The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-14

foreign business. Now, it has been
the fashion in Japan to bolster up by
a subsidy any business toe weak to
stand alone. japanese ships are SUBJ
sidized, some of them profitably so.
These people have seized on the idea
of a subsidy as a cure for every COM
mercial i'll and the subsidized concerns
are legion. So the cotton spinners de-
cided to tax themselves for a private
subsidy in order TO give bounty on
every pound of yarn shipped to a for
eign market! This would, they said,
permit them to sell below the market
price. But this was taking, the thing
| too far and the scheme did not hold
| together long. One native newspaper
said it was case of cutting the flesh
of the thigh in order to eat and that
] view appealed to the spinners when
they were called on to pay their share
of bounty to be given to some other
spinner to reward him for cutting down
the price of their own product
! The spinning mills will have to close
down if conditions are not righted at
once. Silk reeling establishm ants are
already closing and the silk production
probably will be curtailei next year.
Thus far the vast amount IF public
work going on has kept the mast Of the
people in employment, but as The people
pay the bills through taxIS, his is
another case of cutting the ilesn IF the
thigh to eat. It may help for time,
but the day of reckoning will come.
Among the masses of the people the
prosperity caused by the unusual dis
tribution of money during the war is
still manifest. This is a poinI TO be
considered in reckoning Japap's fight.
ing spirit. The nation has & million
men who would welcome u war that
they might flock into the army-not
because of the old samurai fighting
spirit, but because as soldiers they have
better clothing, better food and better
pay than they could ever hope to have
as working men. The Japanese soldier
fares not half so well as the American
regular. The difference in the condi-
ton of the Iaboring classes of the two
countries is forcibly illustrated at this
point. The Japanese pray to get into
the army for the good pay-the re- !
cruiting officer in the United States has |
TO beg men to enlist
A people as poor as this can not |
afford even one week of idleness. When |
the factories stop in the United States
it causes much suffering, it is true,
but when they stop in Japan the word |
suffering does not go far enough; it
means starvation.
Many of the wisest men in Japan
believe it was a good thing that the
boom burst so soon. If it had gone on
for another twelve months it would
have involved absolutely the entire
capital of the country and the wreck
would have been complete. That the
crash came before it was physically
possible for some of, the people to get
heir money up. has helped the situa-
ion. As most of the capital that was
invested was borrowed abroad, the
,ther nations are much interested.
But, nevertheless, black as Japan's fl
1ancial outlook is at this time, there
S still faith. In the face Of the panic
md the government policy of taking
,ver transportation properties at it's
'wn valuation whenever it gets good
nd ready. a British company has put
I'D $5,000,000 for an electric railway to
'e eighty-three miles long. The dis
nal failure of the first great steel
making project in Japan has not de-
erred other venturous souls, and a :
ew steel company is about to be per-
~NICu with AII5l1Sll Actually III 4
light.
No nation is more interested in ia
ans commercial prosperity than the !
Tnited States. Ours is the largest [
hare of its foreign business, and the !
nancial health of the two countries [
closely connected. Japan has shared
ur monetary troubles, although inf I
itely less able to bear them and it I
certainly to be hoped that she will \
hare our returning prosperity. But
S yet there is little hope of a speedy }
and the industrial situation [
! japan is extremely gloomy. Pri- !
ate finances and credit are strained /
ublic finances are in a tangle that is I
ausing a storm of protest from every I
art of the Empire. But that is an |
her story To feel the tragedy of the !
ling as a Japanese must feel it. one I
lust imagine himself making paste !
oard boxes for wages of three cents I
IT ten-hour day. Even the Amer |
an imagination refuses to work for \
lch wages
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