The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-27
JAPAN'S MONEY KINGS
MEMBERS OF MITSUI FAMILY
CONTROL WEALTH OF NATION.
How They Help Each other-En-
courage Progress of industries
by Adopting Latest Inven-
lions and by Creating New
Business Systems.

|
Europe has its Rothschilds. and Amer
| lea. with more wealth, has its Rockefel-
lers, Its Morgans, its Vanderbilts, ana
| its Goulds. Now comes Japan, the infant
among the latter day nations with
| claim for the recognition of its Croesuses
the Mitsuis. AS in the case OF the
| Rothschilds, there are many divisions OF
| the Mitsus, but like the great bankers
of Europe, they hold their money inter-
| ests in common, and the good of one al
ways spells the good of the others Al
present there are eleven families. They
| constitute a greun beneath and about
| which the other rich men and corpora
| lions of Japan are gathered as the rank
| and file of the money kings of the United
| States are gathered about Morgan and
| the Rockefellers. Throughout the East
| the expression as rich as Mitsui' is
proverbiaf.
The influence and credit of these fami-
| lies collectively form the firm of Mitsui
& Co. By virtue. however, or certain
rules agreed between each family they
are prevented individually from enjoying
the freedom of action which is their legal
right according to the laws of the coun-
try. AS individuals. for instance, they
cannot dispose at pleasure of their private
properties, and. further, their domestic
affairs and their relations between each
other are regulated by rules which they
have mutually pledged themselves under
solemn contract to observe. These are
controlled and arranged by board of the
the sovereign power Of the house, the
source of its administration.
Origin of Family.
The council however. does not necessa-
rily interfere in the actual business oper-
atoms of the firm, nor exercise any d.
rect influence upon it; it is nevertheless
here that the entire workings of the Nit
SuiS are controlled.
The Mitsui family sprang from an an
Client and ilustrious race Its line comes
clearly FThtTtnnnfh Can-
fury from a certain Nagaiye. who. being
made noble, established himself at his
domain in Mitsuimura Hence the sur
name. 1t was, however, in the middle Of
the Sixteenth Century that one of the
family became merchant, and 1t was
his son, born in 1858, and Takatoshi by
name. who first laid the foundation of
the present firm. Takatoshi invented and
introduced the system of cash retailing;
further, he organized a system for the
collection and remittance of money. and
| this. be it remembered, when economic
science was in but a very rudimentary
condition, when monetary transactions
were almost unknown in the country.
Later he established in order to con-
| duct foreign trade, a branch house at
Nagasaki at that time the only port at
which foreigners were allowed to trade.
Under Takatoshis able management the
| business rapidly developed and f1ourished.
| The name of Mitsui soon spread all over
the country. In 1887 the Mitsuis were spe-
~ioiAy dppOihtCu ny lH6 lOhuSdWd HbN-
| eminent as its purveyor and public ex-
| change controller, and were conferred, in
| recognition of its services an estate at
Yeddo. Takatoshi died in h706. Ten years
| later his son established what may be
called the constitution of the house of
| Mitsui. and from this dates the real con-
| soltdation of the house. And it is en-
tirely due to the fidelity to the rules by
each succeeding generation that the long
| and prosperous career of the firm has con-
| tlnued to the present day.
Their Illustrious Ancestors.
The members of the house have a ped
| igrec that can be traced back to the Elev-
enth Century; their ancestors played I'M
Japan and they have had among them
men whose military exploits provide a
striking theme to writer's In Japan. 1t is
evident therefore that there must be
| something in the nature of the organiza-
ton of the house by which it has been
| enabled to withstand and overcome it's
| trials and the obstacles to its progress.
AS mercantile firm, the Mitsui house
was founded almost at that period when
| the Tokugawa Shognate first grasped the
| supremacy of the state. and though the
| Government OF the latter was shattered
| by the MeiS restoration, which revolu-
| tionized all the principles on which soci-
ETY. rests, the house of Mitsui withstood
its shock and survived its crisis. 1t
| should be remembered that. according to
| the social institutions of Japan, the unit
| Va SOClCty 10 lilt ldHllly anu not lIe III
dividual, in Western society. The lat
| ter is wholly a subservient to the former:
| the interests of the former far outweigh
| the rights of the latter. Again, by laws
| and customs of inheritance, the estate of
| the father generally descends to the first
| born by primogeniture.
Properties Are in Common.
The younger sons must be adopted into
| another family. or, failing this, independ-
emily make their own fortunes. In the
| case of the Mitsui house however, from
the oldest to the youngest, there is no
| particular property to which each can
| enter his absolute claim. The properties
| Of the Mitsuis are all theirs in common.
The work of the Mitsuis at home are,
to a great extent, undertaken with the OBJ
| ject of public benefit rather than private
| gain. Standing as they do outside all
| possibility of rivalry. they are under
taken to set examples to others by pro-
| jecting new enterprises which might be
| beneficial to the country, by encouraging
| the progress of industries by adopting
in their works latest inventions and new
est discoveries, and by creating new sys-
| TENS and methods in business enterprises
| of a magnitude, with every public organ
| Zation in the industrial world of Japan,
| with every large concern of economic in
tcrest, the name of Mitsui is always iden-
| tilted.