FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES AND WAGES I35 



special point at which the increase in wages began to exceed that of prices. 

 Whether from that date the economic and social situation of Japan has real- 

 ly improved can certainly not be settled in a mere brief article like 

 the present; what may be affirmed with certitude is that this event of 

 such capital importance coincided with the period of greatest agitation and 

 economic crisis in agrijculture and manufactures. 



§ 4. Importance of the fi,uctuations in prices and wages for the 



DOMESTIC economy OF WORKING MEN'S FAMILIES. 



The study we have here made, based on the economic facts included 

 in the official statistical tables, would be profitless, unless we endeavoured 

 to take account, at least briefly, of the effect of the fluctuation in prices and 

 wages upon the domestic economy of working men's famiUes. If we had 

 to express an a 'priori opinion on the matter, the fact that the wages have 

 increased somewhat faster than the prices would lead us to conclude that 

 the present conditions of the Japanese labourers must be, if not excellent, at 

 any rate very satisfactory. Does the reaUty correspond with this appar- 

 ently logical forecast ? That is just what we are going to investigate. First 

 of all, we must show the immense difference that there is between the aver- 

 age wages in Europe and America and the average in Japan. According to 

 Statistics published by the lyabour Office of the Tokio Society of PoHtical 

 and Social Science {Shakwai seisakugaku komu kyoku), the average earnings 

 and expenditure per head for the town workmen of the various countries 

 would be as follows (i) 



E xcess of Earning 



Total % of Earning 



fr. fr. 



642 2.3 



849 24 



183 10.8 



618 26.5 



20 3.2 



We see from these figures, first of all, that the budget of a Japanese 

 artisan's family is not even ^/^ of that of an American artisan's, hardly ^ 

 of a French artisan's, 14 o^ that of an artisan in Germany and a Httle 

 more than S. of that of one in Great Britain. 



(i) The figures for Great Brita'u, the United States, Gcrniauy and France are taken from 

 the Annual Reports of the British Board of Trade. 



