Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-29

lwish to hurry Thus the rewards arc
small and the economic waste Of skin
ana muscle is great. but life is easy
and the soul is free. But it does not
afford any resistless legion Of workers
drilled TO drastic outputs with which
Japan can compete forccfully with
the Western world. She has maGc her
military arms concrete and to be well
measured with those Of other lands,
but casual industry cannot compete
with the organized article any more
than guerillas can beat battaIiOns.
Life is so much a mental state that
it does not follow that the people arc
not better so. but il is not situation
| that can create wealth for either the
many or the few.
Beyond oil this is another factor op
matchmaking that is destroyed by
the Governments hand in industrial
alfairs Capital is scarce in Japan,
but such rs does exist is deharred
from the safest forms Of activity, to
wit: the great public franchises of the
railway. the telegraph, the telephone
and express. FOREIGN capital in
America found its initial investment
| in these items. Think of the count
| less millions employed in the rail-
| ROADS. the telegraph, telephone and
express companies of the United
States. Foreign money which Japan
would like TO see busy in japan will
not risk itself in ordinary industrials,
especially when promoted by new and
! unskilled hands; and local capital,
even in America, is always timid
about doing things ar home, but will
cneerful!y take risks and travel far.
Look a. the Boston money in the
Western roads and mines. for ex.
ample
80, such money rs exists in Japan
is in little demand and intcreS t-rates
are low. 1t may be said that prima-
rily these public enterprises are held
py the Government in the common
welfare, ard that the people benefit
in low rates and the mitigation OF
taxation. But japan is the highest
taxed country in the world today and
Government ownership. being the
closest form OF monopoly. produces
many veXations. For example. the
Government. needing money to take
care Of its wars East and to come, can
es. htt must hold them close and
wiring every possible penny out Of
their operation. That vast public
convenience. the telephone, in the
hands OF a private corporation would
grow with great rapidity in Japan,
'cnrlching its promoters and benefiting
tho community. but the Government
is too poor to extend the service. 1t |
is next to impossible to get an instru-
ment installed. AS 10 the efficiency OF
the service the less said about it tie
better.
1t goes to demonstrate that the So
cial state for which so many are
clamoring in America cannot be lifted |
into being by its boot-straps. All
wealth. coming rs it does from the |
soil or the sea. must be improved up
on and amplincd hv human ingenuity |
and this. alas. will not exert itself |
without at least the hope of reward |
while the cooperative benefits of state |
control and operation in the initial |
stage. rs in Japan. cannot breed |
wealth enough TO 70 around on uni |
Vcreal division such rs it must ncons- |
sarily provide. In short. it is like |
Rothsehild and the lunatic Who dr. |
manded his share of the great fortune |
ns q fellow-citizen of France ard was ]
promptly handed IS francs. So it is |
in Japan. The individual gets his few |,
sen. but tileyAnever get together in |
such concrete form or in such able |
business hands as to make The nation |
q financial or industrial power and |
never can under existing conditions.
Tho Government extends its bust |
ness operations considerably beyond |
the public-service field. Tt owns tho |
tobacco monopoly, a source Of great |
private wealth in America: the salt
monopoly. another American wealth. |
maker: has its fingers deep in hank |
ing. controls the camphor market Of
the world through its ownership of the
Formosa supply. and essays to oper-
ate great steel plant which loses
heavily and makes it hard for private
corporations to compete. The latter
was established as an aid to national
independence of foreign steelmakers.
The move may have been necessary,
but the result is costly TO the state
and burdensomc To unassistcd ;ndi-
viduals.
The Government also maintains n
STOCK ldFl1. 1t Is constantly DtNiS up
pealei to by would-be promoters who
wish to extend its activities in indus
trial directions. but the indications
now are that the administration per-
ceives that the policy. necessary as it
may have been to start the people in
the now course laid down for them,
can only perpetuate dependence and
weaken enterprise.
Once in 1870. when all the land had
been sequestered. the great proprie-
tors Of japan by common accord dis
tributcd it to the people-one acre to
each adult male and three-auarters of
an acre to each woman-and the st2g-
nant country throve again. It is an
easy guess that At some near date the
Government will again have to turn
its possessions back TO the people il
they are TO engage successfully in
great matchmaking and secure the
effective hid of foreign moncy.-Staif
Correspondence Of New York World.