462 



JAPAN. 



and on July 10 the awards were made in his 

 presence. The number of exhibitors was 170,- 

 000 ; judges, 200. Of the awards in medals, 7 

 were honorary, 176 progressive, 210 for excel- 

 lence, 3,965 of merit, 15 of approval, and 11,779 

 certificates of merit were issued. The number 

 of visitors averaged 13,000 a day. 



The one thousandth mile of railway was com- 

 pleted in the summer of 1889, and active work 

 proceeds both under Government and private 

 auspices, the thirteen hundredth mile being 

 passed at the end of 1890. The system, when 

 completed on the main island, will comprise a 

 trunk line from Awomori to Shimonoseki, the 

 Dan and Beersheba of Hondo, with two large 

 branches connecting Kioto and Tokio with the 

 rich provinces of the western coast, with minor 

 branches into the populous districts surrounding 

 the largest cities. The three islands Kiushiu 

 Shikoku, and Yezo will have their local lines. 

 The latter already possesses one of American 

 equipment, and with the construction and supe- 

 rior cheapness characteristic of American work. 

 Japan is not naturally suited to railways, and 

 the engineering difficulties are great, though 

 labor is cheap. ^In round numbers, the cost to 

 the Government for railways since 1872 has been 

 $30,000,000. The net profits for the year ending 

 March 31, 1889, were slightly over 4 per cent., 

 the passengers numbering 8,404,776, and the 

 freight carried amounting to 616,913 tons. The 

 subject of public highways, their construction, 

 maintenance, and improvement has received un- 

 usual attention of late from both the General 

 Government and the local authorities. The total 

 length of the national routes, or high roads lead- 

 ing from the capital to the prefectural chief cities, 

 great military headquarters, or to seaports open 

 to foreign commerce, is 10,667 miles, and of the 

 local or departmental highways, 16,894 miles. 

 In 1888 there were in use 2,215 private carriages, 

 14,987 vehicles drawn by horses, 190,819 man- 

 power carriages, 575,184 minor wheeled vehicles, 

 mostly push-carts, and 6,929 ox carts, making a 

 total of 790,134 vehicles. Jn 1887 486 steam ves- 

 sels in European form, of 72,322 tons burden and 

 16,641 horse-power, with 798 sailing vessels of 

 60,975 tons burden, and 17,194 vessels on Japan- 

 ese models, of 14,256,235 bushels capacity, and 

 546,677 boats were used for water transporta- 

 tion ; and managed by 63 sea, and 66 lake 

 and river navigation companies, whose capital 

 amounted to 15,416,956 yen, and whose employes 

 numbered 12,515 persons. In 1887, 403 ships 

 were wrecked, 119 badly and 9 partially dam- 

 aged. The length of telegraph wire used at the 

 end of 1889 was 16,808 miles, the number of 

 messages for that year being 3,149,170 in Japan- 

 ese and 63,364 in foreign languages. There 

 were in all 311 telegraph offices open for public 

 business, including 16 telephone offices, the ar- 

 rangement for telephone exchanges in all the 

 large towns being now concluded. The cost for 

 a single written message of ten kana characters 

 to any part of the empire is fifteen cents, and for 

 city local traffic five cents. Telegrams in a for- 

 eign language to any part of Japan are at the 

 rate of five cents a word. Messages are deliv- 

 ered free within a radius of 1 ri (2 miles) of the 

 telegraph office. The Japanese mind, next to 

 politics, seems to delight in finding channels for 



industrial activity. In 1889 45 railways, steam* 

 tram, or electric were planned, but only 8 chart- 

 ers were given by the Government. Schemes 

 for canal and harbor construction, for mining 

 development, and for electric lighting, are rife, 

 some of them yielding good returns. The im- 

 provement in the spinning industry is notable, 

 there being now 36 mills with 200',000 spindles. 

 In 1887 2,059 various societies employed 69,050,- 

 468 yen capital. 



The Imperial Diet. The national elections, 

 after due elaboration of preparatory details, took 

 place on July 1 amid great interest, but also with 

 quiet and decorum. The electorate is composed 

 of males who pay fifteen dollars annually in na- 

 tional taxes, and about 94 percent., or 574,308 

 voters, availed themselves of their privileges at 

 the poles. The average number of candidates 

 for each seat in the House of Representatives 

 was three, though in the large cities ten, twelve, 

 or fifteen persons frequently contended for one 

 seat. No one holding the rank of nobleman 

 can sit in the Lower House. One native editor 

 classified the 300 elected gentlemen and com- 

 moners as " practical " and " speculative." In the 

 former class, numbering 162, are 125 farmers, 

 36 business men, and 1 manufacturer. Among 

 the 138 "speculative" men are 24 lawyers, 16 

 newspaper writers, 5 teachers or literary men, 

 4 physicians, 19 men in Government employ, arid 

 70 classed as " miscellaneous." The " practical " 

 men are in the majority. Many of the so-called 

 farmers are highly educated land owners. A 

 notable proportion of representatives have been 

 graduated at the Imperial University or have 

 studied abroad. Almost without an exception 

 the dress worn is the European. In the com- 

 posite House of Peers, so called, are five classes 

 of sitters, from princes of the imperial blood to 

 commoners. The imperial princes, or members 

 of the imperial family, 9 in number, average 

 forty-three years of age. In the second class, or 

 princes, there are 10 persons, 6 of whom were 

 formerly nobles of the court, while the others are 

 heads of the great clans or nouses of Tokugawa, 

 Satsuma, and Choshiu, which have played so 

 prominent a part in the feudal history of Japan. 

 The third and largest class consists of marquises, 

 counts, barons, and viscounts. Among the 21 

 marquises are 9 former court nobles, 2 nobles 

 of recent creation, 1 ex-King of the Riu-Kiu 

 (Loo-Choo) Islands, and 9 ex-daimios (3 belong- 

 ing to the house of Tokugawa, whence came the 

 " Tycoons '") of the former prominent class or 

 feudal organizations. Out of 84 counts 15 have 

 been elected to the House of Peers, and among 

 the chosen number are 6 nobles of ancient pres- 

 tige and 3 of new creation, with 6 ex-daimios. 

 Of 87 barons, 20 were elected to sit, and of these 

 10 are nobles of new creation, 6 ex-priests of im- 

 perial temples, and 4 were former members of 

 the feudal or landed nobility. Of the 297 vis- 

 counts, 70 persons, consisting of ex-daimios, ex- 

 court nobles, and nobles of new creation, were 

 elected to sit as legislators. In this last group 

 of the third class are many of the most interest- 

 ing characters in recent Japanese history, the 

 list of viscounts being notably full of able and 

 promising men. The fourth class consists of men 

 of intellect and learning, nominated by the Mi- 

 kado, who sit for life. The number of these ap- 



