tory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of nonresidents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents; nor shall the legislature grant to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive privilege, immunity, or franchise without the affirmative approval of Congress; nor shall the legislature pass local or special laws in any of the cases enumerated in the act of July thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six; nor shall it grant private charters or special privileges; but it may, by general act, permit persons to associate themselves together as bodies corporate for manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and other industrial pursuits, and for the conduct of business of insurance, savings banks, banks of discount and deposit (but not of issue), loans, trust, and guaranty associations, for the establishment and conduct of cemeteries, and for the construction and operation of railroads, wagon roads, vessels, and irrigating ditches, and the colonization and improvement of lands in connection therewith, or for colleges, seminaries, churches, libraries, or any other benevolent, charitable, or scientific association, but the authority embraced in this section shall only permit the organization of corporations or associations whose chief business shall be in the Territory of Alaska; no divorce shall be granted by the legislature, nor shall any divorce be granted by the courts of the Territory, unless the applicant therefor shall have resided in the Territory for two years next preceding the application, which residence and all causes for divorce shall be determined by the court upon evidence adduced in open court; nor shall any lottery or the sale of lottery tickets be allowed; nor shall the legislature or any municipality interfere with or attempt in anywise to limit the acts of Congress to prevent and punish gambling, and all gambling implements shall be seized by the United States marshal or any of his deputies, or any constable or police officer, and destroyed; nor shall spirituous or intoxicating liquors be manufactured or sold, except under such regulations and restrictions as Congress shall provide; nor shall any public money be appropriated by the Territory or any municipal corporation therein for the support or benefit of any sectarian, denominational, or private school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the Government; nor shall the Government of the Territory of Alaska or any political or municipal corporation or subdivision of the Territory make any subscription to the capital stock of any incorporated company, or in any manner lend its credit for the use thereof; nor shall the Territory or any municipal corporation therein have power or authority to create or assume any bonded indebtedness whatever; nor to borrow money in the name of the Territory or of any municipal division thereof; nor to pledge the faith of the people of the same for any loan whatever, either directly or indirectly; nor to create nor to assume any indebtedness, except for the actual running expenses thereof; and no such indebtedness for actual running expenses shall be created or assumed in excess of the actual income of the Territory or municipality for that year, including as a part of such income appropriations then made by Congress, and taxes levied and payable and applicable to the payment of such indebtedness, and cash and other money credits on hand and applicable and not already pledged for prior indebtedness: Provided, That all authorized indebtedness shall be paid in the order of its creation; all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects and shall be levied and collected under general laws, and the assessments shall be according to

the actual value thereof. No tax shall be levied for Territorial purposes in excess of one per centum upon the assessed valuation of property therein in any one year; nor shall any incorporated town or municipality levy any tax, for any purpose, in excess of two per centum of the assessed valuation of property within the town in any one year: Provided, That the Congress reserves the exclusive power for five years from the date of the approval of this act to fix and impose any tax or taxes upon railways or railway property in Alaska, and no acts or laws passed by the Legislature of Alaska providing for a county form of government therein shall have any force or effect until it shall be submitted to and approved by the affirmative action of Congress ; and all laws passed, or attempted to be passed, by such legislature in said Territory inconsistent with the provisions of this section shall be null and void: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be held to abridge the right of the legislature to modify the qualifications of electors by extending the elective franchise to women."

All laws passed by the Territorial legislature must be transmitted to Congress, and if disapproved by Congress they are void and of no effect.

66

Section 3 of the act approved August 24, 1912 (Public, 334), provides That the Constitution of the United States, and all the laws thereof which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory as elsewhere in the United States; that all the laws of the United States heretofore passed establishing the executive and judicial departments in Alaska shall continue in full force and effect until amended or repealed by act of Congress; that except as herein provided all laws now in force in Alaska shall continue in full force and effect until altered, amended, or repealed by Congress or by the legislature: Provided, That the authority herein granted to the legislature to alter, amend, modify, and repeal laws in force in Alaska shall not extend to the customs, internal-revenue, postal, or other general laws of the United States or to the game, fish, and fur-seal laws and laws relating to fur-bearing animals of the United States applicable to Alaska, or to the laws of the United States providing for taxes on business and trade, or to the act entitled 'An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of roads, the establishment and maintenance of schools, and the care and support of insane persons in the District of Alaska, and for other purposes,' approved January twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and five, and the several acts amendatory thereof: Provided further, That this provision shall not operate to prevent the legislature from imposing other and additional taxes or licenses. And the legislature shall pass no law depriving the judges and officers of the district court of Alaska of any authority, jurisdiction, or function exercised by like judges or officers of district courts of the United States."

Judicial.

COURTS.

