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

until now been idle. We are also
educating our farmers, and we have
many experiment stations as Well as
some agricultural ~OOl
Foreign Trade and Ship Subsidies.
How about our foreign trade? Is
it increasingly"
1T has been dolng SO aln1os'
steadily until within; the past year
During 1905 the who!e world has been
spending less than usual. The marc
times have cut down the purchases Of
every nation, and Japan has had &c
suffer with the rest. AS 70 the IN
crease Of our trade. IN fS'' our ex
ports were 4 little more than 23,oOo.-
coo ven. Thirty years later they We're
more than g. 100000 yen. In that
period they rose from 81 cents to
S4.43 per head. This increase Of our
exports has continued and in 1888
they reached more than 500, o0o,-coo
Der year. They have since exceeded
twice that amount in several years,
and they will probably o to more
tran $500, 900. o in 1909. AS to Ou1
imports, in 1877 they were almost
81 4, zoe, 900, ana in 1899 they approx
mated S250,000, 600. The increase IN
those thirty years in our foreign trade,
including both exports and imports,
aggregates more than S75,000,00 yen,
or almost $44O, 900, 000. ] see no rea-
son why this increase should not go
on"
HAS your foreign trade been much
benefited by the susidies which you
give your merchant Mariner"
Yes, we must have shipping, and
with q country like ours 1t IS I'M
possible for us to build up a mer-
chant marine Without subsidies. We
think it has paid us to give them
and they will be- continued for some
years to come. When the shipping
interests are strong enough to stand
alone they will be withdrawn.
Japan for the Japanese.
Does Japan need foreign capital?"
IF you mea foreign loans, I should
say no. replied Marquis katsura. 1T
is q part of my policy to curtan rath-
er than increase II foreign indebt-
edness. We wish to cut down our
national debt and to put ourselves in
the way of gradually paying it. ]
would like to see our bonds held more
largely at home. We have conSid-
cradle capital here that might De in
vested in them"
Tell me something about your
banks and industrials, Your excel
lency. Are uch combinations OF
capital proving prohtable?'
Yes. Most of u banks are pay
IllS SOOu dtNlutIloS, ana tl1tS nav
been doing So for years. 1t is the
same with many OF our factories and
with our street car lines and other
such Institutions. We are doing what
VIC can to combinations Of
capital, and the bigger the cOmbina-
ton the better it will please las. We
believe uch things to be necessary
to our home and foreign trade, and
so our commercial development. At
present the dividends paid are very
high, but that it always SO in a new
and fast growing country. We have
a high interest rate. | should like to
see it reduced. but not too much, as
when honey is easy to get our people
are liable to III into all sorts OF
speculations. and that always means
panic and financial disaster.
The Military Party.
rs there not a. commercial party
developing in Japan? / understand
that the military party still controls
everything"
1T is true that the most of the Of
fees of the government and the ad-
m~inistration Of affairs are in the
hands Of what you might a the
military party said Marquis katsura-
But the military party OF Japan Is
different from that of any other ma
ton. This is natural 50 from our
n1SlOTN. before I1c ISSSO1 -
which marked what might be called
the practical beginning of the New
apJan, we had a feudal system con-
sisting of several distinct classes.
There was the upper class, embracing
the daimyos and their retainers, who
practically governed the empire, and
there were the common people. con-
sisting of the farmers and those en-
gagged in manufacture and trade.
The dain1yeS and their retainerS went
about with swords, n they cut Off
the heads of such individuals Of the
common class as d~ispleased them.
When the time of the restoration
came it was this military class that
did the fighting, that reorganized the
government, and that practically
made the japan of TODAY. It was the