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REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA.

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR,

Phoenix, Ariz., September 1, 1908.

SIR: In accordance with the letter of the Secretary of the Interior instructing the governor of the Territory of Arizona to report the condition of affairs and of the progress and development of that Territory for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, I have the honor to submit the following:

As the fiscal year ending June 30 is not quite coterminous with that period of twelve months which embraces in a logical order the events for that period, I have, as has been done in previous reports, included in this report some matters that have occurred subsequently to June 30, particularly some of those matters that serve to preserve the continuity and note the completion of certain governmental and fiscal transactions. These modifications are obvious in the course of the report and do not call for further explanation and do not affect the statements for the purpose of comparison.

INTRODUCTION.

In Arizona, as elsewhere, the financial disturbances have affected business and in some degree interrupted the progress of the development of our resources. Affecting us more than that, however, has been the sudden and radical fall in the price of copper. The manufacture of copper is the most important industry of the Territory, and the rapid and extraordinary fall in the price of that commodity has naturally affected our business interests. But so firmly established is that industry, based as it is upon almost inexhaustible bodies of workable ore, together with the highest degree of intelligent skill in the extraction and treatment of those ores, there has not been that marked diminution of activity in Arizona as is noted in other States and Territories in the same industry.

The operators of both mines and reduction plants, I am advised, are running with practically, if not wholly, their full complement of men. Wages have been somewhat reduced to meet the reduced price of copper, but there is a feeling that this condition of depression will be of short duration.

By the returns of the operators to the territorial auditor the production of copper for the year ended December 31, 1906, was valued at $49,141,243, and for the year ended December 31, 1907, the value of that product was $50,667,051. The number of pounds of production in 1906 was somewhat greater than in 1907, the number of pounds in 1906 being 255,012,155 and in 1907 252,784,698. These figures, it must be borne in mind, are taken from the sworn reports of the

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