Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-19
JAPANESE DIET
SOON TO MEET
CONSTlTUTlONALISTS TO HAVE
MAJORITY
KATsURA CABINET CONFRONTED
BY POOR PROSPECT
Twenty-sixth Session Of Imperial Law
Makers, to Convene Wednes-
day, Likely to Be
Quiet One
Associated Prcssl

TOXIC, Dec. 18.-The imperial diet
Will convene at Toxic December %.
In the house of representatives there
are 379 seats, distributed as follows:
The Selyukai, or the constitution
alists, 200 seats; Progressists, 63 seats;
Tushin association. 40 seats; Boshin
club, So seats; Daido club, 2S seats;
independents. 8 seats.
The constituptionalsts, led by Mar
quis Saionji, are in Il position to COM
mand n majority in the house and
are supposed TO be independent.
The Katsura cabinet professedly
stands aloof Of any of the political
parties. The Daido club claims to be
an unqualified supporter of the pres
ent cabinet. Judged by outward ap-
pearanCes alone, the Katsura cabinet
finds itself confronted by formidable
majority in the lower house who might
quash government measures at any
time.
But those In close touch with the
politics of Toxic concur in their fore
cast that the twenty-sixth session Will
be n quiet one and that the govern
ment will experience no formidable
opposition.
Federal Opposition
The avowed opposition to the gov
ernment consists Of the Progressists
and of the Tushln group, while In the
Doshin club there are several who
would always vote with the govern
ment.
The coming budget. the glst OF
which has already been given out,
promises n reduction of some of the
unpopular taxes and an increase of
appropriation for the redemption or
the national bonds.
1t is therefore expected to be pop
ular one AS a political move some
believe that the Constitutionalists
viii propose a resolution for n reduc-
tion OF land tax. There Is reason to
believe, however, that the question of
q reduction in the land tax will not
assume any development that would
embarrass the present government.
The house of peers consists of $50
seats. OF which five are at present va
cant, one of them being the seat oc-
cupled by the late Prince Ito. There
are sixteen seats occupied by the i'm
perial princes.
Deducting these, the balance Of 339
seats is distributed as follows: The
Kenkiu group, rs seats; the Sawa
group, AZ seats; the Mokuyo, AZ seats;
the Dogo, 46 seats: the Fuso, is seats;
the Independents (A), 43 seats; the
Independents (B), "a seats.
House Of Peers
There is no party or group of mem
bers that commands a majority Of the
house OF peers.
The KenlSiu group is generally looked
on as supporter of the government
while there is no group that might be
considered pure opposition.
The present government, being o
non-party organization, the upper
house will have no cause to present
any opposition and will uniformly sup
port the government in the same way
as in the last session.
The most noteworthy feature lies In
the fact that some reduction Will be
shown in the budget appropriations for
the army, while the navy will remain
about the same as the previous year.
A gradual retrenchment OF the arm
ament expenditures may be looked
upon as one of the principal platforms
of the Katsura cabinet.
There will be some increase or the
import tariffs on some of the goods
over which the government holds au-
tonomy