JAPAN. 



323 



show that in September there were, when free 

 from debt, 441 Japanese subjects worth 500,000 

 yen, or 1 semimillionaire in yen for every 100,000 

 people, of whom one-third were in Tokio, 38 

 being in the one district of Nihon Bashi. One or" 

 two men have amassed wealth in one generation; 

 the others have inherited the greater part of it. 

 In March, 1901, there were 01 cotton-spinning 

 companies with 61 factories and 908,301 spindles, 

 with an output of 17,847,044 pounds of cotton 

 yarn, employing 42,870 operatives, of whom 

 40,152 were females. Disturbances in China have 

 greatly affected the business of textiles, the de- 

 crease in the last half of 1900 being 45,523,000 

 pounds below that of the first half. At the end 

 of 1900 the area of mulberry farms was 751,368 

 acres, yielding 13,763,570 bushels of cocoons; 

 3,718,970 cards of eggs were reared to silkworms, 

 2,752,714 koku of cocoons raised, and 44,057,028 

 yen worth of raw silk and 4,101,318 yen of waste 

 silk were exported. The total ordinary revenue 

 from Formosa for 1900 was 10,270,186 yen, against 

 7,493,050 yen in 1898, making, with the extraor- 

 dinary revenue in 1900, 17,420,005 yen, against 

 11,283,205 yen in 1898. In the domestic trade of 

 Formosa, in 1900, the exports amounted to 4,078,- 

 000 yen, and the imports to 8,439,000 yen. In for- 

 eign trade the exports were worth 10,571,000 yen, 

 and imports 13,570,000 yen. 



Communications. The Nippon Yusen Kaisha 

 (Japanese Ocean Navigation Company) declared 

 a dividend of 12 per cent, in May, 1891, having 

 a fleet of steamers (0 of them on the Hong-Kong- 

 Seattle line, of 6,000 tons each) worth, by a rigid 

 modern standard of reckoning, 18,750,426 yen. In 

 railway development, exclusive of Formosa, there 

 were on March 31, 1900, 3,689 miles open, of which 

 2,806 were of private and 883 of Government 

 ownership, the total cost of construction being 

 243,423,280 yen, or 67,024 yen per mile. The re- 

 ceipts for one year amounted to 39,110,519 yen, 

 and expenses to 18,833,217 yen, the profit per cent, 

 on cost being 0.80, and per day on a mile 14.99. 

 The number of passengers carried was 102,115,942. 

 The checking system for baggage is used. The 

 once beautiful landscape has been made an eye- 

 sore by the disfiguration of advertisements. In 

 the year ending March 31, 1900, 50,000 persons were 

 employed in the postal department, 624,700,890 

 articles of small matter were handled, and 5,852,- 

 045 parcels conveyed, through 4,447 offices, with 

 44,002 letter-boxes, and more than 185,110,402 

 miles of postal routes. These figures do not in- 

 clude Formosa, whose statistics are remarkable 

 for their increase from 1890. Including Formosa, 

 there were 1,496 telegraph offices and 105,301 

 miles of wire, over which 14,507,000 domestic and 

 277,300 international messages were sent, the 

 total receipts being $3,130,790, and the expenses 

 $2,532,205. For the delivery of telegrams, bicycles 

 are used. Of telephones there were 72 offices and 

 11,813 subscribers, who held 40,000,000 conversa- 

 tions over 178,005 miles of separate wires. The 

 expenses of inauguration and working amounted 

 to $1,150,000, and the receipts for 1900 were $500,- 

 000. In 1898 the Japanese had only one steamer 

 of 5,000 tons or more, but now they have 21 ves- 

 sels of that size. On Sept. 16, 1901, there were in 

 the empire 942 steamers of 557,166 tonnage, 3,416 

 sailing vessels of 315,767 tonnage, the crews of 

 which numbered 15,327. Ship-building has re- 

 ceived a great stimulus through bounties offered 

 by the Government. The metric system is used 

 side by side with the native measures, which are 

 decimal. A tsubo, which is exactly the size of 

 two floor mats, so that it conveys clearly an ex- 

 act measure picture to the native eye, has no deci- 



mal features. Hence the Japanese -"ii^inoors, me- 

 chanics, artisans, and merchants caleulute by this 

 square measure especially. In J'JOO, -^ !U!) )', reign 

 tourists traveled in the empire. 



