The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-17
GRISCOM REPORTS ON JAPANESE TRADE Exports Have Increased in Spite
 of the War LEADING ARTICLE IS SILK Trade With the United States Has Shown Handsome Increase
 Both in Exports and
 Imports.
LEADING ARTICLE IS SILK

Washington, January 16.-The State Department has received report from MT. Griscom. the American minister to Japan, located at Tokio, dealing with the economical conditions in Japan. and her trade with the United States.
 MT. Grescom in his statistical tables compared the first nine months of the present conflict with the same time last year.
 The present year shows an increase in exports of s6,424159, and an increase in imports of $10sOs 597. During the same period the increase of exports in specie and bullion amounted to s41, 4O3 394. and the increase in imports to $1,S42,S70
 During the period in review exports to the United States were valued at $33,S9S . 622 and imports therefrom at $19, 719 4S6, showing as compared with the same period in 1903, an increase In exports of $S'919,2T, and an increase in imports of s2,7O2,5Ss. Raw silk was the principal item of export, showing a marked in- crease. There was a reduced export of tea and coal. Kerosene oil leather, rails, flour and sugar were imported from the United States in larger quantities than during the same period last year, while raw cotton imports declined.
 Float Loans Rapidly.
 MT. Griscom describes the readiness with which the Japanese government s domestic loans have been fioated. With the proceeds of a foreign loan of s4S, ,665, = O0Ofor which the custom receipts were pledged as security by the government, the latter paid the money borrowed from the Bank of Japan, of which the amount Of specie reserve held by the contract bank was augmented, and the circulation Of convertible bank notes expanded.
 The total amount of national debts of Japan at the end of September stood at about $444,216,000, making a debt per cap ita of about $9.46. War taxes have haen increased on land, incomes, business transactions, sugar, mines, sake, cus- toms, consumption of woolen textiles, con- sumption of kerosene and stamps, while a new source of considerable revenue is found In the tobacco monopoly. The of ncial estimate of the anticipated net in- come to be derived from that sourse for the year. ending March 31, 1905, is $12,- 966,212. and $16, 900 for the year end- ing March 31, 1906 The government owned railroads likewise, which are val ued by the ministry of finance at about $95, 5,000,000, are estimated to bring a net
 
 This item, and the tobacco monopoly are assets upon which it is generally sup posed further foreign loans will be raised At the beginning of the war the specie reserve in the Bank of Japan fell quickly from $5S, ,4S1, GOO in December to 4.04S, 800 in May when the first foreign loan was doubtless responsible for an in- crease to S5S,646,000 in August, the normal condition.
 Falling Off in Taxes.
 Owing to the abandonment of local pub lie works and Improvements, there has been a falling off in taxes officially in round numbers at slO,OO0,0OO.
 The reports from Tokio and Osaka clearing houses for October, 1904, show an increase of s21,157S11 in the value of pub lie money cleared over the same month in 1903
 The metallic currency circulation of Ja- pan for October, 1904, shows a decrease O. s2,791.630
 During the entire year 1903 postal saw ings deposits in Japan increased $1, ,446 997 while during the first nine months O. 1904 they increased S2,5SS,725.
 The increase of s19boO,9H in deposits in the leading banks of Japan from January 1903 to August. 19O4, MT. Grscum says. has been markedly free from fluctua- 'tions.
 A striking feature in the industrial his- tory of Japan during the past year Is the unusual abundance of nearly all agri- cultural products, and especially the un- precedented sale of rice, the yield of rice being estimated to DC about PAS, 145,OOO bushels for 1904, an increase of about IT, 494,223 as compared with the yield of 1908. Other cereal crops, especially barley and wheat, show considerable increase.