JAPAN. 



JETER, J. B. 



413 



postal cards was 13,500,000 ; of newspapers, 

 11,300,000; of samples and books, 560,812. 

 The aggregate value of the money orders was 

 3,704,384 yens. The revenue amounted to 

 949,357 yens, the expenditures to 826,379 

 yens. 



The question between China and Japan re- 

 specting their rights in the Loochoo Islands had 

 entered upon a more pacific phase at the end of 

 1879, and it was agreed between the two coun- 

 tries to appoint commissioners to discuss the 

 points in dispute. As the negotiations pro- 

 ceeded, the prospect of a peaceful solution was 

 increased through the interposition of the 

 friendly offices of the German Government. 



A change of ministry took place in April. 

 Of the new ministers, three were known 

 abroad. Matsoukata-Massayoshe, Minister of 

 the Interior, was Commissioner-General for 

 Japan at the Exposition of Paris in 1878. 

 Sano Trounetami, another minister, was com- 

 missioner-General at the Exhibition in Vienna 

 of 1873, has been Minister Plenipotentiary at 

 Rome and Vienna, and was one of the first 

 members of the Japanese senate. Admiral 

 Yenonioto, Minister of Marine, is considered a 

 very able man, but has never been in favor, 

 and was barely prevented by the Colonial Min- 

 ister, General Kouroda, from committing the 

 "happy dispatch" several years ago. Each 

 ministerial department is composed of the ti- 

 tular minister, the Kio, an officer of the second 

 rank, the Tayou, and an officer of the third 

 rank, the Shoyou, the officers of the two latter 

 grades corresponding nearly with the European 

 undersecretaries of state. The out-going min- 

 isters were appointed Sanghis, or privy coun- 

 cilors, to the Mikado; and the Supreme Coun- 

 cil to which they belong, consisting of thirteen 

 members, is, in the absence of any representa- 

 tive body, more powerful than the Ministry, as 

 it has the right of veto on all measures proposed 

 by the latter. 



The development of industrial enterprises, 

 which has been actively prosecuted for several 

 years, continues to be marked. A native pa- 

 per, the " Mainichi Shinbun," recently men- 

 tioned many enterprises of various kinds, such 

 as factories of matches, cotton, tea, and sugar, 

 and ship-building yards, as in actual operation, 

 and added that the most striking feature of 

 this development was the extension of the silk 

 trade. In twenty-seven different prefectures, 

 702 filatures were organized, employing more 

 than 11,000 workpeople, while nearly all the 

 looms were engaged ; the great majority of the 

 undertakings had been begun within the last 

 four years. A new cotton factory has been 

 established at Hinieji, the building of which, 

 and the putting in of the machinery (German), 

 were undertaken by Japanese workmen with- 

 out foreign help. A cloth factory has been set 

 up at Tokio, the manager of which is a Japan- 

 ese gentleman, who has undergone a thorough 

 technical training in Saxony. An association 

 of twenty-one silk-growing villages in the prov- 



ince of Joshiu, dissatisfied with the present ar- 

 rangement of selling their " cards " to Italian 

 agents, has determined to start a branch estab- 

 lishment in Italy, and perform its own export- 

 ing and commercial transactions direct. A 

 method has been invented for using dog's hair 

 in making coverlets and similar articles, and 

 a considerable trade has been already carried 

 on both in the raw material and in the manu- 

 factured goods. Agricultural enterprises have 

 also excited a considerable degree of attention. 

 Among them is a company for horse and cattle 

 breeding at Shizoku, which has found much 

 favor with investors. 



The Japanese settlement of Fusan, which 

 was founded on the southern point of the pen- 

 insula of Corea in 1877, has become a town of 

 two thousand inhabitants. A consul resides 

 there for the protection of Japanese interests; 

 and a consular residence, a school, and a hos- 

 pital have been built. The formation of a 

 chamber of commerce has followed the rapid 

 increase of trade. Numerous restaurants fur- 

 nish food prepared in the Japanese and Eu- 

 ropean styles. Building is actively going on. 

 The goods imported into the place are for the 

 most part from Europe and America, and are 

 only to a small extent the produce of Japan, 

 ninety per cent, of the imports of 1879 having 

 been from Europe. Another settlement has 

 been founded at Gensan, on the west coast of 

 Corea, 447 miles from Fusan. This place is 

 situated on a vast plain, and in a very favorable 

 position, and has a large and handsome harbor, 

 which is said to be greatly superior to that of 

 Fusan. The Japanese settlement, which has 

 an area of about eighty-three acres, is already 

 partly occupied, and the building of a consulate 

 is nearly completed. The principal produc- 

 tions of the neighborhood are gold, silver, 

 leather, bones of horses and bulls, grain, fish, 

 and seaweed. The subject of forcing Corea to 

 grant a more liberal treaty has been much dis- 

 cussed in the Japanese journals; and a com- 

 bination of the European, American, and Ja- 

 panese fleets in a naval demonstration for 

 this purpose has been suggested. The Chinese 

 Government has been exerting an influence to 

 the same purpose by sending a letter to the 

 King urging him to open immediately some 

 ports to foreigners as a precautionary measure 

 against the constant menace of an invasion by 

 Russia. The Russian Government took some 

 steps during the summer, with its fleet, in the 

 direction of an effort to open negotiations for 

 a commercial treaty, and invited the assist- 

 ance of the American fleet, which was then 

 stationed in Chinese waters. 



JETER, J. B., was born in Bedford County, 

 Virginia, and died in Richmond, February 25, 

 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years. He 

 was, perhaps, more widely known than any 

 other minister of the Baptist Church through- 

 out the United States. For five years he trav- 

 eled over Virginia, preaching as an evangelist ; 

 was pastor of several churches in different 



