The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-23
THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC
CONDITION or JAPAN.


1909, contains what In known as the railway
naturalization bill. The record shows
that there we're in operation ut that time
1881 miles of State owned railway and
S.247H miles OF railway OF private owner
ship. The private lines represented thirty
seven different companies. large and small.
The Nippon oompan controlled $50 miles,
while the Ryugasaka line was only a little
more than two and q half miles in length.
The Sanyo line had 100 miles, and the
Kyushu 44e miles. There were three lines
of respectively 80, 2o7 and 1853 miles. There
was n line Of eighty-fve miles, another OF
seventy-three miles and one of seventy
miles. The remainder were all less b
fifty miles.
A report recently made by the Depart
ment Of Finance makes the following COM
ments on the conditions OF that time. In
view OF the necessity for a definite post
bellum programme and for the increase
OF national wealth and development OF
national resources. IL has become OF the
utmost importance 90 introduce effective
means Of internal transportation and COM
munication; and yet on looking at our rail-
way system we find that in addition 10 the
Government lines there are more han
thirty private railways and hat even trunk
thhOr aIO iAhCt tbC Ooiittotg ot1 VI thbO
Government and others Of various private
companies. so that the traffic on them lacks
order and uniformity. The consequences is
that they offer no facilities for direct traffic
over long distances, thereby raising the
cost OF transportation and causing delay
therein; in short. they hardly appear to keep
pace with the general progress OF society.
For these reasons the Government decided
upon the State ownership Of all railways
which are used for general traffic, leaving
out those Of merely local Importance
Under the bill as 1t passed the imperial
Diet seventeen companies, representing
2,si2 miles of line. are to he purchased and
paid for by a public loan bearing 5 per cent.
interest on the face value Of the bonds.
The amount OF the loan il calculated at not
less than S2iO, 900, 900, and it Is assumed that
the obligation thus incurred will he dis
charged within thirty-two years after the
purchase is made. the redemption fund
coming from the net profits Of the pur-
chased lines. II is further assumed that the
lines, after the redemption OF the loan
bonds, will yield TO the State an annual rev.
enue of a little more han s25, 900, 900. Some
Of these lines have already been taken over
and the entire list in to be taken up by or
before 1918. The plan includes the pur-
chase, made last year, Of the Seoul-Fusan
line in Corea. The loan to be issued on ac-
count of this line is $40, 900 600.
Japan il also the proprietor of q railway
system in south Manchuria, taken over as
a result Of the late war. The capital Of this
enterprise Is 500. 900, 900 (f20, t9i, so3D, OF
which SUN one-half was contributed" by the
Government and one-tenth was subscribed
by the public. These lines we're taken over
by the civil authorities from the military on
April I OF thisy year and are now under Gov
eminent control and management.
The authorized capital of the seventeen
lines bought or to be bought by the Gov
eminent. the bonding ~ which lis calcu-
lated AT not less than s210, 200. 900" Ia about
1921 600, 900. The paid up capital ia very
close TO $1,000 900. The capital Of the
lines already owned by the Government is
not given in the report OF the Finance De-
partment. The reported cost of c~onstruc-
ton for the ,S31 miles of line owned by the
Government prior to the passa &c of the bill
Of March 81, 1908. is s79, $50, 1913, or about
$50, 900 a mile. The reported cost Of con-
struction of the lines acquired and to be
acquired il Sli3, 300. 600, or about sac, 900 q
mile. A little combination Of some Of these
figures, even without the capitalization
figures Of the older lines. indicates that the
system when completed stands a very good
chance Of being capitalized for a little more
thar the reported cost of construction and
even for a little more than the old figures.
Japan's railways are thus shown as in a
transition stage, and figures quoted for
equipment and operation must he those Of
the latest year reported, 1sO5-Oe. The
total number Of locomotives on all lines ia
LII; passenger cars, $3.50; freight wag-
ons," 81, is3. The total number of passen-
gers carried was iIs, 1913. 4Os; total passenger
receipts, l7,noo,ooO The total freight car
ried was 81, $50, Os4 tons, and total freight
receipts si2, 900. 900. The passenger mileage
WAS two and a half billions and freight
mileage 1852, 600 900. The average pas
senger receipts a mile we're 90 cent and
average freight Eeoeipts % cent a mile a
ton. The receipts a ton and a mile were
higher on the State lines than on the pri-
vate lines. The gross earnings for all lines
are reported a. s3i $40, 5s2. the expenses
SIC, OFT, 5S7 and net earnings SIS. i9s.a a5.
The average receipts a mile were, for State
railways, 81, 1872; average expenses. So. 1856;
average earnings, s4,397; and for private
lines, receipts, t8,ai5; expenses, 81, 23S, and
earnings, 81 1882.
tTDhI NV U'pl gu III dbbuc III
Jspan's railway statistics appears in the
fact that passengers are carried for two
thirds Of a cent a mile. while our railways
make considerable fuss over an attempt to
drive American prices down to two cents
a mile. All protest in this country would
undoubtedly disappear at once II our $780,
900 railway people would throw of 90
per cent. OF their wages or salary and 80
bring their earnings down to the level of
those of their Japanese contemporaries.
II American wages were on a level with
Japanese our railways could make money
carrying us from New York to Chicago for
S. and from New York TO San Francisco
for SIS. There are. however. certain COM
pensations in our present system.
There oan be no doubt that japan knows
her own business better than any one else
does. They have a way over there of
doing national business with a good deal
Of foresight. penetration and t~horoughness.
Yet from the figures submitted it appears
- L. 49,