Arizona republican., 1916-03-04
|S
 EVIDENCED ALL
 THROUGH JAPAN
Republican A. p. Leased Wirel

Republican A. P. Leased Wirel
 TOXIC, March 2.-Never in her his tory has Japan met with such a period of material prosperity as today. This is entirely due to the war The entente allies have been buying great quanu- ties of war supplies since the beginning of the conflict and more orders are be ing placed constantly. Money is liter ally pouring into the country in such quantities that there is actually q pie thora of it. Money has become so cheap that bankers have begun to com plain,
 The first great call upon Japan has been made and will continue to be made by Russia. The exports to Russia have realized several hundred millions yen. They include not alone military equip ment and supplies such as guns, rifles and ammunition, but huge quantities of cloth many hundred thousands of pairs of boots, leather caps, pouches, sashes, food products and medical sup plies. Even rice is exports to Russia to be made into sruel for wounded soldiers and of the medical eXportation a notable item is tincture of iodine. Another great channel in which Jap an is finding prosperity is through her shipping. Her big merchant marine is not only transportatinc supplies for the entente powers but SD far as the oIi- ent is concerned has practically taken over at an immense profit the sea transportation which is held iH time of peace by the vessels of Great Brit ain. Freight charges to all points il- cludins the United States have scared and Japanese shippiHS companies have recently petitoued the department of communications to sanction d further increase in tariffs.
 France is at present seeking either to charter or purchase ten or a dozen steamships but suitable vessels are l scarce The prices are almost limit less in their elevation. The extent to which steamers have risen in value may 1 be instanced by q recent -inciGeut at 1 Kobe. The owners of steamship the charter for which had just expired WAo had been receiving about $3090 a month for their vessel received an of | fer Of charter at the rate of $3I, ,O00 Der month. The extraordinary demand for hulls is inducing Japanese shipyards to work day and night bat they cannot | hope to approach the demaud.
 The year 1915 was exceptional in Iap- anese trade but this year is expected to prove still more remarkable. Last year the total exports amounted to about $350,OO0, 900 and the imports to about $266, ,000, 000 The total trade was s6l6, 0G5. Compared with the pre- ceding year the figures show an in- crease of about $5S 100000 on exports and q decrease of $3l, 300, ,00G on imports. Whereas in 1914 imports exceeded eN- ports by $2,3l7000 the balance of trade last year was in favor of exports Dy about sS409000o Anything approach ing such a large excess of exports is unprecedented in the annals of foreign
 trade in Japan By slanciue oyer the
 trade returns for the last ten years. it
 will be found that with the exception of 1906 and 1909 when eXports owing to greatly Icduced imports Weresin OK
 cess by S2,46J,000 and by $9456NO0 re- spectively, the balance of trade Tor the
 remaining eight years shows an excess
 of imports ranging from $2.S17000 to
 $4S,4S5,O00. In 1914 the outbreak of the war diminished the volume of trade, especially that of imports. This ex-
 plains the fact that in that year the excess of imports over exports amount
 ed to only $2,317,O0o as compared with s4S,4S5, 900 recorded for 1913 and with $46,0C0, 900 for l914
 
 With the confirmation of the war last
 year importations still further dimin-
 ished while a remarkable increase was
 noted in the export trade The markets
 in India, South America. and other
 places previously taking German and