Sir Ernest Satow, H.M.'s Minister to Japan, made an address on the 6th inst. at the graduation exercises of the Tokio Hizher Commercial School (for Japan in the course of which he showed a j appreciation of the value of the mercantile profession. He said "Your Excellencies and Gentlemen It isa source of unmixed pleasure to me to be present at this graduation ceremony, and to have the opportunity of tendering my congratulations to the young men who, after completing their studies at this institution, are about to go forth into: the world, and devote themselves to one, or either of the varied callings for which they have been prepared. If the lamented founder of the Commercial School, my friend the late Viscount Arinori Mori, from whom this institution took its origin, were present here to-day, he could not full to be Been reached by commercial studies in this tified at the development which has
country, and at the success which has attended many of those whose education has been completed within these to the Calendar of the Higher Con walls. It appears from the lists appended
mercial School for this year, that no Jess than 350 past students of this school, besides at least 100 graduates of the former Accountants' School, are now actively employed, some as merchants in business on their own account, or as managers of well known firms in Japan, or at their foreign branches, others in banks, on railways, in mines, in insurance companies, as teachers in commercial schools, and in various other important positions. A very large proportion, indeed, more than a fifth, appear to have obtained appointments under Government, whether at the capital or in other parts of the country. These facts furnish other eloquent testimony to the wide character of the teaching imparted and show that the curriculum fits young men for a most varied choice of careers in after life. The principal object of the School, I take it, is to train men for the calling of merchants. It has been the fashion in many countries and in all ages to depreciate this calling, and we know of one country at least where the merchant is in theory placed at the bottom of the social scale. In Japan, at any rate, the existence of this institution is a proof that such a view finds no favour. What is the trath of the matter? The merchant, with his allies the banker and the railway director, performs for the body politic functions similar to those of the lood in the human body, putting in circulation the elements which nourish the whole frame in all its parts. They are in fact. the life-blood of the State, conveying to every portion what is necessary for its maintenance, and so keeping the whole in a condition of the highest efficiency. And every article produced by man is of most value in that place where it can be best utilised, the organisation of the machinery of distribution is a principal factor of wealth. Hence, it is not too much to say that the welfare of the State depends upon the activity, the energy, and the capacity of its merchants. Look over the whole world, consider its past history, and you will find that those have been and are the most. powerful States, actually or potentially, whose commerce has been most flourishing. So much is this truth recognised in these days that the principal pre-occupation of modern governments, is how to develop their commerce, and the chief object of rivalry amongst modern States is the protection by means of commercial treaties of the freedom and facility of the exchange of national products. and manufactures. To the young men whose student life is now over, and who are about to commence their active careers, and especially to those in the direction of the foreign commeres who may be called on to take a share
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.