The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-02

past twenty years over ten millions
have been added to it, and today the
babies swarm. I have visited every
great people of the world, ana
nowhere are there so many ne" oaoles
as here. Each other child has a baby
strappA to its back; almost every
woman who works in the fields is
! thus loaded. and one meets old men
and young boys going along toting
these Acknowledged. yellow bits OF sol
emn humanity; The babies iook Wen.
They are healthy, and they seldom
cry. I doubt not the birth rate Will
be still higher if the conditions i'm :
prove, and one OF the burning CUES
tions is how Japan can keep on feed
ing all of its people II the storks CON
| babies every year than they brought
in the year just behind. In most coua.
tries the birth rate falls 9th wan ana
hard times. Marquis Katsura teAs me
that this has been the case with Japan
in the past, and that it you'd be 80
! today if her people lacked food. The
fact that the babies come faster and
faster shows that the nation is not IN
desperate want. !
National Assets.
AS to the actual wealth of this
! country, it faVorhbly Nlen
that of other lands. At the present
writing, witout counting its debts, TIE
LILO 10 No1 SiUodI
| of. gold dollars. This is almost as
much as the wealth Of Italy, more
than twice, as much as that OF SPAN
or Holland and about one-third or
| the estimated possessions of all the
Russias. The richest countries of the
world are the United States, Great
Britain, France and Germany. we
lead all the rest in having money to
burn. Our assets are estimated at one
hundred and sixteen billion gold dol
lars: Great Britain'S at SiXty-tWo; 81
France at fo~rty-three, and OF Germany
at forty-two billions.
Considering the short life Of the new
Japan and the great wars it has I'M
dertaken. its cash ccoun is respecta-
BILE, to say the least. 1t has almost
$4,000, 600, 600 in houses, and and
other buildings, about two billions in
furniture and works Of art, and over
one billion in goods and other NOR
chandise. It's shipping is estimated
at q andre millions, which IS prob
ably low, and it's marine products at
eight hundred millions, which may be
high. japan has over 100000 900
worth OF mines. She has almost n
thousand millions invested in
les and banks. and over $500. 600, 900
worth of railways, t~elegraphs and tel
ephones.
Banks and Stock Companies Which
Pay Dividends.
1noSe lS1ITCS are f1p1Qty becoming
a land Of factories. Formerly, every
thing was made by hand III the houses.
and today there are millions of men.
women and children who work at
their homes. There are also some
thing like 5000 factories moved by
steam, gas. turbine water wheels and
electricity, n more than soc. O o
hands are employed in them. over
1000 of these factories are devoted to
textiles and about 400 to machinery
and work in iron and steel. The gov
ernment alone has 1000 factories Of
its W in which almost 200 900 men
are employed. It has one connected
with its shipbuilding and naval estao-
lishnent which employs G 50O,00p
men.
Many of the private companies have
large capitals paid in. The total aggre-
amount This Includes agricultural
companies. and industrials Of various
kinds. It comprises many CONNER
cial combinations and transportation
companies, and also insurance com
panies, stock exchanges and a multi
plicity Of banks.
AS to the banks there are now over
2,2O0, all managed by japanese with
Japanese capital. Their paid-up stock
aggregates over S~250,O0o,0O0 and their
dividends are big. Take the aBnk OF
Japan, which does the business-of tne
government. That bank has a capital
and reserve fund amounting to about
$4,000, 900, and its assets are $780,
100000. It's deposits shows a*hal-
ance on hand Of owe $500, 100000.
and the net profits are about $4,000
600 q year. The stock pays II per
cent. The Yokohama Specie Bank
made 100000 in 1907, and paid a
dividend Of II per cent. while the
Hypotheck Bank paid 10 per ceaat.
There are forty-siS agricultural banks
mere winch pay dividends Of s per
cent, and most Of the ordinary bonls
are paying the same and some much
more.
Eight Million Postal Savings Denosi-
tors.
One person in every six in Japan has
some money in the postal savings
banks. These We're started in 1S1G