334 THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN 



which was exported in such small quantities prior to 1894 that 

 it found no separate statement in the official accounts, amounted 

 in 1894 to $820, in 1897 to $55,124, and in 1899 to $2,414,482. 

 Cigarettes amounted in 1890 to $76,556, in 1894 to $137,895, and 

 in 1899 to $445,263. Illuminating oil, which in 1890 amounted 

 to $3,559,395 in value, was in 1899 $2,341,922. This reduction 

 is due in part to the active competition by Russian and Sumatran 

 petroleum and in a small degree to the fact that Japan is now 

 producing some petroleum from her own wells, though a recently 

 published statement indicates that the product is small and the 

 cost of producing practically as great as importing from other 

 countries. It is proper to add, however, that the reduction in- 

 dicated by the figures quoted is more apparent than real, and is 

 partially due to a reduction in price per gallon, the total exports 

 of illuminating oil to Japan in the fiscal year 1899 being 32,705,180 

 gallons, against 37,892,930 gallons in 1890. Flour has increased 

 from $127,120 in 1890 to $722,710 in 1899. This increase is evi- 

 dently due to a growing disposition among the Japanese to con- 

 sume more of this class of food rather than rely as largety upon 

 rice as in former years, since the number of foreigners in Japan, 

 other than Chinese and Coreans, amounts to but about 5,000, 

 and has not materially increased during the period in which our 

 exports of flour to that country have more than quadrupled. 



The growth of the importations of tobacco into Japan has 

 been phenomenal. In 1892 the total importation of tobacco, 

 leaf and cut, was valued at $40,000; in 1896 it was $74,000; in 

 1897, $212,000, and in 1898, $2,350,000, this extraordinary im- 

 portation of 1898 being due in part to the increased rate of duty 

 provided by the new tariff; but the fact that in 1897 it was three 

 times as much as in the preceding year would indicate a rapid 

 growth in the demand for tobacco. An examination of the table 

 of exports of tobacco from the United States shows that the 

 markets of this country benefit by practically all of this increase, 

 the exportations of tobacco from the United States to Japan in 

 the fiscal year 1899 being $2,927,700 in value, as against $671,272 

 in the preceding year, prior to which time there had been a 

 steady growth in the exports of tobacco from the United States 

 to Japan. 



In jmper and its manufactures the export trade to Japan has 

 grown very rapidly, the total exports of this class being, in 1890, 

 $1,606; in 1896, $10,126, and in 1899, $350,118. Instruments 

 for scientific purposes increased from $9,441 in 1890 to $34,600 