Public Hygiene. The national health i ; de- 

 cidedly improving. The report of the Centra! >;mi- 

 tary Bureau for 1890 shows that the most 

 mon diseases are dysentery, typhoid fever, sumll- 

 pox, cholera, and diphtheria, the number of case* 

 of these disorders in 10,000 of the population being 

 in round numbers 10, 9, 3, 2, 1, respectively. Of 

 85,870 persons attacked with dysentery, 20 out 

 of every 100 died. Of every 100 attacked with 

 diphtheria in 1895, 49 died, but after the introduc- 

 tion of treatment by serum, the rate in the em- 

 pire fell to 38, and in Tokio to 23. There are 

 39,214 practising physicians, or 1 to every 1,030 

 persons, in the empire. In the hospitals the most' 

 advanced results of modern science and experi- 

 ence, many of them first introduced or suggested 

 by Christian missionaries, are in use. In health, 

 strength, weight of body and length of average 

 life, improvement has been made in the whole 

 empire, and most notably in the army and navy. 



Trade. Since 1890 the purchases of Japan 

 from countries other than the United States have 

 been trebled, while American exports to Japan 

 have increased tenfold. In 1900 the trade with the 

 United States was greater in volume and value 

 than that with any other country, amounting 

 to one-fourth of the total business. The exports 

 were valued at 204,429,994 yen, and the imports 

 at 287,201,845 yen. In 1900 the trade with China 

 amounted to 01,800,000 yen, Great Britain 82,900,- 

 000 yen, Germany 32,700,000 yen, the United States 

 115,300,000 yen. The exports to the United States 

 were 52,500,395 yen, and the imports were 02,- 

 701,196 yen. In 1901 the exports of the first six 

 months amounted to 115,340,130 yen, and the im- 

 ports to 130,599,018 yen. The United States buy, 

 in millions of yen, tea, 7 ; rice, camphor, raw and 

 manufactured silk, 32; matting, 3; porcelain, 1; 

 plaited straw, 1; and fans, 1. The Americans sell 

 all kinds of machinery, 4; flour and foodstuffs, 4.5; 

 steel rails and manufactured iron or steel, 3.5; 

 petroleum and other oils, 11; cotton, 8.4; and 

 other articles that minister to the most advanced 

 needs of civilization. The cotton-crop of Japan is 

 unimportant, and raw cotton must be imported. 



Religion and Education. Shinto with 12 

 sects, Buddhism with 38 large and many smaller 

 sects, and Christianity in its 3 forms (Greek, 

 Roman, and Reformed) are the acknowledged re- 

 ligions of the country, protected by law, their fol- 

 lowers being guaranteed absolute freedom of be- 

 lief and practise, within the limits not prejudicial 

 to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their 

 duties as subjects. In 1897 there were of temples, 

 Shinto, 191,962; of Buddhist, 109,945; of Christian 

 church edifices, 289. In 1900 there were of Prot- 

 estant missionaries 723, with 42,273 members, 416 

 congregations, with various schools, and most of 

 the appliances of modern philanthropic work. 

 The Roman Catholics, with 106 missionaries, had 

 251 congregations, and 54,002 adherents. The 

 Russo-Greek Church, with 297 churches, had 25,- 

 098 followers. There were 5,111 day- or boarding- 

 schools and 33,039 Sunday-school pupils in Prot- 

 estant missionary schools, with property valued 

 at 751,140 yen, apart from church edifices valued 

 at 370,109 yen; and 14 theological schools with 

 98 pupils and 234 graduates of same. In 14 hos- 

 pitals or dispensaries, 2,208 in-patients and 20,729 

 out-patients were treated. The amount raised by 

 native Protestant Christians for all purposes in 

 1900 was 107,459 yen. 



The national system of education, elaborated in 