The judicial power of the Territory is vested in the United States District Court for Alaska and in probate, juvenile, and justices' courts. The district court is divided into four divisions, each presided over by a judge appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years. It has the same jurisdiction as district courts of the United States, and in addition either appellate or original jurisdiction in all criminal actions and civil causes when the amount in controversy does not exceed $50, arising under the acts of Congress locally applicable to the Terri

tory and the acts passed by the Territorial legislature. The probate, juvenile, and justices' courts are located in convenient precincts designated in each judicial division by the United States judges. They are presided over by United States commissioners, who are appointed by the United States judges, and who act as United States commissioners, judges of the probate and juvenile courts and ex officio justices of the peace. These courts have limited original jurisdiction in probate and minor civil and criminal matters arising under the Federal statutes applicable to the Territory and its Territorial laws.

BOUNDARIES OF JUDICIAL DIVISIONS.

The act approved March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 839), provides the following boundaries for the four judicial divisions:

Division No. 1.—All that part of Alaska lying east of the one hundred and forty-first meridian of west longitude.

Division No. 2.—All that territory lying west of a line commencing on the Arctic coast at the one hundred and forty-eighth meridian; thence extending south along the easterly watershed of the Colville River to a point on the Rocky Mountain divide between the headwaters of Colville River on the north and west and the waters of the Chandlar on the south; thence southwesterly along the divide between the waters of the Colville River, the Kotzebue Sound, and Norton Sound on the north and west and the waters of the Yukon on the south to the one hundred and sixty-first meridian of west longitude; thence along said meridian to the Kuskokwim River; thence southwesterly along the center of the channel of said Kuskokwin River to Bering Sea; the said division to include all the islands lying north of the fifty-ninth parallel of north latitude.

Division No. 3.-All that territory lying south and west of the line starting on the coast of the Gulf of Alaska at the one hundred and forty-first meridian of west longitude; thence northerly along said meridian to a point due east from Mount Kimball; thence west to summit of Mount Kimball; thence southwesterly along the southerly watershed of the headwaters of Tanana River; thence westerly along the divide between the waters of the Gulf of Alaska on the south and the waters of the Yukon on the north to the summit of Mount McKinley; thence continuing westerly along the divide between the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and Bristol Bay on the south and the waters of the Yukon and Kuskokwim on the north to the one hundred and fifty-ninth meridian of west longitude; thence northwesterly to the Kuskokwim River on the one hundred and sixty-first meridian of west longitude; thence southwesterly along the center of said river to Bering Sea; said division to include the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, and all islands along the coast of this district south and west of the said district and all lying south of the fifty-ninth parallel of north latitude.

Division No. 4.-All that part of Alaska lying east of the second division and north of the third division.

TERMS OF COURTS.

One general term of court is held each year in each division as follows: Division No. 1 at Juneau; division No. 2 at Nome; division No. 3 at Valdez; division No. 4 at Fairbanks.

Such additional terms are held at other places in each division as the Attorney General may direct. The address of the clerk for each division is as given above.

Delegate to Congress.

The Territory elects a Delegate to Congress, who may participate in debate, but who has no vote. Beginning in 1914 this Delegate is elected on the same date as members of the legislature.

COMMERCE.1

Alaska's commerce includes northward shipments of food products, merchandise, machinery, lumber, coal, etc., and return shipments of gold, silver, copper, salmon, halibut, etc. In addition the Territory produces some lumber, farm products, etc., which are consumed locally and as to the value of which no accurate figures are available, but is probably about half a million dollars.

The following statistics are taken from the annual report of the governor of Alaska for 1915.

Imports and exports of foreign gold and silver, and most of the foreign exports, are in transit. The other items cover the real trade of the Territory.

66

67,422, 307

70, 646, 724

1 A publication entitled "Commerce and Industries of Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines," Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Special Agent Series No. 67, may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., for 10 cents; this publication contains detailed statistics regarding shipments to and from Alaska during the fiscal years 1908 to 1912. Detailed statistics regarding shipments to and from Alaska during the fiscal years 1913 to 1915 are contained in the publication entitled Monthly Summary of the Foreign Commerce of the United States, June, 1915," which may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents for 15 cents. Monthly statements regarding the commerce of Alaska are published in the "Monthly Summary of the Foreign Commerce of the United States," which may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents for 15 cents each or $1.50 annual subscription for 12 issues. The annual report of the governor of Alaska also contains statistics regarding commerce.

2 As Alaska is a Territory of the United States there are no import duties on articles shipped from the continental United States to Alaska. Imports from foreign countries pay the same duties as in other parts of the United States. Federal excise taxes, internal-revenue taxes, and immigration laws are the same in Alaska as in other portions of the United States. There are no restrictions on immigration into Alaska from other parts of the United States.

Value of domestic merchandise and gold and silver shipped from Alaska to the

The following table of passenger movement indicates the travel, by regularly established routes, to and from the district and the Yukon territory. Tourists and cannery employees bound for remote places are not included.

The Eagle and Dawson movement shows the local frontier travel, which must not be considered with the general account, as the greater number of those passengers arrived or departed from Ketchikan or St. Michael and have been accounted for in their returns.