1901.] 



COMMERCIAL JAPAN. 



2281 



THE EMPLOYMENT OF FUNDS IN THE GOVERNMENT TREASURY IN CONNECTION WITH THE COINAGE REFORM. 



As may Ixi seen from the preceding chapters, the coinage reform was effected by applying the gold coins Vjelonging to the Chinese 

 indemnity fund as a gold reserve for the exchange of 1-ycn silver coins. But this does not mean that a farthing out of the indemnity 

 money was consumed for the purpose. To exj)lain, before being applied to various purposes for which the indemnity fund was appro- 

 priated according to the budget estimate, the gold coins belonging to the said indemnity were utili/x-d for the exchange of 1-yen silver 

 coins, while the amount thus utilized was paid back and the expenditures for which that amount had been appropriated met with by 

 the money realized from the sale of the retired silver yen. In effecting all these transactions, funds in the Government trea.sury were 

 made use of under different comptabilite — i. e., the indemnity money special comptabilite, the currency adjustment fund .special 

 comptabilite, and the mint bureau manufacture special comptabilite, in the following manner: 



I. The indemnity money special comptabilite shall buy gold bullion with its fund deposited in London, ship the eaid bullion 

 home and deliver it to the mint t)ureau in order to be coined into money. 



II. The mint bureau shall receive gold bullion from the indemnity money special comptabilite, coin it into gold currency, and 

 then return the latter to the said comptabilite. 



III. The indemnity money special comptabilite shall exchange 1-yen silver coins for the gold currency received from the mint 

 bureau, thus effecting their retirement. 



IV. The indemnity money special comptabilite shall transfer 1-yen silver coins which have been exchanged for gold currency to 

 the coinage adjustment fund special comptabilite at their face value. 



V. The coinage adjustment fund spectial c'omptal)ilite shall sell at a market price the retired 1-yen Eilver coins received at face 

 value from the indemnity money special comptiibilite. 



VI. The coinage adjustment fund special comptabilite shall pay for the retired 1-yen silver coins received from the indemnity 

 money special comptabilite (Paragra])h IV) with the money realized from the sale of those retired silver yen. 



VII. The mint bureau shall coin subsidiary silver pieces with 1-yen silver coins bought from the coinage adjustment fund 

 special comptabilite, and shall transfer to the same comptabilite the profits resulting from these subsidiary coins and. from other items 

 of manufacture. 



VIII. The coinage adjustment fund special comptabilite shall make good the loss resulting from balancing the price obtained 

 for the sale of the retired silver yen and the price at which the same were received, with the profits transferred from the mint bureau. 



IX. The indemnity money special comptabilite shall in the above manner receive from the coinage adjustment fund the payment 

 for the retired silver yen, and apply the money thus received in payment toward expenditures determined by the budget. 



Thus, the indemnity money special comptabilite, while it exchanged 1-yen silver coins at its face value, did not suffer the lea.st 

 loss since the said comptabilite transferred it to the coinage adjustment fund special comptabilite at its face value, while the loss which 

 the coinage adjustment fund suffered by receiving the retired silver yen at the face value and selling the same at current valuation was 

 made good by the protits realized at the mint bureau from the coining of the subsidiary pieces. 



In this manner were accomplished the retirement and disposal of 1-yen silver coin by employing funds in the Government 

 treasury, while the loss arising from the transactions was made good by the profits of the mint bureau. 



COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS. 



Commercial conditions in Japan, the demands of trade, and the methods which should be followed by those desiring closer business 

 relations wdth the people of that country, the prospects as to the effect of the new treaties, and commerce in general are discussed in 

 the following extracts from reports of consuls of various nations, excerpts from newspapei's published in Japan, and other discussions by 

 those having exceptional facilities for information upon this subject. These extracts and expressions are followed by statistical tables 

 from Japanese official sources, which are very complete, since the Japanese Government not only publishes elaborate commercial statistics, 

 but takes an annual census of population, schools, railways, manufacturing and other internal industries, thus presenting recent and 

 complete statistical views of the condition of the Empire and its people. 



AMERICAN FLOUR GAINING IN POPULARITY IN JAPAN. 



From reports to the State Department, published in the Consular Reports for 1898, it appears that American flour is gaining in 

 popularity in Japan. Consul-General Mclvor reports to the Department as follows: 



The Japanese have not been consumers of bread, but have used flour in the manufacture of confections, of which great quantities 

 are sold and used, not only as accessories (as with us), but as staple articles of diet. For years rice flour has been used in the preparation 

 of these confections, but they are beginning to use wheat flour, both for this purpose and, to a limited extent, in making biscuits. Almost 

 ftU of the wheat flour imported into Japan comes from the United States and the import is now increasing, as is shown by the following 

 table, taken from the othcial customs returns of the Empire for 1894, 1895, and 1896, compared with the table accompanying my report 

 for the years 1890-1893, dated April 30, 1894: 



Quantity and Value of Imports of Wheat Flour into Japan during the Years 1890-1893. 



Imports into Japan op Wheat Flour from the United States for the Years 1894-1896. 



