2282 COMMEECML JAPAN. [Decejidee, 



The first annual returns (1896) for the ports of Formosa (now a part of the Japanese Empire) show that the import of wheat flour 

 from the United States was 6,900,330 pounds, valued at 218,898.76 yen ($116,016.34). 



A portion of the increase in the import for the year 1896 may be accounted for by the fact that it has been discovered that a steady 

 rice diet encourages the tendency to a disease known as "kakke," or beriberi. If wheat is used occasionally, this tendency is greatly 

 reduced or removed, and the authorities have required the occasional use of wheat flour in the army and navy. 



Almost all of the flour imported is the soft-wheat flour of Washington and Oregon. The importing merchants inform me that they 

 have made more than one effort to introduce the hard-wheat flour, but without success. The Japanese, accustomed as they are to the 

 white flour made from rice, object to the dark color of the hard-wheat flour. I understand that objection has also been made that thig 

 flour is more gritty than that made from soft wheat. 



In the past, the import of flour has been made almost entirely by the large foreign firms at the open ports of the Empire, but the 

 Japanese are now evincing a desire to engage in direct trade, and three or four of their larger houses in Tokyo and Yokohama are now, 

 I believe, importing flour. 



Vice-Consul Sharp, of Osaka and Hiogo, also reports to the State Department as follows: 



There is a steady market here for American flour, and, in my opinion, the demand is on the increase. In 1895, the statistics of the 

 imperial cu.=toms here show the imports to have been 581,789 catties (775,718 pounds), valued at 29,894.31 silver }-en ($14,947.16); in 

 1896, 2,437,541 catties (3,250,055 pounds), valued at 129,447.50 silver yen ($68,736.62), showing the increase for 1896 to have been 

 1,855,752 catties (2,474,337 pounds), valued at 99,553.19 silver yen ($53,789.46). This increase I believe to be due to the increased 

 transportation facilities and lower freights from the Pacific coast. 



The equivalents of the Japanese yen in United States gold have been computed at 50 cents for 1895 and at 53.1 cents for 1896. 



The American flour imported here comes principally from San Francisco, Cal., Pendleton and Portland, Oreg., and Spokane and 

 Tacoma, Wash. 



The demand for flour here is cliiefly confined to the lower grades, not only becaase the use of flour is making the greatest strides 

 among the poorer cla.=ses of the country, with whom cheapness is the greatest desideratum, but because a large quantity is used for 

 making i)aste in the enormous paper industries, such as the manufacture of screens, fans, kites, and numerous other articles for which a 

 good and cheap quality of paste is neces-sary. 



The higher grades of American flour are chiefly sold to the naval vessels and foreign bakers, who supply the local market with 

 bread and cakes. 



The uses of flour have become more general among the Japanese during the past few years. 



The difference between the average price of American flour and Japanese flour is about one cent on the pound. This information 

 I have procured through the local government from the several provinces within this consular district. 



There are two classes of Japanese flour, one manufactured from wheat and the other from rice, the latter being much smaller in 

 quantity than the former. Japanese flour is principally used for making vermicelli, macaroni, and cakes. 



The method employed by the Japanese for the manufacture of flour is primitive, compared with that in the United States. The 

 rice or wheat, being cleaned, is then ground to a powder, or proper consistency, by means of a stone mortar, run usually by water 

 power, which is one of nature's greatest gifts to this country. There are no flour mills of foreign construction within the limits of this 

 consular district. 



In view of the small quantity of freight offered for the outward passages of vessels from San Francisco to Hiogo (Kob^), si)ecial 

 low rates have been made on flour, owing to its use as ballast or stiffening, instead of rock ballast. 



The principal importers of American flour here are Messrs. Frazar & Co. and Dodwell, Carlill & Co., both being agents of steamers, 

 and receive commission on their cargo, which enables them to lay flour down here at a lower figure than one engaged in other pursuits. 



The question of difference between hard-wheat flours and soft-wheat flours is unknown here, and therefore cuts no figure in the 

 flour trade. 



As to whether there is a favorable opening in this consular district for hard-wheat flours, it is simply a quei?tion of price and push. 

 The long rail from Minnesota, or as far west as Great Falls, INIont., to the Pacific coast shipping points, is the problem to be solved, and 

 as, acconling to the United States interstate commerce bill, a railway can not charge less for a long than a short haul, and wheat can be 

 produced in Washington at as low a cost as in the Middle West, AVashington flour dominates this market. 



WIIE.VTEX-FLOUR BUSINESS IN JAPAN. 



[From the Japan Times, September 6,1898.] 



The flour business in this country is yet in its infant stages, and consequently there are no large mills, such as are to bo found in 

 other countries. In Tcjkyo there is only one establishment of the kind, two or three in Osaka, one in Nagasaki, one in Hiroshima, while 

 n siiniiar one was lately established in Sapporo, Hokkaido. At the one m Tokyo, where the latest improved machinery has been 

 cmiiloyed since 1896, the outjjut of flour per month is said to amount to 16,000 bag.s on an average, about 4,000 koku (19,852 bushels) of 

 wheat being consumed every month. But the output of all the mills in the country together can not be expecteti to entirely meet the 

 demand of the ever-inrrea.sing nunilxT of consuiucrs, thus necessitating the import of flour in considerable quantity. In 1S92 the fl-^m- 

 inq)orti'(l, chiefly from America, amounteil to 752 kin (1,002 pouiul.^;) ; and in 1896 the imjKuts amoimted to 24,000,000 kin (32,0(V.UK"» 

 pounds), with a markcl in(Tea.«iiig tendency, With regard to the quality of the home and American flour there is some difference, the 

 latter being perfectly white; and it i.'! on this accciunt that the American flour is widely consumed now in Jajwn. In order to remedy 

 this state of things, s<>iue seeds of the American wheat plant have recently been introduce*! into Japan, and are now tultivatoil and 

 succes.-^fully raised in Joshu, Ibaraki, and other neighboring localities of tlie capital. It is tluM-cfor.' expected that after the lapse of 

 Boiuc years the import of iUnericau flour will bo greatly re<luced. 



TRADE CONDITIONS IN JAPAN— OPENING FOR AMERICAN GOODS. 



The following extrart.i are from the annual report of Unit^id States Consul Lyon, of Hiogo, in Commercial Relations, 1897-98: 



Nodiiug .«erveH better to illustrate the i>rogre.s>jive spirit of the Japanese than their great anxiety for the intnxluction of for. i-n 

 capital for business iiurjio-ses. The efforts in this direction by the busine^ classes are sti'ongly supplemeutod by the vernacular i rcss 



and by thi> .lapniirse <'hanilu>rs of commerce in Ko1h> and elsewheix^. 



