Geographic Notes 



429 



rett continues: "As a matter of fact, 

 there has not been during the months 

 of July and August a single uncomfort- 

 able night for sleeping, while the aver- 

 age days have not been hotter than 

 those of New York and Washington. 

 There has been hardly a single instance 

 of serious illness among the consider- 

 able number of young men employed 

 here in work connected with the canal, 

 while the percentage of sickness among 

 the larger group of laborers employed 

 at Culebra is not greater than among 

 those engaged in similar excavating 

 work in the United States. Among the 

 400 marines located half way across the 

 isthmus, at Empire, there has not been 

 a single death from local diseases, while 

 the percentage of those in the hospital 

 is not larger than would be found at the 

 average post in the United States. 

 There has not been a single case of yel- 

 low fever for over a month, and there 

 is less malaria than is often found in 

 sections of the United States. The 

 worst portions of the cities of Panama 

 and Colon are much cleaner and more 

 wholesome than the slums of our North 

 American cities, and are far ahead of 

 the average Asiatic city of the tropics. ' ' 



The Commercial Importance of the State 

 of New York was aptly summarized in 

 a recent address made by George R. 

 Malby as follows : The value of the 

 annual manufactured products of the 

 Russian Empire, or of Spain, or of Bel- 

 gium, or of man}' other European coun- 

 tries is much less than that of New York, 

 while our foreign trade exceeds that of 

 every other country in the world, except 

 Great Britain, France, Germany, and the 

 Netherlands. It is 50 per cent larger 

 than Russia's, three times as great as 

 Canada's, four times as great as Spain's, 

 and more than four times as great as 

 the mighty Empire of Japan. 



The bank clearings of the city of New 

 York alone have distanced every conti- 

 nental center, and passed even London 

 itself. Our savings bank resources 



amount to $1,238,000,000, which is a 

 sum larger than that deposited by the 

 citizens of any country in the world ex- 

 cept Germany alone, while the aggre- 

 gate wealth of only a few of the larger 

 European countries, with many times 

 the population, outranks the Empire 

 State, which has nearly doubled during 

 the past ten years. 



Conditions in Manchuria* — Under date 

 of August 15 the American consul, Mr 

 Miller, at Niuchwang, has transmitted 

 to the State Department an interesting 

 report of conditions in Manchuria. 



The crops in the Liao Valley bade fair 

 to be first-class, and a bountiful crop 

 would be harvested there and in all of 

 southern Manchuria and in northern 

 China. This made for peace as far as 

 the Chinese were concerned. An im- 

 portant fact is the poor condition of the 

 crops in the Sungari Valley, where the 

 wheat is grown with which the flour 

 mills of Harbin are supplied. These 

 mills were idle, having used up all of 

 last year's crop, and this year's crop 

 was so poor that they can not possibly 

 secure grain enough to operate more 

 than half time. Hence the Russian 

 army must depend for its supplies upon 

 a single line of single-track railway, 

 while heretofore it has been able to 

 gather vast amounts of provisions in 

 forage in the country. 



The number of immigrants entering the 

 United States in the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1904, was 812,870. This is a 

 larger record than that of any year ex- 

 cept 1903, when the total was nearly 

 55,000 greater. Of Austro -Hungarians 

 there was a decrease of 28,855, °f Ital- 

 ians 37,326, of Swedes 18,265, an d of 

 Japanese 5,704, while there was an in- 

 crease of Germans 6,294, of Russians 

 and Finns 9,048, of English 12,407, 

 and of Scotch 4,949. Italy sent over 

 193,296, Austria- Hungary 177,156, 

 Russian Empire and Finland 145,141, 

 Germany 46,380, and England and Ire- 

 land 74,768. 



