The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-06
ny FnEDEn1o J. HAsKIN.
Tokyo.

u
Tokyo.
Poverty japan is spending
money as II there was never a day
of reckoning. Its people groan under
heavy taxes, and Its industries are SUI
ferlng the reaction which follows arti
fetal stimulation. The question one
spendthrlft of the. nations Is: VIII
Japan go broke? Many of the ablcst
and wisest of japanese statesmen and
business men have counseled caution;
die and, drunk with sight OF power"
seems determined to spend and spend
until the last cash is gone.
The burden of taxation In japan per
capita is S4.o5, considerably less than
United states. which includes national,
state and city taxation. But is must be
remembered that In Japan the aver
age income per capita Is only 81. 4, a
so75. II the American people were
TO pay taxes for one year. at the rate
imposed now upon the japanese. the
ury OF over s6.ooO,oo0,o0O. enough to
pay off the national debt, the state.
city and municipal debts, and have a
balance sufficient to pay the running
for four more years without calling on
Congress for another cent.
The details OF this taxation would
distraction. Everything Is taxed. and
in dozen ways The land tax. which
is the largest single item of revenue.
at the amount for which 1t would rent
for one year. On city property the
national land tax is 90 per cent, and
Suppose in an American city a man
had a house which would rent for 500
n month. Under the Japanese system
pay $3.50 of his $1,000 income for land
tax. in addition to the tax imposed
upon him AS business man, npoR his
come which remains after the first set
OF taxes is taken out.
The graduated income tax is imposed
upon all incomes OF more than $3.50 al
America. bookkeeper who gets $100s
a month would be required to pay SIS
On en aX Any Of s. 600
year must pay $7.425 tax each year.
or nearly. 15 per cent annually. q
street railway is required to pay 20
treasury, is limited to cent and Fl
cent fares, and yet manages to pay a
19 per cent. dividend. If any member
OF any City Council in the United
street railway in his city cut fares
to 2 cents. and, in addition thereto
pay tax Of 20 per cent. of its gross
receipts, the whole town would say
do in Japan and nobody complains. One
street railway. having. some sixty miles
of line. suffered all this. and then made
city government decided to take 1t over
at the city's price and pay for It I'M
city bonds at par. regardless OF their
market value. This is the system a
business man in Japan has to contend
with
Tobacco. salt and camphor are gov
eminent nc and all profit 81
directly into the national treasury. The
railways are owned by the government,
and while the passenger service 10 eX-
is said to suffer greatly. AT any rate
the revenue from the roads is going
into the general funds and not for i'm.
proveme nts. The taxes on the sale OF
sake. the national beverage. and other
everyday necessities OF the people,
were already enormous. but the Diet
has recently raised them. There IS :,
tax on eang nngar
sun that can be taxed is left untaSed,
and yet this is country where the
farmers cannot eat the high Quality
lands, while they import inferior rice
from China for their own use. Imagine
the American farmer being forced to
inferior stuff to eat! How long would
5apsn hs has h bGet h stas as m and abe
one-twentieth its wealth. Yet the
Japanese nation spent last year $315.-
100000, as against the United States
national expendlture OF $b7s,ooo,ooo, or
lay These figures do not take. into
account the prefectural and municipal
expenditures in Japan. nor, the State
and city expenses In the United States;
States for army and navy expenses
and improvements amounted to $780,
o999oS Japan spent in the same year
aSout ten sr Of t aa spent b
America. These figures show that
Japan Is spending meeneX at about half
w fafe IS
that japan has half the population, but
is not at all IN proportion to the far
more important fact that the United
Japnn's national debt is also in tho
per capita a that OF the United States,
ana asb,ty g s'y psy INFERIOR
While the Japanese government has
been prodigal With subsidies, and has
spent great deal OF money for edu-
BY far the greater part Of the taxes
gathered and money expended has been
along military lines, The war with
Russia> increased the national debt
from aNuuarter Of a billion to nearly a
were increased almost fourfold. The
heavy increase of taxes was lnadc for
war purposes, and 1t was promised
that whom tho war was over the taxes
would be reduced But this promise
was not fulfilled. On the contrary, the
Diet decided to continue the war taxes
in fun force until 1911, and tho PRES
emit program OF the ruling oigarchyl
contemplates even greater increases,
The men who control the govern
ment Of Japan are few In number, but
their ability has been proved by the
fact that japan has emerged from n |
|state Of civilization comparable With