388 



JAPAN. 



1894 showed that, besides 50,000 men actually 

 under arms, 100,000 trained soldiers were avail- 

 able. Their discipline, enthusiasm, and mastery 

 of the details of scientific warfare account large- 

 ly for their successes in the field. In the navy 

 there are, including reserves and functionaries, 

 13,987 men, of whom 269 are superior, 1,122 or- 

 dinary, and 2,072 subordinate officers, and 8,486 

 sailors and marines. Of the war ships, 10 were 

 built in Europe, and the remaining 25 at Yo- 

 kosha or some other of the 5 naval stations, 2 of 

 which have facilities for the construction of 

 steel-armored vessels of the finest modern style 

 and equipment. Cleanliness, economy, disci- 

 pline, and attention to the details of seamanship 

 as well as machinery characterize the navy. Be- 

 sides impressing into the national service all the 

 available merchant steamers, the Government 

 purchased or chartered a fleet of fast transports. 

 The elaborate hospital service and the Red 

 Cross Society provide for the needs of invalided 

 and wounded soldiers 



Agriculture and Industry. The statistics 

 for 1892 show marked increase in land reclama- 

 tion and cultivation, yet the amount of crops 

 harvested annually varies according to the se- 

 verity of the hurricanes, inundations, and other 

 destructive natural phenomena. Rice is the 

 staple food, and irrigated rice land excels from 

 three- to five-fold all others in value. In 1892 

 206,894,780 bushels of rice, 34,046,625 of barley, 

 30,285,120 of rye, and 15,370,210 of wheat were 

 harvested, the average yield to the acre for all 

 crops being 1-nft, bushels. In general, the land 

 is most fertile when nearest the cities, the chief 

 manure being human ordure The ratio of agri- 

 cultural products to the total exports in 1892 

 was 63-3 per cent. ; of manufactures, 15'6 : rain- 

 ing products, 13-4; marine products, 4*9; mis- 

 cellaneous, '8 ; yet the ratio of arable land to 

 the entire area is smaller in Japan than in any 

 European country, being but 12'3 per cent., 

 compared with 54-6 per cent, in France and 24'7 

 in Bulgaria. There is not only plenty of waste 

 land in Yezo, but also in Kiushiu and north- 

 eastern Hondo, besides large uncultivated plains 

 near Tokio. The agricultural classes form 71 

 per cent, of the population, or 27,500,000 souls 

 in all. While the commercial and industrial 

 classes are well supplied with banks, the farmers 

 have not the same facilities for obtaining capi- 

 tal ; hence the relatively slower rate of progress. 

 The silkworms obtain their food from mulberry 

 trees planted in orchards covering 619,923 acres. 

 The live stock of the empire comprised in 1891 

 622,006 cows and 435,416 oxen, a total of 1,057,- 

 422, or 26 animals to every 1,000 persons. Be- 

 sides 844,790 mares, there were 702,871 stallions, 

 or a total of 1,547,661 horses, or 38 to every 

 1,000 inhabitants. Animal flesh being now a 

 standard article of food, and horseflesh popu- 

 lar, there were slaughtered in 1891 89,306 beeves 

 and 25,817 horses (against none in 1870 arid 

 3,062 in 1886). Of tea, 70,963,930 (troy) pounds 

 were raised in 1891. In 14,703 distilleries, in 

 which 960,555 persons were employed, 136,319,440 

 gallons of alcoholic beverages were manufac- 

 tured. In 10,170 factories 48,522,360 gallons of 

 soy were made. The ceramic product amounted 

 to yen 3,085,562. In sericulture the output was 

 3,074,819 cards of eggs, 11,149,760 troy pounds 



of raw silk of superior and 4,264,090 of inferioi 

 quality, and 548,030 pounds of floss silk. Of 

 matches, 12,841,021 gross, valued at yen 2,572,- 

 980, were made. Her astonishing progress as a 

 manufacturing country, which is enabling Japan 

 to win away, from Great Britain much of the 

 Indian, most of the Korean, and some of the 

 Chinese trade, is shown in the record of the cot- 

 ton industry. Steamers especially fitted for the 

 trade in peninsular Asia are being purchased. 

 The first cotton mill was erected in 1863, with 

 5,456 spindles. In 1883 there were 16 mills, 

 with 43,704 spindles ; in 1893, 46 mills had 600,- 

 000 spindles. Large orders for more spinning 

 machinery some intended for yarns of the fine 

 qualities are now in foreign hands. The ex- 

 port duty on cotton yarns has been abolished. 



Communications. Instead of the foot-run- 

 ner of ancient days, who carried his tiny pack- 

 age at the end of a split bamboo, the organized 

 postal system has now 3,169 post offices and 535 

 mixed postal and telegraphic stations; 27,859 

 miles of territorial, 1,794 miles of ferry, 139 of 

 river, and 16,646 miles of marine postal routes 

 are now open. In 1892-'93 221,563,619 letters, 

 50,829,700 papers, and 5,412,424 book packets, 

 or a total of 277,805,743 articles, passed through 

 the mails, making an average of 6'66 to each in- 

 habitant. In 1892 the total of foreign corre- 

 spondence was 904,233 covers sent and 1,486,184 

 received. At the 2,276 domestic money-order 

 offices, 2,944,622 orders, amounting to yen 23,- 

 872,453, were emitted, while 6,296 foreign orders, 

 amounting to yen 227,637, were sent or paid. 

 In 1892, from 633 telegraph offices, over 8,638 

 miles of lines and 24,800 miles of wire (not in- 

 cluding 492 miles of submarine cables), 5,235,272 

 messages were sent, or 11'61 to every 100 per- 

 sons. The messages sent abroad numbered 52,- 

 597, and those received from abroad 54,895. 

 Twenty telephone offices employed 154 miles of 

 wire. In 1893 the railway system had 1,880 

 miles of rail in operation (of which 558 were on 

 the state railways and 1,322 owned by compa- 

 nies), 267 under construction, and 358 surveyed 

 ready for finishing. The total expense incurred 

 by public and private enterprise was yen 84,493,- 

 038, for which there was of private capital sub- 

 scribed yen 73,123,000. The rolling stock com- 

 prised 318 locomotives, 1,373 passenger and 4,752 

 freight cars. At the 362 stations 26,977,97" 

 passengers embarked. The net profits were ye 

 4,696,034, the expenses being 48 per cent, of th 

 receipts. There are also in the empire 993,5'J 

 vehicles drawn by horse, ox, or man power, the 

 jinrikishas numbering 177,303. For water 

 transport there were in 1892 643 steamers, 778 

 sailing vessels of European model, 18.193 junks, 

 and 585,456 small boats. The coasts are lighted 

 by 71 national lighthouses or lightships and 22 

 beacons, while 126 lighthouses, towers, boats, or 

 various indicators to seafaring people are sup- 

 ported at local expense. 



Administration. One of the greatest of re- 

 forms accomplished in Japan, leading to the rel- 

 ative decrease of the burdens borne by the peo- 

 ple and the multiplication of producers, was tlie 

 reduction of the nontaxpaying gentry, or wear- 

 ers of two swords, from the status of pensioners 

 to that of breadwinners and ratepayers. ' Prior 

 to 1872 about one fifteenth of the male popular 



