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Show THIN END OF THE WEDGE. It is not dilllcult to foresee what an industrial revolution in Japan would mean to western manufacturing countries. The tariff bill has caused a flutter In most foreign ollices, where it Is realized that Japan is now uo longer tho docile pupil, but the keen rival, wanting none of tho other folks' battleships, engines, yarns and woolens. wool-ens. We know that the new tarKf is not for revenue so much ;is for shutting out foreign manufactures; It lets raw materials in duty free, puts light duties du-ties on partly anufacturcd goods and a duty of 40 per ceut on those whollv mud p. But the shutting out from Japan of foreign manufactures is only half the story. It will be completed when Japan Ja-pan becomes the "workshop of the east." Quite apart Horn the tariff, everything is In her favor in that respect, as regards the big eastern markets, notably China, which we of the west have nursed so fondly and so long. An accident of geography minimizes the cost of transport, while tho cheapness of labor is even a greater great-er advantage. In the cotton mills, lor Instance, the wages are roughly 10 1-2 pence per day for males and C 1-2 pence for females What can Lancashire do agalnxt that' Lancashire Imports to Japan equal about 3.0110.0(10 pounds sterling per annum. The new tariff will mean a heavy decrease, but nothing com pared with the posciblo losses In other oth-er Kuropean markets when. In further fur-ther stages of her industrial evolution, evolu-tion, Japan gets ,i grip on them. Kven now 00 per cent of Japanese col ton yarns ar exported to Cbinu.- We have passed beyond the stage of surprise at . lupou s forward march. We have ceased to bother our heads much about Mich common ' things as new eras in the far east; but it Is probable that In a few years, when we survey the results dating from the inauguration of the new tariff we bhall Mnd that It marked a more momentous step In Japan's Industrial development than was apparent In i the mere fact of the tariff bill. Pall Mall Cazotte. |