THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN 335 



in 1894, $148,271 in 1897, and $232,892 in 1899. Paraffine wax, 

 of which the exports only began to be separately stated in 1891, 

 amounted in that year to $255, and in 1894 to $73,315, in 1896 

 to $127,001, and in 1899 to $132,273. Chemicals, drugs, and 

 dyes increased from $23,030 in 1890 to $80,498 in 1899; man- 

 ufactures of india-rubber increased from $22,871 in 1890 to 

 $57,579 in 1899. In the same period canned beef increased from 

 $11,212 in 1890 to $40,750 in 1899, and beef, salted or pickled, 

 from $628 to $42,893. Leather and its manufactures find a 

 steady demand in Japan, owing to the fact that the number of 

 cattle and other animals whose skins are used for this purpose 

 is comparatively few. The total number of cattle in Japan is 

 given in the last census as 1,148,761, or 26.92 for each 1,000 

 inhabitants, while in the United States, according to the latest 

 reports of the Department of Agriculture, the number of cattle 

 is 44,000,000, or about 600 for each 1,000 inhabitants. 



Exportations of cotton cloths to Japan have fallen by reason 

 of the rapid increase in the manufacture of cotton cloth in that 

 country, the total for 1899 being but $33,828, against $141,264 in 

 1897. Meantime, however, exportations of raw cotton to Japan 

 have rapidly increased, being, as already indicated, $5,775,784 

 in 1899, against $85,211 in 1890. This is largely due to the in- 

 crease in the manufacture of cotton goods in Japan, though 

 American cotton has grown in popularity with the manufact- 

 urers there within the past few years. Experience has shown 

 them that cotton from the United States is more satisfactory for 

 use in manufacturing than that which they had been accus- 

 tomed to obtain from India and China, the staple in American 

 cotton being longer, thus giving better results. As a conse- 

 quence, imports of American cotton now form a much larger 

 percentage of the total importation into Japan than in earlier 

 years, although the cottons of China and India have largely the 

 advantage both in the matter of proximity and cheapness of 

 labor utilized in their production. Japan also produces a con- 

 Biderable amount of cotton of her own, though it can scarcely 

 be expected that the production will increase sufficiently to keep 

 pace with the growth of her cotton manufacturing industry. 



The entire area of Japan is but 169,140 square miles, or less 

 than thr State of California, while but about 10 per cent of her 

 land is under cultivation and but a comparatively small propor- 

 tion cultivable, since mountain ranges and rocky islets and shores 



