The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-02-13
JAPAN AND HER
SILVER WOES
The Island Kingdom Suffering From
the Continued Depreciation OF
Her Currency.
HARD TIMES ARE BEING FELT
Lessons to BE learned From Jupan BY the
Sllyentes 10 ksshinGtss Salaries Of
Employees Have Besn Doubled
10 Meet Expenses.

New York, Feb. i2-coi. John A. Cock
erill. special japanese correspondent OF
the Herald under date OF January lfth.
writes his paper as follows from Tokyo:
II have seen Of late floating around IN
tho newspapers OF tho western part OF
tho tinted States some able articles todeh-
ing tho bcatitudo OF Japan under her Sill
very system OF finance. These articles
are chiefly based upon mlsinformation
sent out from here last summer by cur
Hory newspaper eorrcspondeniH The
faulty material thus provided In being
distributed and employed 10 encourage
the Hilycritcu OF the South and West.
Having no prcjudleca on the financial
question. ! wish 10 state few facts.
Japan Is not happy In her nnanceA,
know that Count okuna and other nnaa-
ci'rs OF his school love 20 talk about the
wealth that Japan is accumulatinS
through buying for gold and selling for
silver. but the facts do not warrant their
claims. Japan, by force Of circumstances
belongs to the chop dollar Histerhood OF
Asia. Some Ave years ago. when she
maintained her silver yen at something
like par. she went along smoothly and
she enjoyed fair prosperity. Win the
gradual decline OF the yen her business
has been dcmoraliEd. and she IL now on
tcrlng upon. II II very generally agreed.
a season OF depression and hard times
1T has taken the people and the buHl-
ness world here quite time 20 rcadjust
themselves. but they are at Il now with a
vengeance. The penalty OF deprecated
currency Is now being paid For the last
four months there has been steady de-
mand upon the part of salaried men for
an increase of pay which would enable
them 20 live comfortably. As the pur-
chasing power Of money has grown less
the prices OF commodities and the neces-
saries OF life have steadily increased. The
government led on recently by doubling
the salaries OF all It's foreign employees.
This has been followed by number OF
big corporations. Among the corpora
tions doubling the salaries OF their agents
and employees may be mentioned the
MItsui Bussan Ralsha. the Nippon Te-
tcndo Kaisha. the Nippon Yusen Kaiaha,
the Mitsui Bushl 0oshi Kaisha. Japan
Brewing Company. First and Third Ma
tional Banks. and the Naigai Yotatsu
Kaisha. These are representative con-
Germs in the mercantile. manufacturing
and banking departments OF the country.
People who know Japan will see at
glance what they stand for They have
yielded TO the demands OF their people
after the usual struggle. and this Is the
beginning, Wages are everywhere being
pushed up. and In all branches where
skin is required. Men are lying down on
their contracts and begging for conces-
sions. bankruptcy stares thousands OF
honorable business men In the fact. This
depression II not due In any sense TO
the war with China. Everybody knows
that Japan made money during her war.
The government Is richer than Il ever
was The decline In silver has upset
everything. and great uncertainty attends
all business enterprise. The first thing
that business man does In the morning
is 10 look at the value OF the iiuctuaung
dollar, II may be worth hfty-three cents
or Il may be worth forty-nine. Exchange
hutters and shifts and considerable sums
are Lost TO commercial men every day
II they have foreign trade relations.
Japan could not 10 TO n gold basis no
matter how much she triei. That would
mean universal bankruptcy.
Her general finances are deplorahle
and the condition must grow worse until
business is settled down to the basis OF
Aity-ccnt dollar. Not a business con-
ccrn In Japan will escape the effect OF
this curtailment OF profit Incident TO a
nifty per cent increase In salaries and
wages. The man who encourages sill
yer basis for the people OF the United
States by pointing to Japan as glorious
example Is limply deeeiving himself and
his countrymcn, He should be liseour-
aged at once. II is unfortunate that
Just as the business elements of japan
are adjusting themselves TO the debased
currency. the government is preparing to
lay an additional tax upon saki and to-
bacco and impose a registry tax which
people"