The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-09

II report Examined from the Stand |
point of an American Resident in |
Japan.
A. M. Knapp in Boston Transcript.
While Rusisa's essential weakness, in
the utter discredit with which her
promises are regarded by the nations,
in the internal troubles which are as
sailing her, and in her financial de-
pendence upon those who distrust her,
is becoming patent to all, dispelling
the dread with which her mere size
has heretofore dominated the magma
ton Of the world, the growth in
strength and resource Of what we still
perversely call ''little" Japan is by no
means the least of the surprises which
that empire has Of late years been
She is to-day rich in everything which
Russia lacks. Her honor unstained,
no promise she has made has ever
been broken. No internal troubles
can vex government like that or the
emperor whose throne rests upon the
people; and as for wealth, no other
nation can compare with it in the
readiness with which that people
would lay every dollar of their savings
at his feet should war be declared
against their giant antagonist.
Nor; is Japan's wealth by any means
solely Of this sentimental sort. She
| is rich not merely in the honor and
patriotism of her people. Relatively
| she may be said to be one of the rich
| est countries in the world, SURPRISING
every other except perhaps France IN
| the rigid economies Of life and in the
proportion of the savings to the earn
ings of her people. 1t is only in the
aggregate of her wealth that she is
distanced by the nations of the west.
| ; It is, however, when we come TO
consider the marvellous development
of her resources since her emergence
into the world, that her growing, if
her giant antagonist becomes at once
manifest. An estimate Of this growth
is now made possible by the recent
publication of the Financial and
Economical Annual of Japan" issued
by the department of finance and
printed in English. To the eye 1t IS
| but a, columnar array of figures, yet
to the student of modern history it is
an array eloquent with it's surprising
record of progress. Beginning With
| the year 1868, the date of the restora-
| ton of the emperor to power, there
is no field Of industrial or CONNER
! cial enterprise which does not bear
witness to the rejuvenated energy and
ambition of the Oldest and youngest
| of the nations.
Leaving out of account the islets
having less than one ri (21k miles) Of
coast line, the empire of Japan COM
prises 487 island, with an area of
10000 square miles, Upon this area,
about equal to that Of our Atlantic
as North Carolina, despite the fact
| that only one-twelfth of the land is
! arabic, there is subsisted q popula-
ton of 45,000,000, increasing to-day
at the average rate Of nearly mil
! lion per annun1. ~
! III 1858 the total revenues of the
empire annotinted to only 33,089,313
yen (s1e. 544, $3.50, while those Of the
current fiscal year have reached the
sum; of 251,681,961 yen; the annual
expenditures during the same period
increasing from 30,5O5,0S6 yen, to
244,752,346 yen. Even more signally
illustrative of the growth of the ma
tons wealth is the relative expend1-
! ture in certain departments. The
civil list, for example, while calling for
only 100000 yen (s125,00O) in 1868
| now involves an expenditure of 3,OOO,-
900 yen. Japan's coming OUT has
cost a penny ALSO, the appropriation
mounting from II ,671 yen in 1868 to
two and a quarter millions for the cur
rent year. In the meantime, the cost
| of the maintenance of the army and
navy has grown from 1 100000 to up
wards of 60,000,000, the latter sum be-
ing the appropriation of the current
year for these departments. AS proof
however, that the nation has not given
her exclusive devotion to these expen-
sive modern playthings, the depart
ments of public instruction and Of
communications bear ample witness,
the cost of the former having leaped
from 57,709 yen in 1858 to 4,995,2S3
yen in 1903, while the latter, opened
in 1871, and then administered at an
expense Of 121,798 yen, now requires
900, 900.
In modern reckoning nation
which can afford to have a debt is
| reckoned rich. Japan now boasts of
this requisite, which during the era
since the restoration has grown from
4,880.000 yen in 1870 to the more
modern figures of 559,621,O11 yen in
the present year. Even this amount
as national debts go is extremely
modest, as by reference to the revenue
mentioned above, it may be seen that
it could be easily liquidated by the
government income Of two years only.
The chief sources of revenue, ac-
cording to the figures Of this latest
official report, are the land tax,
amounting to 46,906,212 yen for the
current nScal year, and the sake (na-
tive wine) tax, which foots up the
! large sum Of 66,535,40 yen.
) That economy is indeed the great
. national virtue is clearly evidenced by
! the tabular statement of the rates of
wages. These rates have been more
than doubled since 1887, while prices
or commodities have advanced in
about the same proportion, so that the
wage of any year may be taken as an
index Of whatever necessity for econ
omy may exist. The highest wages
now paid, 6S yen GA cents) per day
go to the stone mason. the roof
thatcher coming next, with 81 yen
and the. carpenter following with Sc
yen; the list being closed by the male
and female .weavers. who receive re.
spectively 20 and g yen per day.
In the foreign trade Of the country
according to the figures of the report
under consideration, the exports have
advanced from S 100000 in 1868 tc
$258,OO0, 900 In 1 902, while. the value
OF imports has grown from SIC, 900.
600 at the former date to a maximum
Of S27, 100000 in 1900. During the
thirty-f1ve years under review. four.
teen have been marked. by an excess
OF exports and twenty-one years by q
balance on, the other side. Exports to
the United States now lead the list al
the figure Of 80,232,SO5 yen, China fol.
lowing with 46,S38,545 ven. France