348 



JAPAN. 



lation, of which 70,000,000 yen were in gold and 

 200,000,000 yen were in silver ; while of the 196,129,- 

 826 yen of paper money in circulation, 9,045,082 yen 

 were in treasury notes. 13,610,995 yen were in na- 

 tional bank note's, and 173,473,749 yen were in silver 

 certificates. During the past year, which has seen 

 the rise of four cabinets and the fall of three, the 

 great problem has been to find the agreement upon 

 the method of taxation, in order to meet the deficit 

 which the great military and naval expansion since 

 1895 has called for. The burning point of politics 

 is upon the question of raising the land tax from 

 2.5 to 5 per cent., which was finally done almost 

 unanimously by the Imperial Diet at its twelfth 

 session Dec. 20, 1898. The expenditures for the 

 array and navy on their increased footing are esti- 

 mated at 40,000,000 yen, against 16,000,000 before 

 the war with China; and for this, with various 

 other enterprises, the yearly payments of interest 

 alone must amount to '17,000,000 yen, which, with 

 the Formosan expenses, means an increase of nearly 

 65,000,000 of annual expenditures. To meet these, 

 two new taxes a registration tax and a trade tax 

 and two increases of tax upon tobacco and sake were 

 necessary. The budget for 1898-'99, compiled by 

 Premier Matsukata, showed a deficit of 23,000,000 

 yen, but that prepared by Count Monye in March 

 reduced expenditures to the extent of 46,000,000 

 yen. Germany takes in direct taxes from her sub- 

 jects 7.50 yen per head, Japan takes but 2.30 yen. 



Navy. On March 1, 1898, the Japanese navy, 

 afloat or building, included 4 first-class and 2 sec- 

 ond-class battle ships ; 18 cruisers, 4 being in the 

 first, 9 in the second, and 5 in the third class ; 10 

 coast-defense ships of the third class ; 17 gunboats, 

 2 of the first and 15 of the second class ; 4 dispatch 

 vessels ; 1 torpedo-depot ship ; 8 torpedo destroyers 

 and 30 torpedo boats, 6 of the first, 4 of the sec- 

 ond, 23 of the third, and 1 of the fourth class, mak- 

 ing a total of 92 war ships. There are navy yards 

 at Yokosuka, Kure, and Sasebo, with dry docks and 

 most of the appurtenances of first-class naval sta- 

 tions, while on all the newer ships are the fullest 

 resources known to the modern science applied to 

 naval war. The " Shikishima " and " Asani," to be 

 completed in October, 1899, are the largest war 

 ships in the world, of 15,037 tons, carrying 50 guns 

 each. On Dec. 31, 1896, Japan had in her active 

 navy and in the naval reserve 353 superior officers, 

 950 officers, 837 naval cadets, 2,221 noncommissioned 

 officers, and 15,597 sailors and marines, a total of 

 20,028, besides 1,172 functionaries in the Navy De- 

 partment. 



Army. On Dec. 31,1896, Japan had in her mili- 

 tary establishment 88 generals, 947 superior officers, 

 5.613 officers, 5,054 cadets, 25,855 noncommissioned 

 officers, and 250,341 soldiers, a total of 287,858, with 

 8,413 employees in the Department of War. The 

 Imperial Guard, of 12,781 men, is in Tokio, where 

 also is the First Division, and there are large 

 barracks at Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, and 

 Kumumoto. In these places there is a division 

 numbering from 12,000 to 16,000 men. The gar- 

 risons in Formosa numbered 13,569. Of the total 

 given above, 119,478 men are serving with the col- 

 ors, 99,454 are in the reserve, and 68,926 belong to 

 the territorial army. In 1895, of 449,834 young men 

 before the recruiting officers, 394,811 had just at- 

 tained the age of conscription, and 55,023 were above 

 the age of twenty years. Of the total, 80,208 were 

 put into active service or under military instruction 

 in the reserves. In every thousand inhabitants there 

 are 9.39 conscripts twenty years old ; 19.87 out of 

 every hundred conscripts are taken into the army ; 

 5.48 in every hundred capable of military duty plead 

 excuse; and 8.94 in every hundred conscripts are 

 freed from duty. 



