354: 



JAPAN. 



able is 600,000, divided into three classes: (1) 

 The active army and reserve; (2) the army of 

 depot and reserve, divided into classes; (3) the 

 territorial army and reserve. Military sen-ice 

 lasts three years in the active army and four 

 years and four months in the reserve of the active 

 army, seven years and four months in the first 

 class of the army of depot, and one year and 

 four months in the second class of the same 

 army, five years in the territorial army, and eight 

 years in the reserve of the territorial army. 

 There are 12 military districts, in each of which 

 is an army division, in addition to the Imperial 

 Guard, which is stationed usually in Tokio. The 

 actual military strength, including the police, is 

 7,650 officers, 162,000 non-commissioned officers 

 and privates, and 30,000 horsemen, which on a 

 war footing is increased to 8,055 officers, 221,074 

 non-commissioned officers and privates, and 44,- 

 000 horses. In the reserve are 950 officers, 33,389 

 non-commissioned officers and privates, and 5,000 

 horses. The territorial army consists of 3,198 

 officers, 125,564 non-commissioned officers and 

 privates, and 21,000 hordes. There are 19 regi- 

 ments of artillery, each divided into three sec- 

 tions of 2 batteries, and each battery has 6 

 pieces. The field-pieces in use were invented by 

 Gen. Arisaka, who was recently decorated by the 

 Emperor for his services. They are quick-firing 

 guns, with a caliber of 75 millimeters. In each 

 of the 13 divisions are 2 brigades of infantry, each 

 of 2 regiments of 3 battalions of 4 companies, 1 

 regiment of cavalry (3 squadrons), 1 regiment 

 of artillery, and 1 battalion of engineers (3 com- 

 panies). To each division belongs 1 " 6tat ma- 

 jor " chosen from experienced officers who have 

 been graduated at the Academy of War. Besides 

 the 13 divisions are 2 brigades of cavalry, 2 bri- 

 gades of field-artillery, and 15 battalions of 

 fortress-artillery. The active army is equipped 

 with the Arisaka rifle, adopted in 1897. It has a 

 caliber of 6 millimeters and fires a projectile of 

 22 grams, with an initial velocity of 725 miles. 

 The Murata rifle, used in the Chino-Japanese 

 War in 1895, and in use by the reserve and terri- 

 torial armies, has but 580 miles of initial velocity. 

 There are training-schools in every branch of the 

 service, and all the cannon, small arms, and ammu- 

 nition are made in the Government arsenals at 

 Tokio and Osaka. The Red Cross Society has a 

 membership of 728,507 members, a total income of 

 4,657,575 yen. and 2 fully equipped hospital ships. 

 The Navy. Within seven years after seeing 

 Commodore Perry's war steamers in Yedo Bay, 

 the Japanese navigated a steamer of their own 

 across the Pacific, and naval development has 

 since made steady progress. There are five mari- 

 time districts, in three of which are thorough 

 facilities for the repairing and building of ships. 

 Of the post-bellum program, formulated in 1895, 

 from 57,900 tons in 1894 to 200,000 tons by 1905, 

 there are now afloat and in commission 6 new 

 battle-ships of 276 guns (the Mikasa, of 15,362 

 tons, arnved in May, 1902) ; 2 old battle-ships, 

 of 46 guns; 10 old battle-ships for coast-defense 

 of 99 guns; 6 first-class cruisers with 103 guns, 

 2 first-class gunboats with 19 guns, making with 

 despatch-boats, torpedo-destroyers, and torpedo- 

 boats, 59 ships with 1,110 guns; besides which, 

 a fleet of between 20 and 30 modern vessels are 

 kept in reserve, ready for service. At first it 

 was difficult to get sailors, but now the needs 

 of the navy are amply met in this respect, the 

 great difficulty being to secure trained officers, 

 especially those in the lower grades. While the 

 tonnage has increased 400 per cent., the number 

 of men has increased but 100 per cent., or from 



17,140, in 1895, to somewhat over 33,000 in 1902. 

