09 



traditional ir et lie dp, be diiven nit ( f the market, then there would — taking into 

 account (lie diminution resulting from working the pig — annually to have been 

 produced a quantity of : 



15,000 tons as substitute for imported iron, 

 5.000 „ ,, „ „ native iron-production 



Total : 20,000 „ pig-iron. 



Let us now examine, whether tlieie is any jrospect, lhat this hitherto maxi- 

 mum demand for about 20,000 tons will increase in the future. 



If the building of ronds and the bridging over of the numerous rivers by aid of 

 iron-structures were taken energetically in hand, then certainly a considerable 

 quantity of iron would be required. It is moreover not impossible, that the govern- 

 ment, eventually by creations i» the Navy Department and by constructions for 

 the coast-defence, as well as by building new railways, may open an outlet, for 

 the iron produced, although, as far as railways are concerned, it has I think 

 already been proved, that under present circumstances in Japan the develop- 

 ment of the coasting trade, the creation of au extensive net of roads and canals 

 is of far more importance than the building of railroads, which only then are 

 able to prosper and to diffuse prosperity, when proper means of communication 

 allow of their being supplied with freight of sufficient quantities. The example, 

 drawn from America, where the quick progress of some states for a great pait 

 is due to the railways, does for several reasons not hold good here. 



It only requires to call attention to the geographical formation of the two 

 countries, and it needs no demonstration, why rail roads are of much more im- 

 portance on a large continent than in a prolongated group of island.-,. Besides, 

 iu America, as well as in England — which latter country has been hold up to 

 Japan as a model on account of its possesing so many railways, notwithstanding 

 its insular position — the districts, which are opened by railroa's, are gene- 

 rally already able to supply large masses of produce from agriculture, mining 

 or manufactories. Here it is otherwise : the principal article of produce, the 

 rice, with which all the plains are plante I, is consumed within the country, 

 and requires consequently only a limited transport. Tea and silk, the two chief- 

 articles of the export-trade, are not weighty enough to require to be transported 

 by rail. Although the mountains and table-lands still offer a wide field for 

 the cultivation of other kinds of agricultural produce, the same must first be 

 opened to trafic by the means of regular roads. As long as every trunk of tree, 

 every bag of grain has to be carried for miles after miles, by tracks hardly 

 passable, on the back of horses or coolies, unt 1 it reaches the railway, as long as 

 nearly every river offers an obstacle to circulation iustead of a facility for trans- 

 port — so long it scarcely will pay to raise produce for distant markets. Iu the 

 few instances, where it is required to connect iron- and coal-mines with 



