The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-15

| strongly fortified. and is fanked by army di-
| visions on the west and east. and has rail-
! way communication.
! Although Japan has a population of a..
/ 0e9.V0p. that of first-class Power, she Is
not very much ahead In wealth and re-
sources Of the small Kingdom of the Meth
erlands or Scotland. So IL il. then. that her
naval and military expansion has taxed hsr
nightly. and IL has been only through the
consummate ability of her rulers that she
has been able TO pull through. The man.
, agement OF her treasury has been In the
hands Of very able men. The Department Of
Finance has been managed successfully by
three brilliant mcH-Okuma, Matsugata and
Watanabe. In 1887 the national debt was
397 .0o0,eo yen; In 1894. just before the out
duced to -S3 iN0,oo yen. and there was a sur
plus Of about sn, 10000 in the treasury.
which was used 10 good advantage at the
opening Of hostillties.
Japnn's Debt and Resources.
Later domestic loans OF s5SieoG0 were
raised. Not including thu English loan of
$1,000 COO Japan's national debt now stands
al about S207.05o.0oo. with annual charges of
war reserve of 5.eoo,o-o. and the London
loan Of flO.a;d.039 is available. There IS also
an unexpenGed amount apportioned ia army
and navy expansion that could also be used.
S23 60, eco
The national finances of Japan are thor
money In England security was offered. A.
security for her obligations Japan steadily
REUSED 10 plsCSt tnAHs Out HdtiO1dl
credit The Government has been very
punctilious in the discharge Of all its obl-
cations.
In 1895 the excise tax on sake was s.. SCI, GOO:
since then II provides 81. 000.oco. which de-
trays the ordinary annual expenses of the
army and navy, and It Is expected that the
proportion with that of these two branches
of military Service.
into ets vi" e Of 20
ulation. In 1872 the census OF the islands
returned a little more than Ssoo0,oA0 souls.
1t has since increased 100000. or 50 per
cent. Not more than IA per cent OF Japan
is under cultivation. and 1t is put to 1t to
feed +9o.oo0 new mouths yearly. Not more
than 20 0D japanese live out of the country,
even including the soldiers in Korea. Japan
has hitherto managed to raise her own
breadstuffs. and even exports S'ee.ooS worth
import foodstuffs to the value of S23.0o0 900.
To offset this she is endeavoring TO stimu-
late and develop her nascent manufactures.
Russia Is Her Enemy.
II Is these questions that confront her in
her struggle for existence. She has been
forced to become Power. and has respond
ed to the demand with a virility that Is
later, and on this fact hangs the fate of
Korea and perhaps of China. She must also
be strong In her defense against the mighty
of her mind In the Japanese primary
schools the teachers made point of ad-
monis hing their youthful charges TO grow
In Korea the influence OF Japan has in
creased rapidly. The japanese are every
where in evidence. She has possession Of
the railroad ard has begun work on another.
japanese soldiers will police the line. which
will be three hundred miles long and cost
sl1 500 600. Military telegraph operators viii
be employed on II. The telegraph is already
I'm the hands of the japanese. The currency
is Japanese. and they are building a mint.
The management of the mails Is In their
hands also. There are row about twenty
five thousand Japanese permanently living
In Korea.
When one sees the swarms Of children IN
Japan and the decreasing death rate, the
question of the future Of the island in point
of population looms into such magnitude
that II will take the best endeavors OF tine
best heads in the Empire to solve It.
Peaceful migration into the United States
and other countries will hardly be great
enough TO affect the growing congestion in
Japan. There is no question as to the ex-
ceptonal character of this class of immi-
grants. but the landing of great numbers of
them would doubtless be combated, as In
the case of other extensive Oriental immi-
grafton. The estimated Japanese population
in Hawaii Is 4O.c9o: in Korea, Is 600; in the
United States. 1000. and in the Philippines
China Mexico, South America and Aus
tralia, there are small colonies.