THE JAPANESE NATION. 681 



rapid mountain torrents with their falls furnish water for electric power, 

 her numerous and extensive coal fields steam power for the manu- 

 facture of the products of her mines and forests. Wages are low, for 

 the people live on easily obtained rice and fish, in houses cheaply 

 built, with low rents. Only 20 to 30 cents a day is paid for work that 

 commands ten times as much in Europe and America, while the quick 

 intelligence of her people give Japan facilities for rapidly becoming a 

 manufacturing nation. A recent traveler says, " You can not suggest 

 to me one article that I can not export in six months from Japan, 

 and, regardless of our tariff laws, undersell the market in the United 

 States." 



They are the French of the East; their artistic instincts and their 

 ingenuity in the use of machinery make them the competitors of 

 Europe, particularly in specialties. Their profits are so large that their 

 industries will increase with greater rapidity every year. 



Japan as a nation possesses an individuality stronger than our own. 

 Our power of cooperation and organization of men and capital into cor- 

 porations gives to us a certain advantage, but even this corporate 

 organization they are rapidly acquiring. 



The wages of labor in Japan must necessarily increase, but not in one 

 generation, scarcely in two generations, can all their habits of life, 

 their dress, food, aud homes change so greatly as to increase the price 

 of labor more than 100 or 200 per cent. Yet at this increase wages in 

 Japan would be very much lower than in Europe or America. 



Our brief sketch shows somewhat of the changes which new condi- 

 tions of environment have worked out within twenty-five years. The 

 hermit nation has come into communication with the great powers of 

 the world; her embassies are found in the capitals of Europe and 

 America; she holds her position with dignity and self-respect. Her 

 present position is honorable, the presage of a brilliant future. 



Japan is indeed a typical product of environment. A warm climate, 

 where the land and water not only contribute food, but induce con- 

 tinued intercourse and the welding of different races into one nation. 



From the contact of man with man, from city life, not from country, 

 comes the highest civilization. In Japan this contact has been main- 

 tained for centuries and has led to the steady development of her 

 people. Volcanoes, earthquakes, mountain torrents, and typhoons have 

 affected not only the laud, but the character, religion, and art of its 

 inhabitants, while its development has been hastened by the opening 

 of the ports, the introduction of Western civilization, and the demand 

 for her products in every market of the world. 