 There is only one naval college, at Edajima, 

 capable of accommodating 600 cadets, another 

 being planned for Yokosaka. Great improvement 

 has taken place in the weight of the personnel of 

 the navy. The average body weight of 19,983 per- 

 sons, measured in 1886 and in 1901, shows an 

 increase from 123 to 126 pounds. The total mili- 

 tary expenses of Japan on land and water aver- 

 age per head of population 1.74 yen, against 2.60 

 of administrative expenses, and much less than 

 that of any other country. 



Resources.- The total available wealth of Ja- 

 pan is reckoned by her own economists at 15,000,- 

 000,000 yen, but the large number of enterprises 

 required to change the nation from an insular and 

 agricultural to a commercial, manufacturing, and 

 maritime people has made a drain upon the 

 ready capital of the country, which has revealed 

 at once both its wealth and its poverty. The 

 rates of interest are being lowered, and the gold 

 reserve in the Bank of Japan has been substan- 

 tially increased, showing greater financial stabil- 

 ity. On Oct. 1, 1897, Japan adopted the gold 

 standard. The coins issued in 1901 amounted in 

 value to 15,949,645 yen. The coinage of 1901, 

 compared with that of 1900, shows an increase, 

 chiefly in gold, of 2,100,059 yen. Largely through 

 defects of management the postal savings-banks 

 show but 2,275,680 depositors, or 4.8 per cent, of 

 the population, which in 1901 averaged in de- 

 posits 11.77 yen, making a total of 26,806,859 yen. 

 In the same year 6,248,700 yen were sent home 

 from Japanese living abroad. 



Finances. The expenditures of recent years 

 have raised the aggregate debt of the cities and 

 prefectures from 9,093,801 yen in 1893 to 33,187,- 

 806 yen in 1901. The national unredeemed debt 

 in 1900 was 503,200,664 yen or 11.5 per person. 

 The chief items of national revenue are taxes on 

 land, sake, income, business, sugar, soy, customs, 

 and stamps, the revenue derived from posts and 

 telegraphs, state monopolies, railways, and in 

 recent years the Chinese indemnity, making a 

 grand total in the budget of 1902 of 273.631,176 

 yen ; the total expenditures amounted to 270,424,- 

 495 yen, these in their order being for the depart- 

 ments of Finance, Communications, War, Navy, 

 Home, Justice, and Education. The trial budget 

 for 1903 shows a revenue of 256,000,000 yen and 

 an expenditure of 262,000,000 yen. Among the 

 items are the custom-house works at Kobe, 

 3,500,000 yen; riverine works, dikes, etc., a cen- 

 sus on scientific principles, 450,000 yen; tele- 

 phones, 1,450,000 yen; various industrial outlays, 

 including a subsidy for the St. Louis Exposition, 

 amounting in all to 5,500,000 yen. Among the 

 details of the foreign offices appropriations of 

 6,500,000 yen are allowances for 4 new consulates 

 and 9 honorary consulates, all in China and Korea. 

 The cost of military operations in China for 'the 

 year ending March 31, 1902, was 13,887,920; of 

 sending a squadron to England for the corona- 

 tion, 397,841 yen; of overseeing the elections, 119,- 

 690 yen; of floating and repairing stranded men- 

 of-war, 288,618 yen; of gathering up bodies from 

 the Awomori disaster and for funeral rites, 150,000 

 yen. Through Messrs. Baring Brothers a loan to 

 the Japanese Government for 5,000,000 yen at 5 

 per cent, interest was subscribed several times, 

 over in London. There are 2,414 banks in th' 

 empire, with a total capital of 517,766,000 yen 

 In Formosa, where silver is temporarily tho 

 standard, 1,256,252 pieces of silver yen of tho 

 same type of the old coinage system were struck 

 at the Osaka mint in 1901 to serve as the reservo 

 fund for the notes of the Bank of Formosa. 





