will al
j so act as the war trade board’s repre
; sentative in Argentina.
As special agent of the bureau of
foreign and domestic commerce, Mr.
Barrett has just completed an inves
tigation of the Latin-American mar
kets for paper, paper products, and
printing machinery, his reports show
ing that up to the time the war broke
out our European competitors, espe
cially Germany, had the advantage in
i that field. He is of the opinion that
the American manufacturer will do
much better in the future. Previous
| to this investigation 31 r. Barrett had
j had twelve years’ experience in the
! newspaper, printing, and stationery
business in Latin America. He is
well known in Virginia newspaper cir
cles.
The commercial attaches are “busi
; ness diplomats,” stationed permanent
ly at the principal foreign capitals.
Their work is particularly important
, at this time when careful attention
j must be given to present abnormal
| conditions and plans laid for main
| taining our position after the war.
F O O D ADMINISTRATOR COR
RECTS FALSE IMPRESSION
REGARDING SUBSTITUTES.
By C. W. JONES,
Publicity Agent for Food Campaign.
“Rye flour is not to be used as a
substitute for wheat flour. Neither
can graham flour or whole wheat flour
be so used under the regulations at
present in force in Alaska and
throughout the United States.”
This is the statement made today
by Andrew Christensen, food admin
istrator of Anchorage district, who
stated that he had received many in
quiries lately as to the use of rye,
graham or whole wheat as substitutes
fer wheat flour.
FEDERAL FOOD ADMINISTRAT
OR SENDS WORD HERE RELA
TIVE TO REQUIREMENTS.
BLANK FORMS AT JUNEAU.
Applications Must Be Sent to Offices
at Territorial Capital and the l ines
Are Imposed for Failure—No Fees
or Charges.
By C. W. JONES,
Publicity Agent, Food Campaign.
The federal food administrator for
Alaska, Royal A. Gunnison, with
| headquarters at Juneau, has sent
| word here that a supply of blank
I forms to be filled out by all fisher
! men and sent direct to the licensing
! division of the United States food
'administration, Washington, D. C.,
! are on the way to his office in Juneau,
i and will be given to all applying
therefor and otherwise distributed.
All fishermen, whether operating
j independently or on shares, engaged
; at any period of the year in commer
i cial distribution, including catching
land selling of any and all varieties of
j salt water fish and shell fish, must
; make application for a license,
j This new regulation includes any
j person, firm, corporation or associa
tion engaged in the catching cr dis
: tribution of any forms of sea food,
j Applications must be sent to Juneau
for licenses at once. Heavy fines are
imposed for failure to make applica
tion. There is no fee or charge for
the license.
_
CAPITAL OBTAINED
FOR WILLOW CREEK
j MRS. MARTHA WHITE INTER
ESTS PERSONS IN STATES
IN MINING PROPERTY.
A mining engineer representing
Seattle business men interested in
Alaska gold mines will leave Seattle
for Anchorage and the Willow creek
country on the first boat this spring in
order to make a thorough examina
tion of the Esther group of mining
claims in the Willow creek mining dis
trict, according to a statement made
today by Mrs. Martha White who re
turned to Anchorage last week from a
two months’ visit to Seattle.
While in Seattle Mrs. White inter
ested a number of Seattle business
men in Willow creek mining claims
| and in the event of a favorable report
by the mining engineer extensive de
velopment work will be done during
the coming season.
The Esther group of claims adjoin
the Talkeetna group and has attracted
considerable attention during the past
year.
Mrs. White will remain in Anchor
age until after the report of the en
gineer and then plans on a trip to the
Willow creek property.
TOKIO NEWSPAPERS SAY MOVE
MENT INTO SIBERIA DE
PENDS ON UNITED STATES.
TOKIO, Japan, March 18.—The en
tire responsible press of Tokio advo
cates the intervention of Japan in Si
beria. This attitude of the press is
contrary to its attiude of a week ago
when the extreme non-interventionists
pictured German aeroplanes over
Tokio and German submarines in To
kio’s harbor.
Their attitude now is to move troops
into Siberia not against Russia but to
save the country from the Teutons.
Influential Japanese are anxious to
learn America’s view point. They real
ize that if the United States declines
to support intervention the situation
would be extremely critical, as finan
cial and material assistance must
come from America.
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