FI,UCTUATION« IN PRICES AND WAGES I37 



From this it appears that in proportion as the wages increase 

 the house rent increases sHghtly and the cost of food considerably 

 diminishes. The general expenditure tends to increase. We may con- 

 clude that, within certain limits, the system of alimentation does not vary, 

 but the increase in wages is almost entirely used for general expenditure. 

 We must also observe that the expenditure on food in the above table 

 is only for rice, and is consequently from 25 to 50 % of the total amoimt 

 spent on food. Yet, independently of this, and taking account of all we 

 have said in this article, we may reach the following important conclusion; 

 although the increase in wages has been greater than the increase in prices, 

 we cannot therefore infer that the mode of Ufe of the Japanese artisan has, con- 

 sequently, improved in the same degree, for there is still in Japan an economic 

 situation which keeps the artisan in a position of inferiority as compared 

 with that his fellows in other countries have attained to. This is seen above 

 all to be true, when we examine the question from the point of view of im- 

 proved food and lodging, and the possibility of making reasonable savings out 

 of wages alone. 



