AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 



19 



Capron was installed as organizer, or ** commissioner." Under 

 him were a number of his American countrymen, acting as geolo- 

 gists, engineers, farmers, gardeners, etc., and in addition to them, 

 a host of young Japanese, who were to serve their apprenticeship 

 here. Some of these American officials were certainly capable 

 men, who are not to blame because the success of the undertaking 

 did not by any means meet people's expectations, and whose per- 

 formances are not to be identified with those of General Capron. 



On his recommendation, the Kaitakushi established on the 

 Yashiki-ground of several former Daimios, near Tokio, three so- 

 called model farms, of altogether about ninety ha. These were to 

 serve as experiment-stations and preparatory schools for Yezo — the 

 first, for the reception of breeding cattle imported from North 

 America and England, and the growing of fodder ; the second, for 

 the cultivation of vegetables and grain ; the third, for the intro- ' 

 duction of foreign fruit-trees, berry-bushes, and other useful plants. 

 Of the cattle, brought at great cost from the countries named, a 

 considerable number were carried off by disease ; the rest were 

 partly lost through unsuitable fodder and insufficient attention. 

 Other model farms were established on Yezo itself, at Hakodate 

 and the new capital, Sapporo. There was opened, also, in 1876, 

 an agricultural school here, called " The Agricultural Colle,q,"e of 

 Sapporo," modelled after an institution in Massachusetts. There 

 had already been a fiasco in Tokio with another college designed 

 for the Ainos. The geological survey of Yezo, the building of a 

 road from Hakodate to Sapporo, new saw-mills, and many other 

 things consumed a great deal of money. If it cannot be said 

 that every undertaking of the Kaitakushi was ill-conceived and 

 neglected, and came to nothing, it is, however, true of many. The 

 general opinion of foreigners in Japan was, that the results stood 

 in shocking disproportion to the enormous outlay. Vast sums 

 were placed by the central Government at the disposal of the 

 Kaitakushi. Thus, for example, in 1877 an additional 1,905,666 

 yen = about ;^38o,ooo. It was, indeed, long the goose from which 

 many contrived to pluck a golden feather. 



In aiming to imitate America, they forgot that, in its case, the 

 Government left everything to free competition and development, 

 that the pioneers from Europe and the Atlantic seaboard, who 

 pressed westward and spread their culture over deserts, were quite 

 a different race from the Japanese and Ainos. In this, as in many 

 other cases, the Government displayed lack of experience, blindness 

 towards better advisers, and a desire to do everything through the 

 State and as quickly as possible. And consequently the great 

 hopes which it placed upon this new branch of its activity and 

 development of power were followed only by disappointments, as 

 was natural. An army of officials, divided responsibility, and want 

 of earnest personal interest, crippling all strength and energy, will 

 produce no better result anywhere. The mistakes of Governments 



