The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-21

ing more and more foreign goods. The war with Russia taught the soldiers the use of shoes and the advantages of foreign clothing. They learned to eat canned stuffs and as a result the masses are beginning to buy such things.
 There sh hould be big opening here for American shoes. The army now wears footgear of foreign style, all though it is made in Japan. In some of the higher schools shoes are re- quired to be worn by the students, and many of the girls are adopting like footwear. I notice the favorite shoe for men Is tho congress gaiter with elastic sides. which can be easily slipped off and on. This Is popular because one always takes off his shoes , when he enters a Japanese home. ho- tel, club or temple or, indeed, any of the finer buildings. The floors are COW cred with the softest and cleanest of white mats which could be ruined by the nails of an American shoe.
 Japan Is now taking a great deal of leather from the United States. It buys our calfskins and cowskins and also sole leather. It takes consider able wheat and flour, canned goods of all kinds and the greater part of its kerosene oil.
 There Is a big opening for our cot ton underwear. In the past the ordf- nary Japanese has never worn anything under his kimono and strip of wad- o11 fhat bare legs from the blasts of winter. He is now beginning to buy knit stuffs and the whole nation wants drawers. The men here often wear these with out kimonos, so that a union suit forms full dress. This demand is bound to grow and our exporters sh ould study 1t.
 The prices of all things are now high. Cotton elastics which retail at home for from to cents a yard are selling in Tokio for 80 cents and all foreign goods are high priced. Bis cults or crackers, as we call them, which bring cents pound at home sell here for 30 cents. They are i'm ported from England and are sent out in tins tightly sealed to keep out the moisture.
 see a great deal of California canned fruit and Columbia river sal mon in the stores and also limitations of them. Japan is now canning sal mon herself and she is experiment. ing in making canned sardines out of the herring from the shores of her new possession of Saghalien. Many trade marks are initiated and one has to watch carefully to protect his goods. This is also the case with mer- chandise intended for Manchuria and Korea. It should all be marked with Chinese characters as well as with the American trade marks.
 I find there is a great deal of Amer ican machinery coming into Japan. Most of our big exporting firms have agents here and many machines and machine tools are sold. Steam tur- pines are being introduced and with the electric possibilities of the country there is bound to be a big demand for electrical goods in the future The various kinds of American typewriters are for sale in all the large cities and our sewing machines, graphopbones and phonographs are to be had every where. In my trip through the Ka- wasaki dock yards I saw many Amer ican machines in operation and in the blaming mills and carpenter shops found the men working on Oregon lum- Der.
 One of the big openings of the fu- ture and a big marSet of today is in window glass. In the past all the windows of this country were of pa per and the inner walls of every house were composed of hundreds of paper panes In the towns these are now being replaced with glass; and as result Japan will soon use more glass than any other country of the far east. The new school buildings which are now being erected are almost walled with glass and every large structure is blaze of light. ln- deed, the conditions are changing so rapidly in this part of the world that if our manufacturers and exporters would take advantage of them they