Religion. The chief religions are Shinto, Bud- 

 dhism, and Christianity. In 1895 there were 101,142 

 Shinto priests, pupils, or preachers, and 134,242 

 shrines and temples. There were 104,738 Buddhist 

 priests or preachers, with 9,286 pupils, monks, or 

 nuns, and 118,324 shrines and temples, divided 

 among the 10 large sects and numerous smaller 

 ones. Of adherents to the Roman Catholic Church 

 there were 52,796 in September, 1897, and to the 

 Russo-"Greek Church 23,856. Of members of Protes- 

 tant churches there were 40,578. The native 

 Protestants contributed 81,552 yen, and the Greek 

 churchmen 5,658 yen for religious purposes. Of 

 Protestant missionaries there were 652, of Roman 

 Catholics 315, and the Russo-Greek Church 2. Of 

 organized churches there were : Protestant, 384 ; 

 Russo-Greek, 168 ; Roman Catholic, 208. Of native 

 churches wholly self-supporting there were : Protes- 

 tant, 72; Russo-Greek, 1. Of churches partly self- 

 supporting there were: Protestant, 312; Russo-Greek, 

 167. Of adult converts baptized there were, Prot- 

 estants 3,062, besides 1,348 children. In the Russo- 

 Greek Church there were 992 adults and children, 

 and in the Roman Catholic church there were 2,031 

 adult and 3,033 infant baptisms. The number of 

 schools and colleges of all communions was 231, 

 with 12,642 pupils, besides Sunday schools, hospitals, 

 dispensaries, and most of the appliances of Chris- 

 tianity in America and Europe- 

 Foreign Trade. The total value of the foreign 

 trade of Japan in 1897 was 382,435,848 yen, against 

 289,517,234 yen in 1896, an increase of 92,918,614 

 yen, or over 32 per cent. Against 1888, the corre- 

 sponding figures were 131,160,744 yen, showing that 

 the foreign trade has trebled in a decade. These 

 figures also show that Japanese merchants are in- 

 vading the domain formerly monopolized by for- 

 eigners; for in 1888 the direct exports by Japanese 

 traders represented only 7,081,324 yen out of a total 

 of 65,704,510 yen, whereas in 1897 they rose to 

 44,244,286 yen, in a total of 163,135,077' yen. In 

 imports the increase has been 36 per cent., or 79,- 

 560,939 yen in 1897, out of a total of 219,300.771. as 

 compared with 8.483,739 yen in a total of 65,455.234 

 yen in 1888. The Japanese have labored to get rid 

 of the foreign middleman, and they have succeed- 

 ed ; but the foreigner as an agent holds his own. 

 The trade movement shows also that Japan is be- 

 coming more and more a manufacturing country, 

 increasing in her imports of machinery and raw 

 material, and decreasing in the quantity of manu- 

 factured goods. In 1897 she imported' 67,167,:54'3 

 yen : of raw cotton. 43,630.214 yen ; of machinery, 

 12,291,037 yen; of steel, iron rails, and railway 

 equipments, 10,188,609 yen ; and of wool, 1,057. JS-.2 

 yen. Her imports of manufactured stuffs amount- 

 ed to 28,018,431 yen. These were in the form of 

 cotton yarns, cotton goods, muslin, shirtings, flan- 

 nel, and woolen cloth. Her own exports of manu- 

 factured stuffs amounted to 29,232,247 yen. in which 

 three prominent items were cotton yarn 13,490,196 

 yen, and habutai (light summer silks) 9,530,676 yen, 

 and silk handkerchiefs, 3,390,145. The growth of 

 the Habutai industry is almost wholly from the year 

 1891, when 42,377 pieces, valued at 818,537 yen, were 

 exported, compared with 642,801 pieces in 1897, 

 valued at 9,530,676 yen. In the making of cotton 

 yarns nearly a million spindles are now at work. 

 All the exports show a general increase, that of silk 

 amounting to 27,000,000 ven. The chief items in 

 the net increase of 48,000,600 yen of imports are : In 

 machinery and raw materials, 21,750,000 yen ; and 

 in sugar, rice, peas, and beans, 24,500,000 yen, the 

 latter owing to the bad harvest of 1896. In sugar 

 there has been an increase from 7,000,000 in 1888 

 to over 20,000,000 yen in 1897. In paint the in- 

 crease from 1,205,313 pounds in 1888 to 3,085,082 



