Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Value. Total Values.
Tons. £ Tons. £ £ £
1897 1,133 27,362 13,175 8,758 3,863 3,345,662
1901 529 13,481 15,738 10,846 3,450 5,670,508
1906 293 22,862 12,322 51,365 41,338 10,839,783
The number of mine employees in 1907 was 190,000, in round numbers;
the number of mining companies, 189; and the aggregate paid-up
capital, 10 millions sterling.
_Industries._--In the beginning of the Meiji era Japan was practically
without any manufacturing industries, as the term is understood in the
Occident, and she had not so much as one joint-stock company. At the end
of 1906, her joint-stock companies and partnerships totalled 9329, their
paid up capital exceeded 100 millions sterling, and their reserves
totalled 26 millions. It is not to be inferred, however, from the
absence of manufacturing organizations 50 years ago that such pursuits
were deliberately eschewed or despised in Japan. On the contrary, at the
very dawn of the historical epoch we find that sections of the people
took their names from the work carried on by them, and that specimens of
expert industry were preserved in the sovereign's palace side by side
with the imperial insignia. Further, skilled artisans from the
neighbouring continent always found a welcome in Japan, and when Korea
was successfully invaded in early times, one of the uses which the
victors made of their conquest was to import Korean weavers and dyers.
Subsequently the advent of Buddhism, with its demand for images,
temples, gorgeous vestments and rich paraphernalia, gave a marked
impulse to the development of artistic industry, which at the outset
took its models from China, India and Greece, but gradually, while
assimilating many of the best features of the continental schools,
subjected them to such great modifications in accordance with Japanese
genius that they ceased to retain more than a trace of their originals.
From the 9th century luxurious habits prevailed in Kioto under the sway
of the Fujiwara regents, and the imperial city's munificent patronage
drew to its precincts a crowd of artisans. But these were not
industrials, in the Western sense of the term, and, further, their
organization was essentially domestic, each family selecting its own
pursuit and following it from generation to generation without
co-operation or partnership with any outsider. The establishment of
military feudalism in the 12th century brought a reaction from the
effeminate luxury of the metropolis, and during nearly 300 years no
industry enjoyed large popularity except that of the armourer and the
sword-smith. No sooner, however, did the prowess of Oda Nobunaga and,
above all, of Hideyoshi, the taiko, bring within sight a cessation of
civil war and the unification of the country, than the taste for
beautiful objects and artistic utensils recovered vitality. By degrees
there grew up among the feudal barons a keen rivalry in art industry,
and the shogun's court in Yedo set a standard which the feudatories
constantly strove to attain. Ultimately, in the days immediately
antecedent to its fall, the shogun's administration sought to induce a
more logical system by encouraging local manufacturers to supply local
needs only, leaving to Kioto and Yedo the duty of catering to general
wants.
But before this reform had approached maturity, the second advent of
Western nations introduced to Japan the products of an industrial
civilization centuries in advance of her own from the point of view of
utility, though nowise superior in the application of art. Immediately
the nation became alive to the necessity of correcting its own
inferiority in this respect. But the people being entirely without
models for organization, without financial machinery and without the
idea of joint stock enterprise, the government had to choose between
entering the field as an instructor, and leaving the nation to struggle
along an arduous and expensive way to tardy development. There could be
no question as to which course would conduce more to the general
advantage, and thus, in days immediately subsequent to the resumption of
administrative power by the emperor, the spectacle was seen of official
excursions into the domains of silk-reeling, cement-making, cotton and
silk spinning, brick-burning, printing and book-binding, soap-boiling,
type-casting and ceramic decoration, to say nothing of their
establishing colleges and schools where all branches of applied science
were taught. Domestic exhibitions also were organized, and specimens cf
the country's products and manufactures were sent under government
auspices to exhibitions abroad. On the other hand, the effect of this
new departure along Western lines could not but be injurious to the old
domestic industries of the country, especially to those which owed their
existence to tastes and traditions now regarded as obsolete. Here again
the government came to the rescue by establishing a firm whose functions
were to familiarize foreign markets with the products of Japanese
artisans, and to instruct the latter in adaptations likely to appeal to
Occidental taste. Steps were also taken for training women as artisans,
and the government printing bureau set the example of employing female
labour, an innovation which soon developed large dimensions. In short,
the authorities applied themselves to educate an industrial disposition
throughout the country, and as soon as success seemed to be in sight,
they gradually transferred from official to private direction the
various model enterprises, retaining only such as were required to
supply the needs of the state.
The result of all this effort was that whereas, in the beginning of
the Meiji era, Japan had virtually no industries worthy of the name,
she possessed in 1896--that is to say, after an interval of 25 years
of effort--no less than 4595 industrial and commercial companies,
joint stock or partnership, with a paid-up capital of 40 millions
sterling. Her development during the decade ending in 1906 is shown in
the following table:--
Reserves
Number of Paid-up capital (millions
companies. (millions sterling). sterling).
1897 6,113 53 6
1901 8,602 83 12
1906 9,329 107 26
What effect this development exercised upon the country's over-sea
trade may be inferred from the fact that, whereas the manufactured
goods exported in 1870 were nil, their value in 1901 was 8 millions
sterling, and in 1906 the figure rose to over 20 millions. In the
following table are given some facts relating to the principal
industries in which foreign markets are interested:--