The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1906-12-10
nv arney onoaor. IN.


TOXIC. Dec 10 One Of The hrHt
ihlnEa the venerable, famous aud
xefS able Count okuma sad 20 me
uheu visited him Vas this Your
country has introduced 20 aH manA
good thinrn. bai o. the same time
sosne evil things One - these evils
il the policy ~ protection. aud az
other Is the trust The policy 81
protection IL wrong. bat sofne peo.
pie IN fhla eountry thlnk Il must be
right because ~ great and prosper.
out 4 country az America puauEF
T. on this matter ! must De un.
thankful 20 America entirely
aaree with Mr. Hrgan'a yiaN-ihai
= tariff breeds trusts"
Then Count Okuma changed the
subject and sent back % sears IN
the History 81 Japan A. thai time.
said the coani. socialism IN a YeFy
rigorous form wac tried In Japan
Ans man VAS prohibited from
owning more than ~ acres uf land.
aud no interest on a loan vas per.
mltfed No appeal was possible 20
obtain interest %fhia. r.
marked the distinguished states.
man. was called tokusei.' mean.
ing .boncsolen, governing II vas
Intended Ia be unfaHorahle 10 the
poor. and. indeed. it waA favorable
TO many poor
And. a course. the experiment
ia abolish interest aud 10 try Ia 70.
strict the ownership % land IN any
such way broke down in Japan.
The old conditions of concentrated
ownership az tho soil returned. and
the cost of government and sup.
port u a large. noniaburinE nohlil.
- and their military retaiuarH. tho
samurai. was rolmposod on the
backs u the "hcimln~ com.
mon folk" or workers
Bleeding the consmons.
This was explained to me the
other day BY the minister 81 Il.
name. Mr. gakatani lie said that
the whole revenue Of the shnEu.
nate 1.-THE conirol governing powerl
and Of the Daimyntis tthe district
Of foudai lordshipsl Was derived
from land This revenue was paid
IN rice-ricc being the chief pro.
duce of the soil
Out Of every ten koku Of rice the
rice grover gave up 10 his masters
four aud sometimes six koku
What this meant 10 the feudal
lords may be judged from the fact
that for a long time the least IN.
come Of a Dsimyo was equivalent
to $4,000. while the prince 81 kaga
l. said TO have received af one
time annually more than s. 600 0a0.
Tho Shotgun not only had revenue
from his own lands. but. AZ over.
lord, he accepted handsome pres.
onts~ from the Daimyos
a pssUto Single Tar.
All the ancient pomp and power
was supported out Of what IL now
called a land tar" Hut IL was not
a single tar" "a that term IL now
used II was in reality labor
tan" II fell mainly upon the users
Of a particular kind Of land
namely. rice land: and In propor.
ton to what the users produced
from that land. The nobility aud
their retainers went practically
scot free Indeed. II was the sole
business 81 the workers for long
centuries to work for this priv.
legged class.
This usage. begun early. came
down. with brief exceptions or var.
iatians. to the revolution Of 1858,
when the mikado came out of his
palace secluslon at kyoto. over
threw the shoEunatc, or govern.
mcnt Of the "commanderin.c chief
and set mp his open government
The shoguns family and the
chimyo were permitted "a retain
certain parts OF their estates. and
were romunoratod for giving up
their revenue collection powers.
and the revenue going into the i'm.
perial treasury was changed from
rice to money.
A Valuation Farce.
An effort was made TO construct
n register OF all the rice Welding
lands for purposes Of revenue. and
the value OF this land was estl.
mated at the Yield OF rice An eff
fort was also made TO tax other
land. largely the land Of cities.
But the American taxation expert.
Mr.. Lawson Purdy. secretary of the
New York Tax Reform association,
whom ! consulted concerning the
Japanese imperial revenue reports
about two years ago, declared en-.
rhatlcally that on the face of those
reports tho rice grower of Japan
vas paying taxes on valuation
out OF all proportion 90 the taxes
borne by the city man.
And this | find confirmed BY ex.
animation hero. To use an Austria.
Han SLANG expression that fits the
case. the Japanese farmer Is carry.
ing the baby"
The City Mans Burden.
Nor Ia his brother. the poor man
In the city, having such an easy
time Of II In this respect The truth
Ia that he ~ having very hard
time. II IL much the same with his
here 10 TOXIC ~ li vas VITA tss
sposJi Acssst ewsnr ~ Nov fsss