| Show THE OUTLOOK IN JAPAN At a recent meeting of the Japanese Commer lal association Count Okuma formerly forignminister but now min Iste of the counci entered upon a review re-view of the trade conditions of the country He said that the value of atonal ex ports and Imports had increased from 25000000 in 1868 to 3S0OO in 189i and forecasted that in another ten years I would reach 100000 This rearkabie increase is atribut able to the Itdusn and persistency ot the Japanese and to the fact that all their progress practically has been made since the ate first given And it Is a noteworthy fact that this progress gress was made under a system of bl metlsm and was temporarily checked when Japan attempted the gold standard stand-ard internal trade bas increased wonderfully won-derfully at the same time although the disoiton to monopolize businCs and centralize wealth Is growing under the temptations of fin de side financial engineerIng Foreign merchants handle the bulk of l the foreign trade for Japan has not yet developed the machinery for taking care ot it But It is net from this flct that discontent springs among the lower classes I Japan The count says that In the present depressed commercial conditIon of the country there Is a loud outcry for more capital but he does not think that would relieve the situation He thinks the country Is still very backward In intellectual culture and that more general and thorough education educa-tion is necessary before i will be adequately ade-quately equipped for the new reponsi bltes of government and business which are before i But with education will come the ability to distInguish between be-tween justice and injustice between wise and dishonest legislation between god and bad financial systems Id the demand for reforms will be more frequent and the outcry more persistent persist-ent Intellectual culture wU benefit the race but It wIll not satisfy the demands de-mands of hunger I will make a pe pIe more capable o enforcIng their rights perhaps but it will only hasten the inevitable conflict between geed and humanity I |
